Mark Saunders is the former chief of police and is now candidate for mayor of the city of Toronto. He has made the following statement:

“It is essential - and I cannot stress this enough – it is absolutely essential that Toronto’s mayor is able to sit at the table and have productive discussions with all levels of government.

“It serves nobody to take an aggressive, adversarial approach to intergovernmental relations, and frankly I'm surprised that Olivia Chow and Josh Matlow think that Torontonians would be better off in constant conflict with the provincial or federal governments.

“As police chief I worked well with the Prime Minister and Premiers Wynne and Ford. We didn’t always agree but we kept talking.

“As Mayor I will continue to be collaborative and always open for a discussion to benefit the citizens of Toronto. I will be a strong and unrelenting advocate for our city.

“But I have to say when parents go to sleep at night, they're not worried about endorsements of candidates. They're worried about the safety of their kids at school, or family members on the TTC. They're wondering if their car will be stolen. They're worried about the cost of rent and food. They're hoping things will get a little bit easier soon...These are the folks I've been talking to.

“The endorsements I really care about are from the thousands of people who live in parts of the city that the downtown politicians don't like to go to. Places in the city where you look out for your neighbour, where you pitch in to clean up a park, even when there's no camera crew around. Their support matters to me the most."