Chow vs. Bradford: Toronto’s final mayoral debate in 3 minutes

Incumbent Olivia Chow and challenger Brad Bradford spent 90 minutes going back and forth. There were no new campaign promises, but each had an opportunity to ask the other a question about their plans. Bradford asked Chow how she intends to pay for her campaign promises, including expanding the school food program to include lunches, and Chow grilling Bradford about his plan to spin off Toronto Water into a separate corporation, speculating that it opens a door to privatization. How are you going to pay for your campaign promises other than raising everyone's taxes i have a very clear plan those things that i've been promising majority of it is already booked into the 2027 budget why are you trying to give away our water it is not even possible to privatize water under the water and wastewater act here in the province of ontario a lot of what we heard tonight we've heard before the candidates have their talking points their attack lines one of the more authentic moments came when each was offered a chance to dispel the misconception about themselves biggest misconception about me is um it's probably many um but that i i um i don't have fun while i'm at work i have a lot of fun at work and i really enjoy the job being a counselor and i'm looking forward to being your mayor the biggest misconception about me is olivia chow that i have too much fun and i'm not doing the kind of work that needs to be done as a mayor but uh look try getting 17 billion for from other levels government took a lot of work the candidates were also asked if elected what is the one thing they want to accomplish in the next term chow said it's to build more housing specifically 10 000 in the next year bradford said it's to execute his plan to eliminate the municipal land transfer tax on homes valued at 1.1 million dollars or below now each candidate will spend the next few days visiting various parts of the city. Principal David Valentin at Liaison Strategy says if they're hoping to convince undecided voters, that might not be the best use of time. This stage of the campaign, the undecideds begin to matter a little less, actually. The state of the race is so close, I think what we'll end up seeing is a lot more efforts on voter mobilization. The campaigns really will have to focus on getting their own supporters to the polls simply because, you know, persuading people now at this late stage of the game only yields so many results. Getting your own supporters to actually go vote might be the difference between winning and losing. Several public opinion polls have this race as a statistical tie within the margin of error. Election day is on Monday, October 26th. Dale Minokduk, CBC News, Toronto.