June 1, 2026
For Immediate Release

Brad Doubles Down on Failed Conservative Politics (and Politicians)

Another bad couple of weeks on the mayoral campaign trail for Brad

Gaining no traction with voters, Bradford has spent the last couple of weeks collecting endorsements from politicians who failed this city for decades and voting against solutions Torontonians actually need. Let's go through it:

1. Brad tried to tank billions in housing money but got defeated 22-2

Bradford tried to sabotage Toronto's negotiation for billions of dollars in new housing funding from the federal government. His gambit was so out of step with council that only one councillor voted with him. You guessed it: Stephen Holyday. The final vote was 22-2. Brad called it a bold stand. The rest of council called it what it was: a sad attempt to torpedo housing for political points.

2. Brad voted to block a women's shelter, then kept complaining about encampments

Bradford backed Councillor Stephen Holyday's motion to restrict zoning permissions for a women's shelter on Bloor St. W. in Etobicoke. This move would have risked forcing the project back to Council repeatedly over something as routine as installing an air conditioning unit on the roof. Brad loves to complain about encampments, but when it comes to actually housing and sheltering people, he reaches for the red tape. Real leaders look for real solutions.

3. Brad's newest endorser has spent 30 years trying to put jets on the island

Lisa Raitt is Bradford’s latest endorsement. Who is Lisa? Harper-era cabinet minister, current big bank executive, and longtime advocate of Doug Ford's disastrous Billy Bishop boondoggle - has endorsed Bradford. You might think this is just another example of conservatives helping conservatives but there is a bit more to this story. 

When Olivia Chow was an MP, she exposed $80,000 in dubious expenses Raitt racked up as CEO of Toronto Port Authority. Raitt also sued the City of Toronto for $1 billion trying to take ownership of the portlands — the same lands where tens of thousands of new homes are now at risk because of the Port Authority's backroom deal with Doug Ford for jets at the island airport. She settled when the City agreed to build a bridge that would have paved the way for island jets. Then David Miller got elected to stop the bridge, with Chow as a key ally, and Raitt's jet dreams died.

Raitt has been fighting for jets on the island ever since. She must think Bradford will finally make her 30-year dream come true, even though Brad won't say publicly whether he supports jets at the island. Is that why Raitt is backing Brad?

4. A 36-year-old smear is back. Let's talk about why co-ops are great

Bradford's campaign dug up a debunked conservative smear about Olivia Chow and Jack Layton choosing to live in mixed-income co-op housing, where they paid market rent. It's been 36 years. That's what you resort to when you have no platform and your opponent is scandal-free.

So let's use this moment to say: co-ops are good housing. Stable, community-rooted, and affordable across income levels. Co-ops are exactly what Toronto needs more of. While Bradford's focuses on smears from the 1990s, Toronto and Chow’s administration recently broke ground on Canada's largest new co-op housing development in a generation. Brad's campaign is attacking co-op living and affordable housing options. That tells you a lot about who he'd be building this city for.

5. Brad's big TTC idea: admit it's the same as the Mayor's, then promise to hire expensive consultants to implement it

On AM640's Moore in the Morning on Friday, Bradford called Mayor Chow's TTC safety announcement "the wrong solution," but then admitted it was essentially identical to his own proposal. He also promised to "bring in folks from outside…who are going to lead on critical files." That's consultant-speak for diverting money away from frontline transit workers and handing it to high-priced outside firms who will recommend privatization and cuts. Brad doesn't have a better idea. He just wants to take money out of the public service.

Complain, complain, complain. That's Bradford's campaign strategy, because his ideas don't hold up when Torontonians look closely. Our city deserves better than Brad, and Progress Toronto is organizing to make sure we get it.

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Contact
Saman Tabasinejad
Executive Director
saman@progresstoronto.ca

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