Josh Matlow (born November 27, 1975) is a Canadian politician who has served on the Toronto City Council representing Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's since 2010.
Matlow ran as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate in the 2002 Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey byelection, losing against Progressive Conservative Premier Ernie Eves. Matlow was a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee between 2003 and 2010 before his election to council representing St. Paul's. He was elected to City Council following the 2010 municipal election, and was re-elected in 2014, 2018 and 2022. Matlow ran for mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election.
Early life and education
Matlow was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Ted Matlow, was a federally appointed judge and his mother, Elaine Mitchell, was a retired high school teacher. He studied political science at Concordia University and attended L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France.
Career
Before entering politics, Matlow was an actor. He performed in festivals, did comedy improv and television commercials.
Matlow was a co-director of Earthroots, an Ontario environmental non-governmental organization. He also worked for the Canadian Peace Alliance, organizing against the war in Iraq.
Matlow has written articles for several local newspapers including the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star. He hosted a call-in radio show on University of Toronto station CIUT, was a weekly contributor and co-host on Toronto talk-radio station AM 640 and CFRB. He hosted a talk radio show called The City with Josh Matlow on Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010 and was a weekly columnist for the Toronto Star.
Political career
In 2002, at the age of 26, Matlow was asked by the Ontario Liberal Party to run as their candidate in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey in a by-election against Progressive Conservative Premier Ernie Eves. He lost by 3,560 votes.
TDSB Trustee (2003—2010) In 2003, Matlow was elected to the Toronto District School Board as a trustee and re-elected to the same position in 2006. He worked on a number of initiatives including installation of solar panels on school rooftops, keeping school pools open, and helping students to achieve 'economic literacy'.
In 2008, Matlow spoke out against a proposal to create an Africentric school in Toronto. He instead favoured the wide-spread implementation of a more 'culturally diverse' curriculum.
Toronto City Councillor
Elections
Matlow was first elected during the 2010 Toronto municipal election as the councillor for Ward 22 St. Paul's. In an interview with the Toronto Star following the election, he identified fostering a sense of community as a priority for his ward. He criticized the city's public consultation process, and committed to holding town hall meetings with residents.
He was re-elected in the 2014 election with the highest vote count (24,347) and highest winning percentage (86.2%) of any councillor candidate across the city. In 2018, Matlow was re-elected in the newly formed Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's, beating fellow councillor Joe Mihevc, who represented Ward 21 St. Paul's before his ward and Matlow's were amalgamated. He was re-elected in the 2022 election.
Matlow has been endorsed by the Toronto Star editorial board in the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 elections.
Political stance
Matlow initially positioned himself as a political centrist during his first term.
In a 2011 interview with BlogTO, he proposed contracting out garbage collection services and allowing unions to compete in the tender, citing frustrations during the 2010 strike. He also supported asking the province to declare transit an essential service, which would prohibit workers from striking. Matlow supported the repeal of a vehicle registration tax, calling for a reevaluation of financing relations with the province. He also expressed his dislike of the land transfer tax, however, did not support a repeal as it would leave a large revenue gap in the city budget.
Later in his career, Matlow shifted to the left, describing himself as a "pragmatic progressive" in 2023. He has supported issues such as a judicial inquiry of encampment clearings, reducing the police budget, and increasing property taxes to offset a transit fare increase.