LILLEY: Show me your friends, I’ll show you your mayor

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They say you are the company you keep. If that’s true, then the endorsements behind Toronto’s mayoral candidates tell us a lot about the future each wants for the city.

Both Brad Bradford and Olivia Chow have a popular Canadian singer backing them, and they each have a number of current and former politicians on their side. Olivia Chow has the backing of some unions, including CUPE Local 79, which represents tens of thousands of city workers who got a 15.5% pay hike approved by Chow.

Politically, Bradford is piecing together something that looks like the old John Tory coalition of centrist politicians, including many Liberals, with a focus on the suburbs. Despite efforts by Chow and her proxies at Progress Toronto to paint Bradford as a far-right conservative, even MAGA, he has mostly drawn support from federal and provincial Liberals including former broadcaster turned Liberal MPP for St. Paul’s Stephanie Smyth.

Chow, meanwhile, is pulling mainly from NDP sources along with progressive Liberals centred in Scarborough and the downtown core. She’s having trouble resonating in places like Etobicoke and parts of North York.

Liberals break for Bradford

Bradford has the backing of seven sitting Liberal MPs, including Jennifer McKelvie, who was Chow’s deputy mayor until she dropped out to run federally last year. Other Liberal MPs backing Bradford include Yvan Baker, Leslie Church, Ali Ehsassi, Vince Gasparro, James Maloney and Judy Sgro.

While Bradford has won the support of Liberal MPs in Etobicoke, North York and Toronto’s midtown, Chow has the backing of Liberals in Scarborough and East York. The MPs backing Chow are Gary Anandasangaree, Dolly Begum, Rob Oliphant, Jean Yip and Salma Zahid.

Chow has the backing of the NDP wing of the current city council: Bravo, Fletcher, Malik, Mantas, Moise, Morley, Perks and Perruzza. Bradford, meanwhile, has the support of James Pasternak and Vincent Crisanti, along with former councillors Case Ootes, John F. Campbell and Denzil Minnan-Wong.

Politicians can be boring compared to celebrity endorsements, and the Toronto mayor’s race has a couple of those.

Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy performed at Chow’s campaign kick-off in September at Danforth Music Hall. Cuddy performed the song It Could Happen to You and spoke from the stage about wanting to make the city better under Chow.

Geddy Lee, lead singer for Rush, one of Canada’s most successful rock bands on the international stage, gave Bradford an endorsement in late September. He published a statement and released photos of himself and Bradford meeting in his backyard.

“I was born in Toronto and have built a life with my family here. It was always a place I’ve been proud to call home. But it’s changing, and not for the better,” Lee said.

“I’m not one to make public statements about politicians, but I truly fear for the future of Toronto with its current leadership, and believe that Brad has energy, fresh ideas and really cares about ALL of this city’s communities.”

That was a direct comment from Lee, whose parents survived the Holocaust including being interned at Auschwitz, about the hate marches and rampant antisemitism that we’ve seen under Olivia Chow.

Stars pick sides

When you consider all the current and former politicians willing to lend their names to these campaigns, Bradford has assembled the more impressive coalition.

Recently, Brad Duguid, who was minister of Energy and minister of Economic Development under Premier Dalton McGuinty and later Premier Kathleen Wynne, joined forces with former PC Party leader Tim Hudak to endorse Bradford in an op-ed published by the Toronto Star.

Bradford is pulling from across party lines in a way that Chow is not. Her support mainly comes from the NDP and those Liberals backing her are either former New Democrats, like Dolly Begum, or people identified with the far left of the Liberal Party.

The endorsement that matters most

Chow’s biggest and most powerful endorsement is also the one that should concern voters the most. Progress Toronto, a group that acts like a political party, has been actively backing Chow’s bid to retain the mayor’s chair.

This group endorses candidates who agree with its agenda, which includes defunding the police, raising taxes and repealing drug laws to allow even more open-air drug use on our city streets and in the transit system.

One side is backed by people who built Toronto. The other is backed by people determined to remake it. Toronto voters should choose wisely on Oct. 26.

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