July 12, 2023 - (Toronto, ON) Hundreds of supporters joined Olivia Chow as she biked to City Hall where she was officially sworn in as Toronto’s new mayor reports the Toronto Star. Chow, 64, is an avid cyclist, and vowed to create a network of 200km of bike lanes in the city when she ran for mayor back in 2014 and came third.
Chow first became a councillor when she was elected to what was then called Metro Council in November 1991, at the tender age of 34, after serving as a school board trustee. Married to the late NDP leader Jack Layton, she was a Toronto city councillor until 2005, and then became the NDP’s MP for Trinity-Spadina from 2006 to 2014.
“Humble. Arrived alone, continued surrounded by 100s of grateful residents. Joy!!! @OliviaChow to be inaugurated as Toronto’s Mayor. Firsts since amalgamated city: woman, immigrant (non-US), asian… bike rider Twice trustee, and councillor, MP. New Toronto, #OneTO, hopeful TO,” tweeted Gil Penalosa, an urbanist and founder of 8 80 Cities, who dropped out the race to support Chow.
“I feel so blessed to come to my first day of work as mayor of this great city joined by 100s of cyclists,” said Chow upon arriving at City Hall.
Chow is facing challenges left by out-going mayor, John Tory, including a $1.5-billion budget shortfall for 2022 and 2023, a housing crisis, a string of acts of random violence on the TTC, recent new threats of wildfire smoke, and a city that’s still reeling from the global pandemic.
Urging council members and residents to work with her to overcome Toronto’s challenges, Chow claimed that Toronto can find its ‘swagger’ by working together. “Together we can and today we start,” tweeted Chow.
The first mayor who rides a bike to work since John Sewell back in the 1980s signals a welcome change and optimism about a new future for the city says Cycle Toronto, adding, “And now is the time to turn hope into action.”
