Olivia Chow wins Toronto mayoral race with 54.2% of vote

NOW Toronto reported that Olivia Chow won Toronto’s mayoral race with 54.2% of the vote, ahead of Brad Bradford, who took 41.1%. Ms Chow received 532,201 votes, nearly double the 269,372 she won in the 2023 mayoral by-election. Mr Bradford’s 404,013 votes were more than the 342,158 that John Tory won in 2022.

More people voted this time. Turnout was 45.8%, the highest since 2014. That reverses a historic low of 29.2% in 2022. According to unofficial results from Build Canada, 982,660 votes were counted at 1,431 polling stations across the city’s 25 wards.

Advance voting lets residents cast their ballots in the days before election day, rather than on the day itself. A record 222,550 residents voted during the six days of advance voting, from October 6 to October 11. In 2023, only 129,745 votes were cast in advance.

In her victory speech, Ms Chow told voters she would work every day to earn their trust. She now gets to serve her first full term as mayor.

Sources: NOW Toronto

Toronto's $1.2 billion provincial deal expires as Chow wins again

CTV News reported that talks with the province over Toronto’s budget pressures loomed over Mayor Olivia Chow’s election win. The 2023 deal she negotiated, worth $1.2 billion in operating cash from Ontario, is set to expire this year. The city puts its 2027 budget shortfall at roughly $1.1 billion.

An operating budget pays for running services year to year; a capital budget pays for building and replacing long-lasting assets. Toronto’s staff-prepared 2026 budget has an $18.9 billion operating budget and a $63.1 billion capital plan for 2026-2035, which the City calls its largest 10-year plan. The provincial money in the 2023 deal was operating cash, not construction money.

Ms Chow repeated her promise to keep property tax increases at or around inflation. The City says it has limited revenue tools. It is not confirmed that the expiring deal and the 2027 shortfall are linked, or that Ontario will renew the money.

Sources: CTV News · City of Toronto

Wealthsimple raises up to $425 million at $13.8 billion value

Wealthsimple, a Toronto online investing and banking firm, is raising up to $425 million at a $13.8 billion valuation. Wealthsimple said GIC, a global investment firm established in 1981, is leading the round.

The round has a $300 million primary offering and a secondary offering of up to $125 million. A secondary offering sells existing shares rather than new ones; here, Wealthsimple said, it lets employees share in the value created.

It raised $750 million at a $10 billion valuation in October 2025, and was worth about $1.4 billion in 2020, according to The Finanser. Assets under administration, the client money it looks after, were $169.2 billion on September 30, 2026, up from $100 billion at the October 2025 raise.

As of December 2025, most of its more than 1,000 employees worked in the Greater Toronto Area. It plans to speed up its product roadmap and move into a new Toronto headquarters in mid to late 2027.

Sources: Wealthsimple (via Newsfile) · The Finanser · Wealthsimple Newsroom

Wealthsimple’s valuation at each funding round

Wealthsimple’s valuation at each funding round, CAD billion

Sources: Compiled by Toronto Dispatch: Wealthsimple (Canada Newswire) · Wealthsimple (Canada Newswire) · Wealthsimple Newsroom · Wealthsimple

$1.1 billion is roughly the shortfall the city has put on its 2027 budget, CTV News reported. Toronto’s 2026 operating budget is $18.9 billion; the 2023 provincial deal, set to expire this year, gave $1.2 billion.

• Weather: Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early in the morning. Clearing in the morning. High 16°C. Overnight low 7°C.
• Daylight: Sunrise 07:47, sunset 18:14; 10 h 26 min, 3 min less than yesterday
• TSX: 36,171.49 at the close, up 227.33 points (The Canadian Press)
• Dollar: 71.24 US cents, down 0.07
• 5-year bond: 3.58% (it steers fixed mortgage rates) (as of Oct 26)
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• Subway: Line 1 Yonge-University: no service Lawrence West to St George, from 23:59.
• Civic: New council term begins in 18 days (Sunday, November 15)

Small charts show the last seven readings: trading days for the TSX, the dollar and the bond; weeks for gas.

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