Bradford lays out 100-day plan: police at every subway station, bus lane removals, youth jobs

Councillor Brad Bradford outlined his first-100-days agenda Thursday, laying out a five-point plan centred on public safety, transit and fiscal control — but one that his own campaign acknowledges would worsen Toronto's budget crisis.

Bradford's proposals include placing police officers at every subway station as part of a transit safety strategy developed with the TTC and Toronto police chief, and adding 1,000 net new frontline police officers by the end of his first term. He also pledged to remove bus lanes on Kingston Road, Morningside Avenue, Kennedy Road and Midland Road, while keeping the Eglinton Avenue East lane. He would advance the Scarborough East LRT and personally deliver a business case to the premier and prime minister.

On spending, Bradford promised an independent line-by-line review of City Hall expenditures on day one, with findings made public. He would table a city budget within 100 days, separate capital from operating budgets, freeze residential property taxes, eliminate the municipal land transfer tax on homes up to a certain threshold, and cut water bills by 25 per cent, and launch the Toronto Youth Employment Challenge targeting 5,000 new private-sector jobs for young people in the first year.

"I'm a city planner by training," Bradford said in a statement. "I know how cities are supposed to work, and I know what it takes to get City Hall moving. None of this requires a year of study. It requires a decision."

However, Bradford's campaign has acknowledged that eliminating the land transfer tax would add significant annual pressure to Toronto's existing budget shortfall. The campaign has not detailed how it would close that gap beyond the proposed audit.

Meanwhile, incumbent Olivia Chow reiterated her affordability platform, which includes free TTC rides after 10 trips per week, lowering grocery costs by cutting taxes for independent grocery stores, banning surveillance pricing, expanding free weekend programming at Toronto Public Library branches, and advancing 10,000 homes next year including affordable units. "Every day I hear from people who are doing everything right and still falling behind," Chow said. "My plan is about the costs you feel every single day. Cheaper transit, lower grocery bills, and more free places for families."