Chow, Bradford back on campaign trail as election race enters its final full week

With election day fast approaching, both Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford are hitting the campaign trail hard this weekend. Chow was canvassing on Saturday alongside Oscar-winning filmmaker Sarah Polly. Toronto needs a mayor who cares about and advocates for the people who have been overlooked by too many governments. And Olivia is the most hard-working, optimistic person I have ever known. Polly's endorsement of the campaign brought out around 200 supporters, including Leslie Feist. The Canadian folk singer who calls the Davenport neighbourhood home. Meanwhile, Bradford held a press conference in Etobicoke, expanding on his plan to add 1,000 new police officers to Toronto in his first year if elected. And the service's own plan adds about 250 new net officers over the next term of council. 250. For a city that's added half a million people. That is not good enough. Aside from answering questions about allocating funding for 1,000 new officers, he also addressed his plan to increase training capacity. Currently, Toronto police officers go to the Ontario Police College in Elmer, Ontario, where they live and train for about three months, with recruits from municipalities all across the province. Each year, OPC can accommodate 360 Toronto police officers in total. Bradford wants to expand that. A Bradford City Hall will work with the province to open a satellite campus of the Ontario Police College right here in Etobicoke at the Toronto Police College. Additional recruit classes, Toronto officers hired and trained here in Toronto on top of the seats that we already get allocated in Elmer. We're going to secure more seats dedicated to Toronto recruits in the Elmer classes as well. Chow responded to the idea saying that the cost is too high and that more officers won't bring guaranteed results. It is not just about hiring police officers, which we have done, but it's also about the mental health crisis workers. Because not everyone that are in trouble need someone that show up with a gun. If anyone tell you, we'll just snap the finger and this city is going to be safer, that is not true. The most recent polls from Pelmorex Data show Chow is leading the race by six points, plus or minus a 3.6 margin of error. With just over a week to go before the election on October 26th, both candidates are pushing to get voters on their side. Mercedes Gastambide, CBC News, Toronto.