Key Initiatives

Supporting local business and jobs

Building more affordable homes

Housing is the top expense most people face each month. Whether it’s your rent or mortgage going up, or you’re looking for a new home, it’s harder than ever to keep up with the market. High housing costs put a strain on everything else in your life.

Mayor Chow has made building more affordable housing one of her top priorities, so we can keep bringing the cost of homes and rent down.

Getting the City back into building through City-led development and new incentive programs that cut fees for developers in exchange for affordable units. Thousands of affordable, rent-controlled and market-rate homes under construction across the City.
Allowing more density: Toronto City Council has approved more types of housing to get built more easily. Including four-plexes, six-plexes, small apartment buildings on major streets and larger ones on avenues and around subway stations. We’re cutting red tape on what kinds of housing can get built.
Cutting red tape: By redesigning how the City works with builders, Toronto is now 80% faster at approving new housing.
Fighting housing speculation: Mayor Chow raised the Vacant Homes Tax to stop speculators from leaving units empty as investments.

Safer Communities

Building a safer city is a top priority. We can’t have a thriving City if people don’t feel safe on the street, on transit or in their communities.

Mayor Chow has a holistic approach to safety - focusing on both emergency services and investments in communities that help give young people more opportunities.

Strengthening emergency services to keep people safe: Under Mayor Olivia Chow’s leadership, the City of Toronto is hiring across emergency services so help is there when you need it. That includes over 150 firefighters, 361 paramedics and staff, 720 police officers, and 90 new 911 call-takers.
Expanding the mental health crisis response - Toronto’s 4th emergency service: When someone is in crisis, you need the right kind of response. Mayor Chow fully established and expanded the Toronto Community Crisis Service and hired over 100 more crisis workers, so people can get a caring, appropriate response when they're in a mental health crisis. Learn more here.
Investing in youth programs: Mayor Chow has invested millions more in youth violence prevention and recreation programs in neighbourhoods. That includes: engaging 15,000 youth and over 700 families in summer programming; expanding the Toronto Public Library’s Youth Hubs; offering more free mentorship and recreation programs; and expanding Toronto’s school food program; and more.
Advocacy to stop the flow of guns from the US: According to Toronto Police, 90% of guns used in Toronto shootings are illegally brought here from the US. Mayor Chow believes stopping the flow of guns at the border needs to be a top priority for the Federal government.

Empowering renters

About half of all Torontonians rent their homes. With rent control loopholes and bad faith evictions on the rise, many are feeling less secure.

Mayor Chow is committed to protecting and empowering renters so they can rely on safe, affordable and secure homes.

Fighting renovictions: Mayor Chow has brought forward a strong new renovictions bylaw that stops landlords from using renovations as an excuse to evict people and jack up the rent. See here.
Boosting support for tenants when they need it most: More funding dedicated to the Rent Bank, the Tenant Support Program and Eviction Prevention in Community. These are effective financial, legal and social programs that help people stay in their homes and stop evictions.
Building more affordable rental homes: Through City-led development and new incentive programs, there are thousands of affordable, rent-controlled and non-market homes being built across the City.
Helping non-profits take homes off the market: Mayor Chow has expanded Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) Program, which helps non-profits, land trusts and co-operatives purchase buildings - taking them off the private market and keeping them affordable, forever.

Fixing the TTC

The best way to get Toronto moving is investing more in transit. Millions of people take the TTC each day to get to work, school or run errands.

Mayor Olivia Chow has made massive investments in public transit to make it more reliable and safe:

Repairing the TTC. By uploading the Gardiner and DVP to the province, Mayor Chow has freed up an extra $500 million to spend on fixing the TTC to make it more reliable into the future.
Increasing service levels. Mayor Chow has restored service to pre-pandemic levels and invests in increasing service each year. A more frequent, convenient and reliable TTC means more ridership and less congestion.
Freezing fares. Under previous Mayors, TTC fares kept going up while service suffered. Under Mayor Chow, TTC fares are frozen and won’t go up. The TTC also has a pilot program for free transit for Grade 7-12 student field trips in partnership with school boards.
Investing in safety. Mayor Chow has embedded community crisis workers on the subway. She has also hired 178 more visible TTC staff, social services teams (like homelessness outreach workers); Provincial Offence Officers; contract security guards; and police officers. All of these frontline workers coordinate to improve safety on the TTC.
Buying new subway cars for Line 2. For years under the previous Mayor, experts warned that the Line 2 subway trains needed replacement. Mayor Chow got it done. She landed a deal with the Provincial and Federal governments to replace the trains, and they will be built here in Canada.
Fighting for more funding. Mayor Chow continues to fight for operating funding for the TTC, and to keep building more transit lines like the Eglinton East and Waterfront East LRTs, which will support our rapidly growing city

Fighting congestion

Whether you’re on transit or in a car, there’s nothing more frustrating than sitting in traffic. That’s time you could be spending with family, friends, or doing anything else.

The number one cause of congestion is construction: from new homes, infrastructure and transit. But all of that activity makes it harder to get around. The Toronto Region Board of Trade estimates that we lose billions in productivity each year due to congestion. And with Toronto adding about 270,000 new residents from 2023 to 2024 - it’s more important than ever that we find ways to get Toronto moving.

Mayor Olivia Chow is tackling congestion on our roads by:

Better coordination. Under Mayor Chow, the City has established an office to actively coordinate construction work by the City, Province, utilities and private companies, and manage major special events.
Hiring 100 traffic agents. Stationed at key intersections at peak times, traffic agents keep cars, buses and people moving. They stop cars from “blocking the box.”
Faster construction on the Gardiner. A critical section of the Gardiner needed to be rebuilt - and it was done 18 months ahead of schedule thanks to partnership with the province and 24/7 construction.
Incentives to make lane closures shorter. By making it more expensive to close lanes, construction companies are getting out of our roads faster.

Supporting local business and jobs

When our local businesses thrive, Toronto is a more dynamic and liveable city for everyone.

Supporting local businesses and jobs is a top priority for Mayor Chow, and she is taking action:

Mayor’s Economic Action Team. To protect jobs in response to US tariff threats, Mayor Chow assembled leaders in business, labour, BIAs and the Board of Trade to create a plan to make Toronto’s economy more resilient. These actions include working with local businesses to find new international markets, deferring property taxes for impacted businesses, helping them find new supply chains, and more. Learn more here.
Buying local to support Canadian jobs. Mayor Chow has led the City towards buying Canadian-made products and hiring Canadian companies for City contracts. That includes having Toronto’s new subway cars built in Canada. The City has also launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to support local businesses.
Fixing CafeTO so businesses have more certainty. When Mayor Chow came into office, the City was unable to administer CafeTO. She fixed the program so local businesses can apply earlier, get their patios installed faster, hire local workers and take advantage of the warm summer months. CafeTO has a $200 million per year economic impact for local businesses, supporting over 7,500 jobs directly, and many more indirectly.
Supporting local street festivals. Street festivals give local businesses an opportunity to engage new customers and showcase their goods. Under Mayor Chow, the City has increased the support it gives local BIAs and festival organizers - that includes more technical assistance to help put on the event and more funding for safety measures.
Building the economy, long-term. The City’s Sidewalks to Skylines economic action plan outlines the City’s approach to building a strong economy over the next decade. That includes supporting strong main streets and small businesses, supporting good jobs and attracting new investment, talent and leading global events to keep Toronto competitive.

Fighting rising costs

Life is getting more expensive. Rent, mortgages, groceries, insurance - the cost of the basics keep going up faster than wages.

Mayor Chow is committed to helping Toronto families in this affordability crisis. She is taking action to fight rising costs by:

Universal school food program that can save the average family of four $880 on groceries each year, while making sure students can focus at school.
Keeping TTC fares affordable. Under previous Mayors, TTC fares kept going up while service suffered. Mayor Chow has not raised fare, and will not raise fares.
Libraries open seven days a week. Libraries are beloved free spaces, with free programming, for toddlers, seniors and everyone in between. Under Mayor Chow, libraries have longer hours into the evenings and all 100 libraries will be open 7 days per week by 2026. She has also invested in creating more youth hubs for teens.
Cutting fees and expanding free events: It’s now free for local community groups to get permits to use parks for their events. There’s more free youth programs and camps. More street festivals get more funding to put on free events for the whole family.

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Key Initiatives

Building more affordable homes

Safer Communities

Empowering renters

Fixing the TTC

Fighting congestion

Supporting local business and jobs

Fighting rising costs

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