Longtime city councillor Josh Matlow running to be Toronto's next mayor

Four-term Toronto city councillor Josh Matlow says he will join the increasingly crowded race to be the city's next mayor, with his first priority being a new "City Works Fund" paid for with a dedicated property tax.

"I know and believe in the promise Toronto holds for so many. But for far too long, our political leadership at City Hall has held this city back from reaching its full potential," Matlow said in an open letter Tuesday announcing his candidacy.

He went on to say that the city has seen a noticeable decline in key services like snow-clearing and public transit, and that skyrocketing rents and high house prices are driving young families and newcomers away.

"The deterioration of our city was not inevitable. It was a choice. The past decade of leadership has kept taxes artificially low by starving the services that made Toronto the incredible city I grew up in," the letter continued.

Matlow said his new fund would cost the "average homeowner" about $67 per year and generate some $390 million over five years to improve city services. The proposal comes as the city faces a nearly $1.5-billion budget shortfall coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First elected to council in 2010, Matlow has represented the downtown ward of Toronto–St. Paul's for four terms. In the 2022 municipal election, he won his seat with nearly 85 per cent of the vote share, with his closest rival picking up just 7.6 per cent of the votes. He previously served for seven years as a trustee for the Toronto District School Board.

Matlow was one of former mayor John Tory's most persistent and vocal critics, with the two frequently butting heads over policy on the council floor.

He often criticized Tory's signature policies, such as Tory's repeated commitments to keep property tax rate increases at or below the rate of inflation and his vote to maintain the elevated eastern stretch of the Gardiner Expressway to the tune of billions of dollars.

During the 2018 election Tory endorsed Matlow's primary opponent, in doing so taking some thinly-veiled swipes at the councillor during a campaign stop.

Matlow has been strongly hinting at a mayoral run for weeks. Earlier this month, a group calling itself "Friends of Josh Matlow" that includes some notable Torontontians publicly released an open letter urging him to get into the race.

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.

On Monday, former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders announced his candidacy. Meanwhile, last week former three-term councillor and top Tory ally Ana Bailão said she would also run.