The cartoon shows Chow "in a Mao suit literally riding on Jack Layton's coattails" as described by Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale. The cartoon was also criticized for picturing Chow with slanted eye glasses.

A day before the city’s municipal election, the Toronto Sun sparked controversy by publishing an editorial cartoon of mayoral candidate Olivia Chow.

OK, it's legit - the Sun did run a cartoon of Olivia Chow in a Mao suit literally riding Jack Layton's coattails: pic.twitter.com/QzEX46VLeH

The illustration was created by Andy Donato, the Sun cartoonist who is also drew a widely criticized cartoon of Premier Kathleen Wynne's broken glasses before June's provincial elections.

Chow told CP24 she thinks the cartoon is "disgusting."

“Because I am Chinese-Canadian, I must be a communist and have slanted eyes and glasses … and since I am a woman, I must be inferior and therefore not good enough for the job of the mayor so I must rely on my deceased husband so it both racist and sexist,” she said.

Members of Toronto's media and residents alike took to social media Sunday to express disgust at the cartoon, calling it a form of racism.