Hong Kong-born Olivia Chow fails in bid to replace Rob Ford as Toronto mayor
Chow comes third in mayoral election behind Ford’s brother Doug and winner, John Tory
Toronto voters replaced their notorious mayor, Rob Ford, on Monday rejecting attempts by his brother and a left-leaning Hong Kong-born candidate to take the city’s top job.
Voters instead turned to John Tory, a conservative politician and broadcaster who promised to unite a city divided by four years of scandal and vitriol.
Tory, a former Progressive Conservative party leader in Ontario, won the election in a closer-than-expected race, according to the city’s election website, fighting off a strong challenge by the mayor’s brother, Doug Ford.
With about 99 per cent of the ballots counted in Canada’s largest city, Toronto’s election website showed Tory with 40.3 per cent of the vote, ahead of Doug Ford’s 33.8 per cent. Olivia Chow, whose family migrated from Hong Kong to Canada when she was 13, came in third with about 23 per cent of the vote. She stepped down as a federal MP in March in order to challenge Rob Ford.
Chow told supporters at a post-election rally that she had phoned Tory to congratulate him after the results were confirmed.
In a message to Tory, she said that she was ready to work with the new mayor for the benefit of the city.