The no-politics mayoral candidate questionnaire: Brad Bradford

Long hours, combative colleagues and mean tweets for days: running Toronto is brutal work. The past two mayors left in ignominy. Why, then, is the slate of contenders longer than the line to eat at Alo? A record 102 candidates know that the city is on the verge of delivering huge, legacy-entrenching projects: thousands of affordable new homes, several new transit lines and the 2026 World Cup to cap it all off. If everything goes to plan, Toronto’s next mayor will get credit for lifting the city out of the pandemic and into a more hopeful future.   But, first, candidates have the daunting task of setting themselves apart from the crowd. For voters who can’t make up their minds based on hot-button issues like TTC safety, affordable housing and the future of Ontario Place, we present the ultimate tiebreaker: a questionnaire in which the front runners give answers on just about every topic other than politics—the theory being that, if their policies haven’t convinced voters, perhaps their personalities will.

Name: Brad Bradford

Age: 36

Neighbourhood: East Danforth

Last job: Toronto city councillor

My most impressive trait: My unlimited energy levels

My least impressive trait: I’m disappointingly bad at getting pop culture references. 

The last time I experienced joy: Playing with my two-year-old daughter in East Lynn Park   My biggest vice: Coffee   My coffee order: Black   The fast food item I could survive on for the rest of my life: Any kind of breakfast sandwich   How much I usually tip: 20 per cent

The last book I read: Saving the City by Daniel Sanger

The last show I binged: Ozark

The last concert I went to: The Red Hot Chili Peppers

A slightly embarrassing fact no one knows about me: I’m a terrible cook. Apparently higher heat does not cook things faster.

What a bad day looks like for me: A day with nothing to do

My first job: I was a caddy in high school, even though I don’t play golf.

My biggest pet peeve: People who talk a big game and don’t follow through

My celebrity doppelgänger: Stanley Tucci, but I’m much less stylish

My favourite curse word: It starts with an F.

My last splurge: A car seat for my toddler

My biggest regret: Not appreciating my hair more while I had it 

What I’d like written on my tombstone: “He made things happen.”

Car, bike or TTC: Whichever gets me there fastest

Raptors, Jays, Leafs, TFC or Argos: There’s a lot of heartbreak, but it’s got to be the Leafs.

My favourite watering hole: The Kilt and Harp, on Danforth

The best view of the city: Nothing like a sunset in Riverdale Park.

The Torontonian I’d most like to spend a day with: My wife, always

Where I would live if not Toronto: Somewhere more affordable—but there’s no place like Toronto