Portuguese-Canadian Ana Bailao is trying to become the president of the largest Canadian city

Portugal’s Ana Bailao will try to become the next mayor of Toronto, Canada’s largest city with mid-term elections, on Monday.

The election follows a sex scandal between former mayor John Tory and a former employee of his office, which led to his resignation in February this year.

Although the Portuguese-Canadian has not dominated the various polls, he has received public support in recent days from John Tory, as well as from the editorial staff of the Toronto Star newspaper.

There are 102 candidates running for mayor of Toronto, including several politicians, civic activists, an 18-year-old teenager, a dog and others.

The most popular candidates who have stood out in various polls and are covered by mainstream Canadian media are former NDP federal MP (left) Olivia Chow, Ana Bailao, former Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, councilors Josh Matlow and Brad Bradford. , former Provincial Representative Mitzi Hunter, and former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Fury.

Ana Bailao, born in Vila Franca de Xira (Lisbon), came to Canada at the age of 15, was a councilor from 2010 to 2022, representing the constituency of Davenport, and most recently, district 18, due to a change in the wording of the electoral constituencies with 84 percent of the vote in elections five years ago.

Graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Sociology and European Studies. Since 2010, she has been in charge of the Municipal Affordable Housing Commission, having been appointed by “Mayor” John Tory, Vice President of the Municipality, and also unifies the Municipal Executive.

During the campaign, the centrist declared that she was the only one who could “unite the city council” and reach “consensus with the governments of Ontario and Ottawa.”

One of his major announced promises was to place the responsibility of managing the DVP and Gardiner Highways on the provincial government, “saving the City of Toronto the millions of dollars” needed each year to maintain those roads.

Olivia Chow has been leading the polls since she announced her candidacy, promising to “make life easier for people in need” through tenant protections and “building affordable housing.” However, the former adviser has been criticized for not specifying how she will fund various pledges, including an increase in property tax.

The new mayor of Toronto will have to find ways to close the budget deficit, which exceeds one billion Canadian dollars (694 billion euros).

In a Mainstreet Research poll released Friday, Olivia Chow continued to lead with 30 percent, while Ana Bailao had 22 percent, just behind Anthony Fury (13 percent) and Mark Saunders (12 percent). Josh Matlow and Mitzi Hunter had nine and five percent, respectively.

Polling stations will open this Monday at 10:00 am and voting will last until 8:00 pm (another five hours in Lisbon).