John Tory says he will seek a third term as Toronto’s mayor

Thestar.com
March 25, 2022

John Tory has ended months of intense speculation by confirming to the Star that he will seek a third term as mayor of Toronto.

In an exclusive interview Thursday, the city’s 65th chief magistrate revealed that he will register May 1 to run again in the Oct. 24 civic election.

If he wins and serves a third four-year term, Tory -- whose early political career was marked by civic and provincial election losses -- will become Toronto’s longest serving mayor, surpassing Art Eggleton’s 11 years in that office.

“We have made significant gains on transit, on housing, on unity of the city, on better functioning of the council, on city finances, building up industries like tech and film, and building up the city’s image,” he told the Star.

“You want to make sure those gains are not going to be lost and that’s going to necessitate the maintenance and strengthening of the partnerships that we’ve developed with other governments.”

Potential successors on and off city council have long watched the former cable executive and broadcaster for a signal. When first elected in 2014 he suggested two terms was his limit, but later mused about the possibility of a third.

Opinion polling has consistently pegged his public support as very high. Tory’s re-election plans will likely put on ice the mayoral ambitions of some potential successors.

When interviewed by the Star last fall, Tory allies on council including housing advocate Ana Bailão and Michael Thompson, chair of economic and social development, declined to rule in or out a 2022 mayoral run.

Tory’s re-election bid will put pressure on council’s left-leaning wing to find a strong challenger. He has been criticized this term for the clearing of homeless encampments from parks, the costly rebuild of the elevated east Gardiner Expressway, his entanglement in a Rogers family feud, and his resistance to significant tax hikes to improve city services.

Many considered Coun. Joe Cressy, the public health chair who has led the city’s pandemic response with Tory, to be progressives’ best mayoral hope. But Cressy has announced retirement from elected office, for now, when this council term ends.

Tory said he turned his mind to re-election after city council passed the 2022 budget in February. He recently made a final decision after getting the blessing of his wife, Barbara Hackett -- who has Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune nerve disorder -- and his four adult children.

“The bottom line is that Barb is very understanding of the fact that I love my job, I love the city, that I really want to protect the gains that we’ve made and continue to move the city forward,” Tory said.

“She is quite content that I continue to do that. We have found different ways as the family has grown to make sure that I can set aside time for her and for the family … She’s satisfied, as are my family, that that can be the case.”

The grandfather of six will turn 68 years old in May. He says a naturally high energy level that lets him work from very early in the morning until late at night, plus many weekends, remains undiminished.

Whoever steers Toronto from 2022 until 2026 will face major challenges as the city tries to recover from a COVID-19 pandemic that made the city core a virtual ghost town, highlighted existing inequities and crippled the city’s finances.

Priorities include expanding mass transit and affordable housing options, getting Toronto on track to go carbon neutral to fight climate change, making city streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and major infrastructure projects including the Gardiner and a provincial remake of Ontario Place.

Tory said his success this term getting provincial and federal funding commitments on transit and housing, as well as pandemic budget bailouts, must continue. City council passed Toronto’s 2022 budget with a gaping funding shortfall.

His second term has been dominated by the pandemic. Asked if that figured into his decision to seek a third term, the mayor said the city’s COVID-19 response occupied an immense amount of his time and he’d like to continue as mayor post-pandemic -- “whenever that is” -- to have more time for other files.

Tory said he will mount a full re-election campaign but declined to offer any specific planks in a platform for an election that will, for its first month, overlap with the provincial election in which Premier Doug Ford is seeking re-election.

“The (platform) specifics will come,” Tory said. “I will have some new ideas but in the meantime I’ve got to continue being mayor -- we have several months left in this term.”