John Tory re-elected as Toronto mayor with ‘historic mandate’

Thestar.com
October 23, 2018
David Rider

Toronto Mayor John Tory clinched his coveted second term with a record mandate, easily beating progressive challenger Jennifer Keesmaat while promising four more years of conservative “balanced” rule.

Tory basked in victory Monday night, taking 63.5 per cent of the vote with most polls reporting. Barring the unforeseen, he will best David Miller’s 2006 re-election result of 57 per cent for the biggest mayoral win since amalgamation 20 years ago.

Toronto Mayor John Tory celebrates with his wife, Barbara Hackett, after delivering his victory speech at his post election party at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto Monday.

After taking a Sheraton hotel podium to the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up,” Tory thanked “the people of Toronto for their confidence and for their support and for their inspiration and for this historic mandate that they have given me tonight.”

But he’ll wake Tuesday facing tests including a drastically shrunken council, and dealing with Premier Doug Ford, who cut council midelection to 25 seats from a planned 47 and has made it clear he has more in store for Toronto.

Political observers predicted the 47-ward model would have injected fresh faces and cultural diversity into a council much whiter and more male than Toronto’s population.

With 25 wards Torontonians got more of the same. The new council retains the same proportion of visible minorities and women as the last. Four councillors, or 16 per cent, are visible minorities, while eight women, or 32 per cent, are women.

The new council also appears to lean slightly to the political right, much like the last. Several newcomers with unknown politics -- such as Jennifer McKelvie in Scarborough--Rouge Park, and Cynthia Lai in Scarborough North -- could mean divisive votes won or lost by narrow margins.

Colourful veteran Giorgio Mammoliti was turfed by Humber River--Black Creek voters. Newcomer Brad Bradford, a city hall bureaucrat endorsed by Tory, beat former NDP MP Matthew Kellway in Beaches--East York. Tory’s endorsement of progressive stalwart Joe Mihevc in Toronto-St. Paul’s wasn’t enough get him past Josh Matlow, who has led council opposition to the Scarborough subway extension.

 

An elated Matlow told supporters: “We have a common foe and that is a dishonest populist who is the premier of Ontario, who disregarded our local democracy (and) was willing to ignore our charter rights to settle scores.”

Tory thanked Keesmaat, the city’s former chief planner, for bringing ideas forward “which I’m sure we will discuss in the coming days.” He said “Job One” over the next few years will be to continue to connect the suburbs to downtown.

“To bring opportunities closer, to bring people closer, to bring us closer to our ultimate goal, which is a truly great, 21st century city,” Tory said. “A livable, affordable city with opportunities for everybody. A place where no neighbourhoods are left out. Where no groups of people are left out.”

The 64-year-old former broadcaster, telecommunications executive and Ontario Progressive Conservative leader ran a classic front-runner campaign, playing it safe at every turn in his hunt for a renewed mayoral mandate.

He refused to debate Keesmaat one-on-one. Rather than make daring new promises, Tory mostly pledged to continue past ones.

Read more: For up-to-the-minute results, visit the Star’s municipal election page.

Tory pledged to build 40,000 new affordable rental homes in 12 years; continue his SmartTrack plan as provincial regional rail expansion; hire 200 new police officers; and continue to limit property tax hikes to the inflation rate.

First elected mayor in 2014 after past mayoral and provincial disappointments, he registered for re-election in early May saying he always hoped to serve two terms.

For months it appeared no prominent challenger would try to deny him that prize. Blayne Lastman, son of former mayor Mel Lastman, briefly mused about fighting Tory from the political right.

In late July, just before the mayoral registration deadline, the Star broke news of Ford’s plan to slash council from a planned 47 seats to 25 seats to match provincial boundaries.

Rather than vow to fight Ford to preserve a plan that was four years in the making, Tory proposed a referendum to decide council’s size, expressed doubt about a legal challenge’s chances and said he was angry at “the process,” not Ford.

That pushed Keesmaat, 48, into the race. She had worked alongside Tory as chief planner and had for months resisted progressives’ pleas that she challenge him politically.

Speaking to upbeat supporters at Longboat Hall on Queen St. W, Keesmaat, who moved into academia after leaving city hall, congratulated Tory but vowed to continue lobbying for affordable housing, a rent-to-own program, evidence-based transit planning and tearing down the east Gardiner Expressway.

“I’m not going to give up working on it, and I hope you don’t either,” said Keesmaat to her boisterous supporters.

Asked if she would return to the city and work under Tory in some capacity, Keesmaat told reporters: “Look, this has been a big night, and a big three months, and part of what I’m going to do is I’m going to go away and process it, and really start thinking about the ways I’m going to contribute to the city in the future.”

Supporter Henrik Bechman, a retired software developer, told the Star he knew Keesmaat was not going to beat Tory.

“I thought she did a good job of bringing intelligence and integrity to the race. I don’t know if she’ll run again, but I think if she does many she will have better shot at winning more votes in the suburbs.”

Keesmaat made an early splash putting Tory on the defensive over first-term decisions made with suburban conservative allies while largely freezing out downtown progressive councillors.

She accused him of “dithering and weak leadership,” branded his SmartTrack plan, which has been absorbed into Ontario’s regional electrical rail plan, a “vote-buying mirage,” and said he was putting people in peril by prioritizing vehicle traffic over cyclists and pedestrians.

But her efforts to brand Tory as a Ford appeaser and win over voters with a “bold” alternative progressive platform, including replacing the east Gardiner Expressway with a boulevard and other promises not radically different than Tory’s, failed.

Polls put her support at between 26 and 35 per cent, with Tory’s support usually double Keesmaat’s, and her appeal failed to grow.

Faith Goldy, a white nationalist who grabbed attention by storming debate stages, finished a very distant third with about 3.4 per cent of the vote.