Toronto Mayoralty Race: Olivia Chow is Front Runner in New Poll

[DonLever]

The days of Rob Ford is numbered: Former MP Olivia Chow leads all contenders in the Toronto Mayoralty race.

With Toronto's municipal election more than seven months away, former NDP MP Olivia Chow is leading the pack of mayoral hopefuls, a new poll suggests.

In a telephone poll sampling of 1,271 Toronto voters, Chow had the support of 36 per cent of respondents, while incumbent Rob Ford came in second with 28 per cent support. Former Ontario PC party leader and radio personality John Tory ranked third, at 22 per cent.

Trailing behind the frontrunners were former TTC chair Karen Stintz (5% support) and former councillor David Soknacki (2% support). Seven per cent of respondents said they were undecided.

The telephone poll was conducted Thursday evening, the same day Chow officially launched her campaign for Toronto's top political office.

In a previous Forum Research poll conducted on Feb. 24, amid rampant speculation about Chow's intent to run, the former Toronto MP was in a tight, three-way race with Ford and Tory. According to that poll, Ford and Chow were tied at 31 per cent, while Tory trailed closely behind at 27 per cent.

"By actually entering the race after standing on the sidelines for so long, Olivia Chow appears to have stolen the wind from John Tory's sails, and left both he and Rob Ford in her wake," Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement.

According to the latest poll, Chow is especially popular among young voters. She is also most popular in the downtown area, and among those voters who take public transit. By comparison, Ford is the top choice for Toronto voters aged 35 to 44, and for those living in Etobicoke and Scarborough.

John Tory, according to Thursday's poll, is most popular among older voters, and those who earn between $80,000 to $100,000.

Toronto voters will cast their ballots on Oct. 27.

Forum's latest telephone poll is considered accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20

Read more: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/chow-has-early-lead-in-toronto-s-mayoral-race-new-poll-suggests-1.1730698#ixzz2w3hSMjcc

[B00MER]

Ford's hilarious. So he likes a bit of crack on a friday night? Live and let live

[King Heffy]

It terrifies me that Ford can retain as much support as he has.

[Ghostsof1915]

What gets me its people are nonchalant in regards to Ford's "issues". I'm sorry but if it's a City, or Corporation, if your boss can't control himself. How is he supposed to run things properly?

I find it comical that right wing voters will freak over leaders having affairs, but have issues with drug or alcohol addiction or sell your country or province or city out to corporations, yeah that's ok.

[unknown33429]

It terrifies me that Ford can retain as much support as he has.

I use to wonder that too until I looked at all the things that Ford has done as a mayor. I don't know too many other politicians that give out their home number and show up to a person's house to help them. He isa real life Ron Swanson, except he doesn't hate government and he likes to smoke crack. I may be a bit

jaded I don't there are too many clean politicians.

I do think that it can hurt his ability to govern, and thats why I wouldn't vote for him. If I knew that

he admitted it and gotten help to be clean, then I'd have no problem with him. Is there a way we can vote for him, but make a rule that he has to take a drug test periodically and at random.

[unknown33429]

What gets me its people are nonchalant in regards to Ford's "issues". I'm sorry but if it's a City, or Corporation, if your boss can't control himself. How is he supposed to run things properly?

I find it comical that right wing voters will freak over leaders having affairs, but have issues with drug or alcohol addiction or sell your country or province or city out to corporations, yeah that's ok.

People having affairs is similar to any other act you mentioned, in that the politician was being

dishonest. If Ford's record is what he can do when he is addicted to drugs and alcohol, I'd like to see

what he can do when he's clean.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

I use to wonder that too until I looked at all the things that Ford has done as a mayor. I don't know too many other politicians that give out their home number and show up to a person's house to help them. He isa real life Ron Swanson, except he doesn't hate government and he likes to smoke crack. I may be a bit

jaded I don't there are too many clean politicians.

I do think that it can hurt his ability to govern, and thats why I wouldn't vote for him. If I knew that

he admitted it and gotten help to be clean, then I'd have no problem with him. Is there a way we can vote for him, but make a rule that he has to take a drug test periodically and at random.

People having affairs is similar to any other act you mentioned, in that the politician was being

dishonest. If Ford's record is what he can do when he is addicted to drugs and alcohol, I'd like to see

what he can do when he's clean.

He is an aggressive, populist leader who bullies his way through city council. On a political level, he seems extremely ignorant when implementing policy and also really pompous for someone who's apparently representing "the average guy". I wouldn't care about giving out phone numbers because that's just a selling point. On a personal level, he is a joke in every possible way and obviously a power-hungry man who only cares about remaining in office. So yeah, he's not sleazy, but he's a piece of crap and very incompetent at his job.

Toronto's city councilors do seem to be very sleazy and very hypocritical. They, like Ford, are very out of touch with the people in general. That's why everybody's jumping on the Olivia Chow wagon. They don't want a city politician taking over.

[unknown33429]

He is an aggressive, populist leader who bullies his way through city council. On a political level, he seems extremely ignorant when implementing policy and also really pompous for someone who's apparently representing "the average guy". I wouldn't care about giving out phone numbers because that's just a selling point. On a personal level, he is a joke in every possible way and obviously a power-hungry man who only cares about remaining in office. So yeah, he's not sleazy, but he's a piece of crap and very incompetent at his job.

Toronto's city councilors do seem to be very sleazy and very hypocritical. They, like Ford, are very out of touch with the people in general. That's why everybody's jumping on the Olivia Chow wagon. They don't want a city politician taking over.

I honestly don't care if he is aggressive or bullies the city counsel. I think, in terms of what he has

accomplished as a mayor, he is pretty decent. I looked him up after his Jimmy Kimmel interview to see his

record as a mayor, and came across this site:

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2013/05/24/rob-ford-the-highly-effective-idiot/

Maybe I'm a bit bias because of how much I dislike unions. Basically, I'd rather have a guy with personal and drug issues who is effective rather than a choir boy who can't get things done (not saying necessarily that Rob Ford is at that level, but the personal lives of politicians does not interest me in the least,

unless it somehow impacts their ability to govern).

If he acted the same way he did, but had the political record of George W. Bush, I'd be asking for his

impeachment.

[DonLever]

At least Toronto has a exciting mayoralty contest, here in Vancouver it looks like a shoo-in for Mayor Robertson with no serious contenders. Afterall who would run for the Mayor of Vancouver with little chance of winning.

[King Heffy]

I'd say smoking crack, with a shady cover-up of the video, is enough to suggest very poor judgement. I wouldn't want someone with judgement that poor running my city.

[CB007]

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2013/05/24/rob-ford-the-highly-effective-idiot/

Com'on man. Look at that article again and find one source of primary evidence to support it. Not that I'm saying it is full of lies, but I am saying it is biased, a total and complete propaganda material 100%. At the end it even tries to say that Ford's clown'ish international reputation is a good thing. What a joke of journalism.

I have no problems with monetary conservatism when it comes to local politics, (the left vs right sometimes comes down to a few percentage points of tax difference) but it's time to put integrity and respect back to City Hall.

[DonLever]

What gets me its people are nonchalant in regards to Ford's "issues". I'm sorry but if it's a City, or Corporation, if your boss can't control himself. How is he supposed to run things properly?

I find it comical that right wing voters will freak over leaders having affairs, but have issues with drug or alcohol addiction or sell your country or province or city out to corporations, yeah that's ok.

Lumping all Conservatives together is quite ridiculous. It is like saying all leftwing people are Communists. The political spectrum is wide.

Conservatives can be Fiscal Conservatives or Social Conservatives. Fiscal Conservatives are for balancing the budget and speeding less money, lower taxes, etc. While Social Conservatives are more concern with moral issues like anti-abortion, anti-drugs, anti gay's.

Rob Ford is clearly a Fiscal Conservative who is concerned about fiscal matters. For such people, what they do in private life is their own business.

You ever heard of Red Tories? They are basically liberals who are fiscally conservative.

I think Social Conservatives have more sway in the US. They are much weaker in Canada. If you are a Social Conservative here you have a hard time getting into power. They is why Harper is muzzling those in the Conservative party who are anti-abortion because they know they can never win based on social issues.

[Ronalds.Kenins41]

tbh the reason I wouldn't vote for him is because I would be sick of hearing those media stories over and over again.

[CB007]

Fiscal Conservatives are for balancing the budget and speeding less money, lower taxes, etc. While Social Conservatives are more concern with moral issues like anti-abortion, anti-drugs, anti gay's.

Fiscal conservatives are usually also social conservatives, not always, but usually. They just don't talk about it in fear of losing votes.

EDIT: Just because he smokes crack doesn't make him a 'social-liberal'. It makes him a hypocrite as he campaigns on a zero tolerance policy towards drugs, guns and gangs.

[Mr. Ambien]

I use to wonder that too until I looked at all the things that Ford has done as a mayor. I don't know too many other politicians that give out their home number and show up to a person's house to help them. He isa real life Ron Swanson, except he doesn't hate government and he likes to smoke crack. I may be a bit

jaded I don't there are too many clean politicians.

I do think that it can hurt his ability to govern, and thats why I wouldn't vote for him. If I knew that

he admitted it and gotten help to be clean, then I'd have no problem with him. Is there a way we can vote for him, but make a rule that he has to take a drug test periodically and at random.

I agree. Rob Ford is better for Toronto than any one of these mayors. PR be damned.

Fiscal conservatives are usually also social conservatives, not always, but usually. They just don't talk about it in fear of losing votes.

EDIT: Just because he smokes crack doesn't make him a 'social-liberal'. It makes him a hypocrite as he campaigns on a zero tolerance policy towards drugs, guns and gangs.

Have you ever been to Alberta? Edmonton? Calgary? Social conservatism?

Most of us out here represent more libertarian ideals than anything else. Just seem to fall more for the American logic of "must vote PC or else throw vote away".

[kurtis]

Fords the man.

[CB007]

Have you ever been to Alberta? Edmonton? Calgary? Social conservatism?

Most of us out here represent more libertarian ideals than anything else. Just seem to fall more for the American logic of "must vote PC or else throw vote away".

Yes but I don't do research surveys asking people how they feel when I'm there.

Some libertarians are true libertarians, while others are conservatives pretending to be libertarians because libertarian is a better sell. My unsubstantiated suspicion is that since we don't have a legitimate libertarian movement in Canada, the majority of Canadians who call themselves libertarians are happy being conservatives.

Think about it, the Green party is 4th on the list, and they have next to nothing. Just exactly how libertarian is this country? In other words I don't buy your 'vote PC or throw your vote away' argument. In the long run, if there is a real libertarian movement, it should be somewhat represented in our political system. The Greens will happily 'throw away their vote' to vote for something they truly believe in - can't say the same about 'libertarians'. There is a Libertarian Party in Canada on the federal level, and it is completely irrelevant.

I know this is an anecdotal comment, but the few libertarian friends I have here in Ontario don't vote PC. They vote Green and Liberal instead. Other than low taxes and small governments, there is nothing libertarian about the PC platform.

[morrissex95]

John Tory will make sure no Conservatives win in Toronto because him and Ford will split the vote and Chow will win.

If I'm Stephen Harper, I ask Rob Ford to step out of the race and promise him the Conservative nomination for a spot in a blue riding. Between the federal election and the inauguration of the next Mayor, Rob can focus on rehabilitating himself into becoming a functioning individual in public.

[Dogbyte]

All politicians are horrible corrupt people. Smoking crack is the least of the problems out there.

[tortorellatheboss]

Yeah sure, as if Canada didn't pander enough to Asians anyways. Let's have someone who was born outside the country run for mayor, because we totally need more Asians changing our ways of life. Maybe I just dreamof a Canada where white people actually have a say in immigration......