Three more candidates announce Toronto mayoral runs
Three more Toronto mayoral hopefuls have tossed their hats in the race for the city's top job this week.
Coun. Josh Matlow, former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, and former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey announced their pitches to take the top job in Toronto within hours of one another.
Matlow, Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's councillor, said in an open letter Tuesday morning that Toronto City Hall’s leadership “has [long] held this city back from reaching its full potential.”
“We have all seen the decline. The snow is not cleared on time, public washrooms are dirty, if they’re even open, and garbage bins are broken and overflowing,” Matlow wrote in the letter.
“The past decade of leadership has kept taxes artificially low by starving the services that made Toronto the incredible city I grew up in,” he continued.
If elected, Matlow said he will launch the ‘City Works Fund’ – a property tax that will cost homeowners an average of $67 a year, raising over $390 million dollars over five years. He said the funding will be earmarked for services such as transit, public libraries, warming centres, and road and park maintenance.
Matlow has served at Toronto City Hall since his election in the since-eradicated Ward 22- St. Paul's in 2010.
On Tuesday, Matlow signed off his open letter stating that "another Toronto is possible."
As a city columnist for more than a decade, Furey said he will bring a “fresh perspective” to city hall.
He said he sees his past career experience as a natural progression towards running for mayor.
“I feel like the status quo voices that got us to this place are not the ones to get us out of it,” Furey told CP24 Tuesday morning.
Furey said he wants hockey moms and small and medium business owners to be directing the city’s agenda instead of lobbyists, big corporations, and fringe activists.
Saunders entered his name in the race on Monday night after hinting last week he was “strongly considering” running.
He served as Toronto’s police chief from 2015 until his resignation in the summer of 2020 when he joined Ford government’s COVID-19 vaccine task force.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Freeland's budget bill passes House after Poilievre pledges to block it
The federal budget implementation bill passed the House of Commons on Thursday, after days of Conservative attempts to block it.

'Tremendous amount we could be doing': Expert shares tips for preventing, adapting to wildfires
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
Supreme Court of Canada won't hear unvaccinated woman's case for organ donation
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
Are more interest rate hikes on the way? Here's what experts say
In the wake of the Bank of Canada’s unexpected rate hike, economists are pointing to further tightening in the near term.
10-year-old girl survives more than 24 hours alone in the rugged Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Wildfire battles continue as heat, air quality alerts affect most of Canada
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
4 very young children critically wounded in knife attack in French Alpine town
As bystanders screamed for help, a man with a knife stabbed four young children at a lakeside park in the French Alps on Thursday, assaulting at least one in a stroller repeatedly. The children between 22 months and 3 years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.
Liberals unveil plan to make hybrid House of Commons sittings permanent
Government House Leader Mark Holland has unveiled the federal Liberals' plans to make hybrid sittings a permanent feature in the House of Commons.
Premier remains mum on funding to search Manitoba landfill for remains of 2 women
The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.