Former councillor Ana Bailão confirms she’s eyeing a run for Toronto mayor

TTC cellphone service and affordable housing are two issues she’d tackle if she decides to run.

Ana Bailão says she’s “strongly” considering a run for Toronto mayor and if she does and wins, she’ll work on solving a headache that has plagued subway users.

In her first public comments confirming interest in what could be a crowded race to replace John Tory in a June 26 byelection, the city councillor from 2010 to 2022 told the Star she is listening to family, friends and others urging her to run.

City council’s former housing advocate, who recently started working for developer Dream Unlimited, said alleviating Toronto’s affordable housing crisis would be central to her campaign, as would working across political divides.

“I believe I had a transformative impact,” on Toronto efforts to expand affordable housing options, Bailão said, noting programs to entice developers to build on underused city land, and the legalization of garden suites and laneway housing.

“Now I want to continue to give back — to bring council together and to bring the city together to address the issues we are all facing.”

But pressed for potential campaign pledges, the former Davenport councillor, who was a strong ally of Tory, took aim at most Torontonians’ ongoing inability to use their mobile phones while riding the city’s subway system.

Calling it a convenience and safety issue, she said cellular providers Rogers, Telus and Bell have a “duty” to work with both the city and the company that built a subway cell network which the major firms have long refused to use.

“If I was to run, that would be absolutely my expectation, my position, working towards that,” Bailão said, noting the recent random attacks on TTC customers and also a new GO Transit service that lets users in peril ask for help by text.