Gil Penalosa, who is the founder of the non-profit organization 8 80 Cities, officially filed his papers to be executed this week.
He’s the 12th candidate to throw his hat in the ring so far, but becomes arguably the highest-profile challenger to John Tory with just 100 days to go until Torontonians head to the polls on Oct. 24.
“I honestly expected someone to run and I would have worked for them.  If (former mayoral candidate) Jennifer Keesmaat had run, if (former city councilor) Joe Cressy had run, if (former city councilor) Kristyn Wong-Tam had run, I would have given my time to work for them.” , Penalosa told CP24.  com this week, “If I’d seen someone who had similar ideas to running, I wouldn’t have run, but I don’t see anyone who’s really going to fight for affordability, for equity, and for sustainability, and I don’t see anyone who’s going to fight for a city for everyone”.
Penalosa has been a long-time advocate for creating better public spaces and has also spoken frequently on road safety issues in the City of Toronto.
He has more than 25,000 followers on Twitter, but is perhaps best known as the founder of 8 80 Cities, which has worked behind the scenes with more than 350 communities around the world on open street events and other projects aimed at improving public spaces.
Penalosa understands the odds are against him to take on a popular incumbent with significant campaign resources like the Tories, telling CP24.com he is “not stupid”.
But he says “you win or you lose,” which he hopes leads to a conversation about the city Torontonians want to live in.
For him, this is a city where public spaces are an “absolute priority” and funded accordingly.
To that end, he proposes canceling the Gardiner Expressway East reconstruction “immediately” and redirecting more than $2 billion budgeted to other initiatives, such as protected bike lanes, new park projects and road improvements.
He also wants to remove red tape that would make it easier for empty nesters to convert their existing homes into multi-unit housing as part of a broader strategy to address the city’s housing crisis.
“Everybody thinks (John) Tory will win easily against anybody because that’s what the polls say.  But I actually think it’s a shame and I feel bad for Toronto about it because I think whoever would run if Tory wasn’t running, I think they should also run with the Tories running,” he told CP24.com.  “Elections are about ideas, they’re about actions, they’re about presenting different ideas about how to do things.”
Candidates still have one month to register
Candidates still have until August 19 to register to run for mayor, but with that date fast approaching it is likely that no current councilor will decide to enter the race.
Several councilors, such as Cressy and Wong Tam, have already left city hall.
That could eventually leave Penalosa, who has never sought public office before, as the Tories’ main challenger from the left.
“Look, I’m not in this for any political calculation.  I’m not going to run four years from now, I’m not going to put my name up.  This is not about getting a job with the Tories.  It has nothing to do with it,” Penalosa told CP24.com.  “I don’t play political games and I don’t make political calculations.  That is, if I made any political calculations, then I would not run.  But I think more about what am I going to do with my life?  Would it be a good contribution to my chosen community?  Is this a good way to get back into town?’
Tory said part of his reason for seeking a third term came from a desire to move forward with some projects that needed to come into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He spoke of his desire to complete a commitment to build 40,000 new affordable homes over the next decade and to continue expanding Toronto’s transit system, through projects such as the Scarborough subway extension and the Ontario Line.
However, it has yet to launch a platform and it is unclear when it plans to turn its attention to the campaign.
“I have a job to do and it’s a job I take very seriously.  I have worked day and night in this job for years now and especially during the pandemic and I will continue to do so because I have the responsibility,” he told CP24 in May.  “I’m also looking forward to campaigning because I’d like to put some of the thoughts I have for the future out there, but in the meantime, I’m completely busy with my job as mayor.”
The Tories will have a big name recognition advantage 
Of the 11 candidates who have registered to run against the Tories, none, including Penalosa, have anywhere near their profile.
Most don’t even have campaign websites. 
There is another somewhat familiar name on the list in Sarah Climenhaga, who finished sixth in the 2018 race with nearly 4,800 votes.  The Tories finished with almost 480,000, taking around 63 per cent of the popular vote.
“I think the city needs something better.  I mean, John Tory has done a great job as far as I’m concerned, but I think he could do better.  So the question for me is will I not be able to win or not?  The question is, do I have something to offer that I should promote and share with other Torontonians?”  Klimenhaga told CP24.com this week.  “You know if you had an Olympics and you only let the most likely to win in them it would be a pretty boring Olympics.”
Climenhaga told CP24.com that she is “running primarily as a resident” who has raised three children in Toronto and doesn’t need to “go to committee meetings or Zoom conferences” to know what needs fixing.
She says the top issues for her are the same as those for many candidates, notably housing and transit, but she said the city also needs to be designed in a way that makes sense for its residents.
“Streets are public space, so I want all of us to be able to use them.  I want people who have to drive to be able to drive in a way that’s not frustrating and not gridlocked, I want people who want to take transit to be able to take a rapid transit route.  I want people who want to bike and who want to walk, whether it’s two blocks or the length of the city, to be able to do it without getting hit and killed by someone driving a car,” he said.  “I think our streets are for all of us people in our city.  And right now they’re still very focused on trying to move the cars quickly and they’re not even doing that.”
If Tory is re-elected and serves the full four-year term, he would become Toronto’s longest-serving mayor, surpassing Art Eggleton’s 11 years in office.