Toronto, Canada’s largest city, elects woman of color as mayor for the first time

Leftist candidate Olivia Chow was elected Monday as mayor of Canada’s largest city, ending more than a decade of conservative rule.

She is the first woman of color to lead Toronto, which is one of the world’s most diverse cities.

Her win marks the second time that Toronto residents have chosen a mayor since October, after former Mayor John Tory resigned a few months into his third term following his admission of an affair with a staff member.

There were a record 102 candidates on the ballot Monday, with roughly a half-dozen high-profile names rising to the top of the field over the 12-week campaign.

Chow received 37% of the votes, topping Ana Bailao, who had 33%. Tory endorsed Bailao late in the campaign.

“It’s a city where an immigrant kid from St. James Town can be standing in front of you as your new mayor,” Chow said, in reference to a high-rise immigrant community downtown.

Tory was known as a strait-laced, button-down moderate conservative — almost the polar opposite of previous Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, whose term was plagued by scandals involving public drinking and illegal drug use.

Chow spent 13 years on Toronto’s City Council and represented a downtown district of Toronto at the federal level for eight years.

She has promised that the city would purchase more affordable housing.