TORONTO

I want to be your new mayor.

And I want to tell Toronto Sun readers why.

Let’s be honest. I’m not writing here because I’m anticipating the Sun’s endorsement (wouldn’t say no, though!) I’m writing here because I want to speak with you.

After my family came to Toronto when I was 13, I wanted to fit in. Which means I wanted to skate — on hockey skates. My family couldn’t afford them. But we did watch the games with our neighbours. That I was a kid from Hong Kong didn’t matter.

Where I was born didn’t matter last month, either, when I bar-hopped in my neighbourhood, handing out Maple Leaf flags to the many people watching Canada win Olympic hockey gold.

We all have a lot more in common than Rob Ford says.

And there are some important things we can do together. Like this: We can look after our kids better.

Every parent wants things in their neighbourhood for their kids. To save money, to keep children active — and to keep them out of trouble.

That’s why I will put children and families at the heart of our city.

I have some ideas that we can afford for better after-school programs, better parks and facilities, and other steps we can take to make our city friendlier for our kids and their families.

My parents struggled after we came to Canada. They couldn’t find work.

Too many of our neighbours today know what that’s like. Unemployment is up since Ford became mayor.

So here’s another thing we can do together: We can support small business, and work with key industries to create jobs. That’s also what I’ll do as mayor.

Here is a third thing we can do together: We can reduce gridlock and get people moving faster — now — not years from now.

I’ll be spelling out some specific ideas about all of these priorities in the next few days.

Ideas we can afford.

Nobody knows the value of a nickel better than a new Canadian trying to make a new start in Toronto. Pennies and nickels were important to my family when I grew up, and those are lessons you never forget.

As mayor, I will mind the public purse.

Getting people moving faster, sooner, and doing it for less is why I support over-ground rail in Scarborough.

An over-ground line will have four more stops. It will be built four years earlier. For a billion dollars less.

Over-ground rail is world-class. Just ask London or L.A., Tokyo or Berlin.

Ford disagrees. He wants the city to pay a billion more — hiking taxes for the next 30 years. For an underground line that won’t even begin to be built until after the next Winter Olympics in Korea, that won’t move one person until after the Olympics after that.

We can’t wait that long.

Ford — and John Tory — want our city to pay at least $910 million more to build, and another $30 million more a year to operate underground.

For four fewer stops, to serve fewer people.

Who’s minding the public purse today? Not the current mayor.

So, for that reason and many other good reasons that Sun readers know well, we need a new mayor.

It’s time for a change. So that we can build a better city together.