Campaign · Oct 5, 2026
Freeze the police budget and move new money into what prevents harm. Within a frozen budget, illegal guns, trafficking and child exploitation come first.
As mayor, I will freeze the police budget and move the money into what actually prevents harm. Toronto now spends $1.43 billion a year on policing, its second-largest expense, and trust in the service keeps falling.
Every year City Hall hands the police a bigger cheque. Every year residents are told it is the price of safety. But size is not a safety plan. A city that cannot get a crisis worker to a person in crisis, while it funds overtime without question, has its priorities backwards.
I will change that. Police will focus on serious crime. Crisis workers will answer crisis calls. And the savings will go back to neighbourhoods.
What the freeze means in my plan
The freeze means three things: stop the automatic increases, send the right responder to each call, and reinvest every dollar saved in prevention.
It does not mean abolishing the police. It does not mean leaving anyone unprotected. It means police do the work only police can do, and the city stops paying armed officers to handle mental-health crises, wellness checks and social problems they were never trained for.
The record
Olivia Chow promised to redirect police resources to mental-health response, then raised police funding every year she held office.
- The promise (June 2023): during the campaign, Chow rejected the “defund” label but said she would redirect some police resources toward mental-health support. (Global News)
- 2024: she first rejected a $20 million police increase, then reversed and supported the full amount. (CBC)
- 2026: council approved a $93.8 million increase, bringing the police budget to $1.43 billion. Chow defended it days after seven serving Toronto officers were charged in a corruption and organized-crime investigation. (On the Record)
- The charges (February 2026): York Regional Police allege officers leaked personal information later used in shootings, robberies and a murder plot, and that some took bribes and trafficked cocaine. These allegations have not been tested in court. (Canadian Press via CHCH)
- Racism: the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s final report, From Impact to Action, found that Black residents face systemic racial discrimination and racial profiling by Toronto police and the Police Services Board, and made more than 100 recommendations. (Global News)
A bigger budget did not prevent any of this. It will not fix it either.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam
Independent Candidate for Mayor of Toronto
Be The Change Movement
