Olivia Chow
Canadian politician
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| 2025 | Chow proposed a 2025 city budget featuring a 6.9% tax hike for homeowners, aimed at funding $18.8 billion in operating expenses, including expanding school food programs to feed 8,000 more students. |
| January 2025 | Olivia Chow announced a TTC fare freeze for the second consecutive year and introduced a 5.8 percent increase in service hours to address transit congestion as part of the city's budget planning. |
| January 2025 | Olivia Chow announced a collaborative housing initiative with federal, provincial, and municipal governments to invest $975 million in building 14,000 new homes near Toronto's waterfront. |
| 2024 | One year after taking office, Chow maintained a relatively steady approval rating of 59% among Torontonians in a poll. |
| 2024 | Released the 2024 city budget, which included a property tax hike that caused her approval rating to drop to 55%. |
| 2024 | Chow committed to building 7,000 new rental homes in Toronto and launching the city's first affordable housing project through the Public Developer Delivery model. |
| December 16 2024 | Chow dismissed Brad Bradford from his role as vice-chair of the City's Planning and Housing Committee and replaced him with Frances Nunziata. |
| May 28 2024 | Chow attended the official renaming of Centennial Park Stadium to Rob Ford Stadium, along with the Ford family. |
| January 2024 | A poll revealed 71 percent of Torontonians disapproved of the proposed Sankofa Square name. |
| January 10 2024 | City staff presented the Budget Committee with a proposed budget that initially suggested a 10.5 per cent property tax increase, contingent on federal funding for housing refugee claimants. The proposed increase could potentially rise to 16.5 per cent without federal support, marking the largest tax increase since Toronto's 1998 amalgamation. |
| December 2023 | Chow supported a motion by Councillor Chris Moise to rename Yonge–Dundas Square to Sankofa Square and rename several other civic assets associated with Dundas. |
| December 2023 | Chow supported a motion to rename Centennial Park Stadium after former mayor Rob Ford. |
| November 27 2023 | Chow and Ford announced a comprehensive 'new deal' agreement, including provincial takeover of Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, $300 million in transit operations funding, and potential housing and subway train investments totaling $1.2 billion in operating funding and $7.6 billion in capital relief. |
| October 31 2023 | Chow confirmed that the federal government would join the working group discussing Toronto's financial challenges. |
| October 30 2023 | Chow and Ford wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for federal government participation in the financial working group. |
| September 18 2023 | Olivia Chow held her first official meeting with Premier Doug Ford, announcing the formation of a working group to discuss Toronto's long-term financial sustainability. |
| August 10 2023 | Olivia Chow made significant mayoral appointments, including naming Ausma Malik as deputy mayor, replacing Jennifer McKelvie. She also appointed progressive councillors to key committee chairs: Shelly Carroll (budget committee), Gord Perks (planning and housing), Jaamal Myers (TTC), and Alejandra Bravo (economic and community development committee). |
| July 12 2023 | Elected as the 66th mayor of Toronto, becoming the first woman of colour and first Chinese-Canadian to hold the position. |
| June 26 2023 | Chow was elected mayor of Toronto, winning with 37.2% of the vote in an election with 102 candidates, defeating Ana Bailão who placed second with 32.5%. |
| April 17 2023 | Chow announced her campaign for the Toronto mayoral by-election, proposing policies on housing, transit, and city services. |
| 2021 | City council adopted the plan to rename Dundas Street and related civic assets, with an initial estimated cost of $6 million. |
| 2020 | A petition with over 14,000 signatures called for renaming Dundas Street and related civic assets, prompting a city review of the renaming process. |
| 2016 | Founded the Institute for Change Leaders, an organization affiliated with Toronto Metropolitan University that teaches political campaign and organizing skills. |
| July 28 2015 | Received a leave of absence from Ryerson University to run for Member of Parliament. |
| July 28 2015 | Sought the federal NDP nomination in Spadina—Fort York for the 2015 federal election, ultimately losing to Liberal MP Adam Vaughan. |
| March 1 2015 | Appointed as a distinguished visiting professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), focusing on community engagement and democratic participation. |
| 2014 | Resigned from her seat in Parliament to run for mayor, ultimately placing third in the election. |
| 2014 | Participated in the Toronto mayoral election, finishing third with 226,879 votes (23.15%) behind John Tory and Doug Ford. |
| March 12 2014 | Resigned her federal seat to register for the Toronto mayoral race. |
| January 21 2014 | Published her personal memoir titled 'My Journey'. |
| 2013 | Diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome type II. |
| 2013 | Portrayed by Sook-Yin Lee in the CBC Television film 'Jack', for which Lee won a Canadian Screen Award. |
| August 20 2012 | Unveiled a statue dedicated to Jack Layton at Harbour Square Park, with tributes in English, Chinese, and French. |
| May 2012 | Named one of the top 25 Canadian immigrants by the Canadian Immigrant magazine. |
| 2011 | Re-elected in Trinity—Spadina with a margin of over 20,000 votes, becoming the first spouse of an Opposition Leader to be an MP. |
| 2011 | Her husband Jack Layton serves as leader of the Official Opposition. |
| August 2011 | Jack Layton passed away, ending their marriage of 23 years. |
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