Olivia Chow: podcast appearances and interviews

Olivia Chow is a Canadian politician born on March 24, 1957, and is currently serving as the 66th mayor of Toronto since 2023. She has a long history of public service in Toronto, having been elected as a Toronto school board trustee in 1985 and subsequently serving on the Metropolitan Toronto Council from 1991 until the amalgamation in 1998. Following this, she was a member of the Toronto City Council until 2005. Chow was elected as the New Democratic Party member of Parliament for Trinity;Spadina in 2006 and served until 2014. During her political career, she was closely associated with the federal NDP, with her husband Jack Layton serving as leader of the party until his death in 2011. Chow resigned her parliamentary seat in 2014 to run for mayor, where she placed third in the election. After her campaign, she became a distinguished visiting professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. She made an unsuccessful run in Spadina;Fort York in the 2015 federal election. Chow was elected mayor in 2023, succeeding Toronto mayor John Tory following his resignation. She is the first woman to hold the mayoral office since Toronto’s amalgamation. Her first term has included measures such as property tax increases, a fare freeze for the Toronto Transit Commission, and policies aimed at protecting renters. In May 2026, she announced her campaign for re-election.