Toronto’s departing chief planner Keesmaat rules out politics in 2018
Top bureaucrat says she won't run for provincial seat or mayor's chair when she departs city hall in September.

thestar.com
By JENNIFER PAGLIARO
Aug. 31, 2017

Put your campaign signs away for Jennifer Keesmaat - for now.

The departing chief planner who has earned celebrity status amid a five-year push for a transit-oriented, cycling friendly city, says she has no interest in seeking political office in 2018.

“It’s not something that I can imagine at this point,” Keesmaat said in an interview Thursday when asked about speculation she might be persuaded to run for the Liberal Party provincially.

“I have no illusions about the demands of political life, because I’ve been so up close to it for the past five years,” she said the progressive bureaucrat, who calls the Yonge-Eglinton area home.

And the mayor’s office?

“That is not, in any way, my attention to run for mayor . . .

“. . . in 2018,” she added.

The city announced Keesmaat’s departure on Monday. It came as a surprise to her staff and has left a city that has become accustomed to her confident leadership style and prolific social media posts at something of a loss.

As a mother whose time has been dominated these past years by city hall affairs, Keesmaat said she’s looking forward to spending more time at home in the coming months, especially as her daughter will leave for university in a year’s time.

“This is my last year with her and that was a big part of the decision right now,” she said. “I actually need to make it home to dinner a few times in the week.”

Keesmaat’s tenure at city hall ends Sept. 29.