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People light candles during a vigil for healing following a weekend shooting that left two dead at the Salsa on St. Clair street party in Toronto on Monday.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Brad Bradford is running for mayor of Toronto. The city councillor for Beaches-East York is the main rival of the incumbent, Olivia Chow, who is hoping to win a renewed mandate when voters go to the polls on Oct. 26.
So when he speaks, it is worth listening to what he has to say. Unfortunately, what he had to say about a recent, tragic incident in the city was drivel.
Last Saturday evening, shots rang out at Salsa on St. Clair, a Latin American-themed street festival that draws throngs of visitors every year. Panic broke out and hundreds of people ran for cover. Two men were killed and five apparent bystanders were sent to hospital.
Ms. Chow issued a dignified video statement expressing her abhorrence. This “reckless and disgusting” episode, she said, “happened at a crowded festival with families enjoying a summer night.”
She praised the police and other first responders for their heroic service. She said she could not imagine what the victims and their families were going through. She called on Ottawa to work with American authorities to stem the flow of U.S. guns into Toronto’s streets. She said that despite the “long shadow of fear and anger” cast by such horrors, “the spirit of Toronto” was resilient. The city would never let violent criminals stop residents from enjoying its many summer street festivals.
Her address was note-perfect, mixing sympathy and resolve. But Mr. Bradford was not satisfied. Oh, no, not satisfied at all.
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A Toronto Police officer blocks traffic on St. Clair Avenue one day after the shooting.EDUARDO LIMA/The Globe and Mail
Wearing a black tie and a grim, angry expression, he appeared at a podium to castigate the mayor – and, for good measure, police leaders – for what they had said after the shooting.
Ms. Chow, he practically scoffed, had called it a “difficult weekend,” implying that she had somehow brushed off the events on St. Clair instead of condemning them in the strongest terms. When counting the toll from two other Toronto shootings, more than a dozen people had been shot over the weekend, he reminded us.
He, personally, was fed up. “I’ve had it. I’ve had it as a dad. I’ve had it as a neighbour.” If he were mayor instead of Ms. Chow, there would be “no more weekends like the ones we just had. That’s my promise.”
Toronto, he declared, should never wave the flag of surrender and give up on its wonderful festivals. Which of course is precisely what Ms. Chow said.
Deadly shooting at Toronto’s Salsa on St. Clair festival sparks demands for solutions
As for the police, well, they had the nerve to say that, all in all, Toronto was not a dangerous place to live. Deputy Chief Frank Barredo called the St. Clair shootings “brazen” and “despicable,” but made the point that, sadly, such things sometimes happen in big cities, and “Toronto is one of the safest cities in the world.”
That really got Mr. Bradford’s goat. He said the comments were “tone-deaf.” Torontonians “don’t live in a spreadsheet of numbers.” They “can’t conduct their lives according to statistics.”
But sensible citizens will look at the numbers and conclude that Toronto is indeed a pretty safe place. The police weren’t trying to gloss over the St. Clair violence when they pointed out that shootings are down sharply from last year. They were stating facts. Remember those?
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The Saturday shooting killed two men and sent five people to hospital.Keito Newman/The Canadian Press
Toronto had 45 homicides in 2025, the lowest number in many years. Chicago had 43 homicides this June alone.
A cheeky reporter asked Mr. Bradford the obvious question: If he knows so much better, what he would have done to stop what happened on St. Clair?
The candidate replied that, if elected this fall, he would employ “all of the resources and tools at our disposal to keep people safe.” He would work for bail reform so that bad guys don’t get back on the street. He would try to crack down on guns.
In other words, he would do the things that police and political leaders are doing already.
Except, no. He would do one different thing. He would take a seat on the police board, something any mayor can do but Ms. Chow chose not to. That should put the fear into those gangsters.
It is the job of challengers to criticize those in power, but this was not criticism – this was self-interested, self-righteous grandstanding. By climbing on his high horse, Mr. Bradford was trying to squeeze political advantage from tragedy. If anyone was being tone-deaf, it was him.