{"id":833232,"date":"2026-07-29T08:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833232\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:04:09","slug":"former-conservative-cabinet-minister-to-run-for-toronto-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833232\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Conservative cabinet minister to run for Toronto mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Leadership candidate Chris Alexander speaks during the Conservative Party French language leadership debate, on January 17, 2017 in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Former Conservative cabinet minister and ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander is set to enter the race to become Toronto\u2019s next mayor.<\/p>\n

A campaign spokesman says Alexander will officially register his campaign Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

The former member of Parliament for Ajax-Pickering says in a news release announcing his candidacy that Toronto gave him everything, but has been unnecessarily \u201cstanding still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2019s campaign touches on several points such as bettering the city\u2019s economy, transit system, housing and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The release says detailed, costed proposals on the campaign\u2019s five priorities would be shared in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Alexander was the immigration minister in Stephen Harper\u2019s Conservative government from 2013 to 2015 and Canada\u2019s ambassador to Afghanistan between 2003 and 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running because Toronto has been standing still for three years. A city with this much talent, strength and potential should not be underperforming, and it doesn\u2019t have to be,\u201d Alexander said in the news release late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt our best, we are a city of great achievements. With vision and teamwork, we can get back on that track, and I believe we will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Leadership candidate Chris Alexander speaks during the Conservative Party French language leadership debate,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,3302,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-833232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}