The more she digs in, the bigger the hole becomes.
In full damage control, Mayor Olivia Chow has caused herself even more grief by offering nonsensical excuses for missing the Oct. 7 vigil to remember the 1,200 people slain at the hands of Hamas in Israel and for not attending the hospital after a Toronto Police officer was shot.
Saying she was “exhausted” after a bike lanes meeting, didn’t get her invitation because of “spam” issues, and didn’t know what time Oct. 7 vigil started, Chow was in spin mode Wednesday trying to explain her way out of a disrespectful snub of Toronto’s Jewish community.
Councillor Brad Bradford, who was the first to call for Chow to apologize to the Jewish community, called her attempts to spin this “disappointing.”
Her approach isn’t working. Her morning appearance on Newstalk 1010 and press statement at City Hall, which drew a moral equivalence on what is happening to Jews with what’s happening in other communities, fell flat.
“‘Sorry’ should not be the hardest word for her to say,” said Michelle Stock, a vice president with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), “We’re demanding an apology, and, if she is truthful about her regret, we hope she will agree to meet with CIJA without delay to discuss ways she can protect our community from the hate we’re facing.”
CIJA put out a statement saying “taking zero accountability, Mayor Chow instead blames, denies, deflects on why she let down the Jewish community on Oct. 7,” adding the municipal leader “continues to evade responsibility for missing the important Oct. 7 commemoration event with Toronto’s Jewish community.”
Said Stock: “Chow seems to find all the words except the right ones to explain away her decision not to attend the Oct. 7 commemoration in Toronto. Her interview today on Newstalk 1010 and her statement before today’s council meeting were embarrassing exercises in avoiding accountability for her and her staff who disappointed thousands and thousands of members of Toronto’s Jewish community.”
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, added Chow “continues to fail the people of Toronto, specifically its Jewish residents.
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“Her comments, after she failed to attend the Oct. 7 memorial event, are hollow,” he said. “There are no excuses that justify her failures. The mayor’s inaction and her unwillingness to address the anti-Semitism plaguing the city, and to acknowledge the plight of the Jewish people without making equivalencies, have emboldened those spreading hate and incitement on the city’s streets. At a time when strong leadership was required, the mayor has abandoned the Jewish community.”
The mayor’s media strategy is spinning out of control.
Not just on one front — but two. In addition to bizarrely missing such an important gathering at the Sherman Campus of the United Jewish Appeal Federation on Bathurst St. Monday, she also dropped the ball on last week’s shooting of a 53 Division major crime officer. The Toronto Police Association’s brand-new president, Clayton Campbell, was not waiting for the paint to dry in his office before issuing a strong statement.
The rails are off Chow’s mayoralty. The only thing that can change that is issuing not one apology but two.
“The mayor’s story about why she missed the Oct. 7 UJA Federation Vigil has changed significantly over the past 24 hours,” said Bradford. “I believe she owes Toronto’s Jewish community a clear and simple apology.”
Chow told The Toronto Sun she has “regret” about not making it to the vigil and that she never received her invitation despite organizers producing e-mailed proof that her scheduler and staff were repeatedly alerted about the event. She also appeared on with John Moore on Newstalk 1010 Wednesday, making more excuses.
“I really regret not being able to be there,” Chow told Moore. “I mourn with the Jewish community the tragic loss of lives and horrific things that Hamas did.”
But when it came to attending the vigil, she said, “I wondered if it got spammed or whatever. It doesn’t matter, you are absolutely right; I should have been there.”
Chow added, she “got caught up in the long discussion of bike lanes in the Kingsway area where emotions got high, and the meeting went quite long and by the time it was done, I was exhausted.”
It’s an embarrassing deflection, since the meeting ended at 5:30 p.m. and the event went until 9 p.m. Busy Premier Doug Ford, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie and Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca attended the event.
“As exhausting as discussing bike lanes may be for the mayor, we assure her the Jewish community is more exhausted,” said Stock. “Over the last year, Toronto’s Jewish community has had to justify their right to exist as Jews, feeling unsafe as constituents in the city Mayor Chow is purported to lead. Although she claims she wants her city to be safe and inclusive for everyone, her persistent inaction says otherwise.”
The mayor’s failures continued on with Moore when he asked her if she had any regrets not going to the hospital after the shooting of Const. Tade Davoudi.
“I don’t because on that day I was representing the city saying goodbye” at the retirement party for outgoing fire chief Matthew Pegg.
She added she “immediately called the chief of police (Myron Demkiw) and put out a statement” and “I did ask … the chief if there is something I could do — send flowers and bring or do something” and “he didn’t say I should.”
She pulled the same narrative: The retirement party ran past 10:30 p.m. and it got too late to respond. This did not go over well with the TPA. Campbell told the Sun Chow also hasn’t contacted officer or anybody in the association.
“I will give the mayor the officer’s phone number if she would like to call and check to see how he is doing herself,” said Campbell, who added the “brave, talented, young and popular officer is doing fine but very sore. If the bullet had have been one inch either way, he would have died.”
On the TPA’s X account, Campbell posted to the mayor: “Despite your comments on Newstalk 1010, how exactly have you supported our injured officer or any of our members? Your social media is not enough. No visit to the hospital. No visit to the division. Unlike your colleagues at the provincial level, no call to our member asking about his well-being or thanking him for his service. Our phone lines and doors are always open to you.”
The mayor needs to issue two apologies — and fast.