With Olivia Chow set to declare, Toronto’s mayoral-candidate collection is almost complete

Every collector knows there’s nothing quite like a complete set, and Toronto is about to have one: the last of 2014’s crop of major mayoral contenders appears ready to enter the race within the next two weeks.

The Star reports that campaign organizers for Olivia Chow are saying that the Trinity-Spadina MP will file her nomination papers during the week of March 17th, at which point she’ll release a complete platform—something none of her challengers have done—and the election will presumably get underway in earnest. John Laschinger, who helped engineer David Miller’s come-from-behind win during the 2003 election, will be leading Chow’s campaign.

Chow will have plenty of room to maneuver. None of the other major candidates are considered left-leaning, whereas her own progressive cred is unassailable. Her considerable campaign machinery (the Star says she already has senior aides, a volunteer network and a fundraising team on standby) will give her an edge—particularly over Rob Ford, whose campaign staff at the moment seems to consist mainly of his brother. The Star’s sources say Chow’s decision to stay out of the race until this point was a strategic one, intended to give her right-leaning rivals time to start attacking each other, rather than her.