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 widespread 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. 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.
Scarborough transit extension In his first term, Matlow supported the light rail transit (LRT) proposal over Mayor
Rob Ford's proposal to construct a shorter
extension of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth to replace the aging
Line 3 Scarborough. He refers to the LRT as the "evidence-based" transit option, arguing that it serves more people within walking distance and would have been fully funded, instead of requiring the city to take on additional expenses for a subway extension. In 2013, city council ultimately decided to proceed with the subway extension. In February 2015, Matlow raised a number of administrative inquiries relating to ridership, the cost of cancelling the LRT project, as well as proceeding with a subway extension. The city manager's response confirmed that city staff did not know how many people will ride the Scarborough subway, where it will go, or how much it will cost. In 2018, Matlow called for a judicial inquiry to investigate what he described as "dysfunctional" transit planning, citing lack of information and misinformation that was provided to council.
COVID-19 At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matlow became the first known Canadian politician to go into quarantine on March 9, 2020, after coming into close contact with a person who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Toronto Police Service funding cut In 2020, Matlow, along with Councillor
Kristyn Wong-Tam put forward a motion in Toronto City Council to reduce the
Toronto Police Service (TPS) budget by 10 percent ($122 million), reinvest the police budget into community programs, and allow city council to read the line by line police budget they vote on. The motion was defeated.
Controversies Integrity Commissioner rulings In 2017, the integrity commissioner ruled that Matlow breached the council code of conduct by making claims on a radio show that a city staff member had misled council in 2016. City Manager
Peter Wallace asked Matlow to apologize after hearing the interview, which he subsequently did. Following the commissioner's report, Matlow said he was "clearly wrong in pointing at a specific name", but "firmly stand by the concerns" he raised. In 2018, TTC CEO
Andy Byford submitted a complaint to the integrity commissioner, who later ruled that ruled that Matlow again breached the code of conduct when he made comments on a radio show questioning the objectivity of staff's advice. In 2023, the integrity commissioner ruled that Matlow breached the code of conduct in two separate instances. In the first complaint, he claimed in a tweet that staff had "lied" to him about the opening date of park bathrooms. The second complaint was filed by Interim City Manager Tracey Cook, who Matlow claimed made a "decisions to omit facts". The commissioner recommended that council dock 10 days of pay from Matlow due to “an escalation” of his misconduct and his history of breaching the code of conduct. He lost to
Olivia Chow on June 26, finishing in 5th place with 35,572 votes (4.91%). In an interview with the
Toronto Star, Matlow described his approach as "pragmatic progressive", and committed to improving city finances and services through cost savings and a property tax increase. He noted a city report which identified a $46.5 billion in budget pressures over the next decade, promising to take meaningful action to address it. ==Election results==