Former city councillor Ana Bailão to run for Toronto mayor
CBC
Former city councillor Ana Bailão said Friday that she will run for mayor in Toronto's upcoming June byelection.
"I'm running with a plan to fix our city's services, build housing, and make life more affordable," she said in a tweet announcing her candidacy.
Bailão was a councillor for 12 years from 2010 to 2022, representing Ward 9 Davenport and its previous configuration Ward 18 Davenport during that time. In her last municipal election in 2018 she won in a landslide, capturing nearly 84 per cent of the vote share.
For the last five years of her tenure at city hall she also served as one of four deputy mayors — the only woman in that group.
In an email that a spokesperson said was sent to Bailão's family and friends this morning, Bailão said her decision to run came after conversations with hundreds of Torontonians.
"They are all saying similar things — services in Toronto need to be fixed, housing is out of reach, and life is unaffordable," she said.
"Residents are paying more, and they're getting less. I want to make sure that services like the TTC are safe, reliable, clean, and convenient."
Bailão was a close political ally of former mayor John Tory, often acting as his point person on the housing file before she announced in May last year that she would not seek reelection in last fall's municipal vote.
At the time, Bailão said that while she would no longer be a councillor, she remained "committed to continuing to contribute to our city."
The upcoming June 26 mayoral byelection was triggered by Tory's sudden resignation last month, which came after he admitted to an extramarital relationship with a former staffer in his office.
Candidate nominations officially open on April 3 at 8:30 a.m. and close May 12 at 2 p.m.
It's shaping up to be a crowded field in the race to replace Tory.
This week, former Toronto councillor Giorgio Mammoliti announced he's planning to run. Mammoliti lost his council seat in the 2018 election and moved to Wasaga Beach, where he launched an unsuccessful bid to become the mayor of that town.
Other current councillors are also positioning themselves for a mayoral run, including Josh Matlow, Brad Bradford and Stephen Holyday, though none have said definitively, like Bailao, that they're "in."
