Portuguese-Canadian Ana Bailão, who was defeated in the midterm elections on Monday to elect a new mayor of Toronto, recognized “the important role of the Portuguese community” in her political rise.
“Today a Portuguese daughter, from LiUNA (construction union), from Toronto reached second place, very close to first,” said Ana Bailao in her speech, in Portuguese, after knowing the final results of the elections.
Former NDP federal deputy (left) Olivia Chow was elected with 37.2% of the vote, while Bailão, the municipality’s former vice president, obtained 32.5% with 231,300 votes.
The Portuguese-Canadian, after the result was announced, addressed an audience, largely consisting of Portuguese-speaking supporters, to praise everything she had learned in the community, showing herself “deeply grateful”.
“I am grateful for everything I have learned in this community, for everything they have given me, not only during this election campaign, but throughout my career. Everything I have learned has come from this community, I am immensely grateful” she stated.
Hundreds of Ana Bailo supporters gathered in a commercial space on College Street in Toronto, which served as the Portuguese-Canadian headquarters on Monday evening.
“It was an unexpected campaign, no one expected this election. We set up this campaign very quickly, but very robustly, we almost managed to win the election, with a fantastic second place, which no one gave in the polls”, he underlined in statements to the communication of expression Portuguese.
For the Portuguese-Canadian, these elections have always been between “Olívia Chow and Ana Bailão”, contrary to what the polls indicated, where other candidates came out on top of the table.
Ana Bailao even led the election night with 9,000 votes, sending supporters into a delirium.
Born in Vila Franca de Xira (Lisbon), the Portuguese-Canadian has lived in Canada since she was 15.
According to the Toronto Municipal Elections Office, 724,638 votes were cast after counting the 1,451 polling stations.
The midterm elections were scheduled after the scandalous resignation of “mayor” John Tori in February after the mayor confirmed to have maintained an intimate relationship with a former employee.
The next municipal elections in the province of Ontario will take place in three years’ time.
The Challenges of the Winner
Former U.S. Representative Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto. Born in China’s Hong Kong region, she will be the third woman (and first non-white woman) to become mayor of Toronto.
The current mayor faces several challenges, the most important of which is the lack of resources to fund various services and accessibility due to the high cost of living.
Public transportation safety is another major issue in Toronto, one of the most multicultural cities in the world, where about 50% of the population was born outside Canada.
The midterm elections were scheduled following the scandalous resignation of “mayor” John Tory last month after the mayor confirmed he maintained an intimate relationship with a former employee during the pandemic.
Source: DN
