Chris Alexander registered on Wednesday at City Hall as a mayoral candidate for the Toronto municipal election, scheduled for Oct. 26.MATTHEW FRANK/The Globe and Mail
Former federal Conservative citizenship and immigration minister Chris Alexander has registered as a mayoral candidate in Toronto’s fall election, pitching himself as someone who brings an outside perspective to civic politics.
Mr. Alexander, a one-term MP who represented the eastern suburb of Ajax-Pickering, served in former prime minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet from 2013 to 2015.
His candidacy has the potential to shift the dynamics of the campaign, as Mayor Olivia Chow seeks re-election against Councillor Brad Bradford, a centre-right municipal politician who lost to Ms. Chow in 2023 and has widely been viewed as her strongest challenger.
Political observers say Mr. Alexander’s candidacy has the potential to siphon off votes from Mr. Bradford, while benefiting Ms. Chow.
On Wednesday, Mr. Alexander arrived at Toronto City Hall with his wife and three children to sign candidate registration papers for the election, which is slated for Oct. 26. Despite his previous Tory party ties, he told reporters he’s past partisan politics, and that the city needs centrist leadership to succeed.
“As democracy in Canada has always shown, it doesn’t hurt and it usually helps when people from outside of a given political arena bring their expertise and their experience to bear,” he said. “I’m one of those people.”
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Prior to his stint in federal politics, Mr. Alexander, who grew up in Toronto, served as ambassador to Afghanistan and lived in the country for six years while Canadian troops were deployed there.
In 2016-17, he ran for the leadership of the federal Conservatives. Since then, he’s been a fellow of the Canadian International Council and the Macdonald Laurier Institute and has worked as a consultant.
Mr. Alexander said he decided to run to bring direction to Toronto, which he sees as being economically idle. His diplomatic and federal career offers experience in bringing people together to address “complex issues to find a solution,” he said.
While Mr. Alexander said a specific platform will be public in “the coming weeks,” his focus will be on housing affordability, safety and improving public transit.
The Globe reported earlier this month that former Toronto mayor John Tory offered general advice to Mr. Alexander before he decided to run.
Mr. Alexander’s time in federal politics was coloured by an incident during the 2015 federal campaign, when his party proposed a “barbaric cultural practices” tip line to report incidents of honour killings, forced marriages and polygamy. Mr. Alexander lost his seat to the Liberals in that election.
Mr. Alexander, who was a key driver of the proposal, has since described it as a mistake.
“I do regret it, and I own the fact that we played that issue wrongly,” he said on Wednesday.
“But I do not disassociate myself from my convictions and my values on this issue, which relates to the rights of women and girls everywhere, but especially in places like Afghanistan.”
Ms. Chow wasn’t available for an interview, didn’t comment on Mr. Alexander and said she will speak about the election in the fall.
Olivia Chow won Toronto's most recent mayoral race, a by-election to succeed John Tory in 2023.Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters
Mr. Bradford also wasn’t available for an interview. When speaking to reporters on Wednesday about Mr. Alexander entering the mayoral race, he said, “I had never heard of him,” while saying that he has no concerns about vote-splitting.
He said Mr. Alexander’s role in the proposed “barbaric cultural practices” tip line is concerning.
“In the most diverse city in the world, somebody who harbours those views, I think that makes you unfit for this office,” he said during the scrum at Toronto City Hall.
Kelly Aizicowitz, executive director for non-profit citizens group A Better City Toronto, which has been advocating against Ms. Chow, said any vote for Mr. Alexander is one for the incumbent mayor.
She said a “two-horse race” is needed to compete against Ms. Chow.
“If Chris Alexander decides that he is going to stay in the race and continue to create distraction with no credible path to victory, that takes away from talking about the issues that are facing Torontonians,” she said in an interview.
Mr. Alexander told reporters his campaign isn’t based on dividing votes, and said “the votes of Torontonians aren’t a pie to be split up by strategists behind closed doors.”
Myer Siemiatycki, professor emeritus of politics at Toronto Metropolitan University, agreed that Mr. Alexander’s entry poses challenges for Mr. Bradford’s campaign because now there are two alternatives to the incumbent mayor.
“It positions Mayor Chow to really focus on her own track record and to keep highlighting the strengths of what she has been able to accomplish and achieve for Toronto in her three years in office, while Mr. Bradford and Mr. Alexander may be spending a fair amount of time going at each other.”
He added that it may be difficult for Mr. Alexander to make his federal experience an advantage because he was a one-term politician, which also serves as a reminder of the tip-line scandal.