Blake Acton wasn’t discouraged by the low turnout of supporters as he officially announced his run for Toronto mayor on Saturday on the steps leading to Nathan Phillips Square.
“No — it’s Saturday — people are at cottages, people are away,” said Acton, 54, a 30-year Toronto Police veteran.
“Any turnout is a good turnout.”
Acton, who is a single father to a 19-year-old boy he adopted eight years ago, has definitely got an uphill climb facing him with two-term incumbent John Tory now seeking a third term.
But he’s confident if nothing else.
“I’ve got a wealth of a knowledge,” said Acton, who was raised in a middle-class family and retired at the age of 50.
“I became a police officer. I was a court officer prior to that. I self-taught myself for investing and banking. I’ve done real estate. And throughout my career in policing I’ve had to listen to people and communicate with people. I’ve had to problem solve. I believe that those are good characteristics.”
Acton’s platform includes cleaning up the city — as in garbage, pointing to its “filthy streets” — and gun-related crime.
“These guns are coming in from illegal crimes from the U.S., so I think we have to strategically look into where these guns are coming from and how they’re getting on the streets,” said Acton, who served as a police officer between 1989-2019.
“We need tougher (federal) gun laws,” he said. “People can’t feel like they can just get away with shooting people.”
Acton also thinks there needs to be a better balance between bike lanes and cars in the city to get rid of traffic gridlock, wants to help the homeless get out from living in city parks, and an audit of how the city has been spending its money.
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