Doug Ford says it would be ‘great’ if former Toronto police chief runs for mayor

Thestar.com
March 9, 2023

Premier Doug Ford is signalling that former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders would be his kind of mayor.

While Ford is officially remaining neutral in the June 26 election to pick a successor to departed Toronto mayor John Tory, some Progressive Conservatives are rallying behind Saunders.

“Let’s see if he’s going to announce. I think the world of a lot of the candidates, but chief Saunders did a great job as police chief and if he goes in, that’s good. I think that’s great,” the premier told reporters Wednesday.

“A good field of candidates is always healthy for the people to decide on, and let’s see what happens,” he said at a news conference in Pickering.

Ford pledged to work “with anyone, whoever gets elected” later this year.

Asked what he thought the key issues of the campaign would be, the premier said, “What I’m hearing out there is safety, safe communities, safe subways, safe transit.

“That’s a big issue in Toronto right now, but you also have to be fiscally responsible.”

Saunders was the Progressive Conservative candidate for Don Valley West in last spring’s provincial election, where he finished second to Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman.

He was not available for comment Wednesday. However, in a statement to the Star, Saunders described Toronto as being at a “tipping point.”

“We need to get back on track or we risk real long-term negative impacts. Random acts of violence have people on edge. Families can’t afford to live here. If we don’t get these fundamentals under control, nothing else matters,” the statement said.

“We need leadership focused on restoring Toronto to the city my parents, immigrants from Jamaica, dreamed their children could live in. A city where businesses can prosper, providing good jobs to hard working people. A city that takes care of its people, its environment and makes the investments needed to ensure that our children have it better than we have it right now. And we have to get going.”

Behind the scenes, Saunders’s nascent campaign has attracted some top Conservatives.

They include PC fundraising czar Tony Miele; Laryssa Waler, Ford’s former director of communications; lobbyist Nico Fidani-Diker, the premier’s former executive assistant; Dan Robertson, one-time adviser to former PC leader Patrick Brown and former federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole; consultant Mitch Wexler; and developer Carmine Nigro, Ford’s hand-picked chair of both the LCBO and Ontario Place Corporation, who sat at the premier’s table at his daughter’s wedding last year.

Ford’s controversial former chief of staff, Dean French, is also helping out, but Saunders campaign insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, emphasized French only has a minor role in helping raise money.

They are mindful that French -- who left Queen’s Park in 2019 under a cloud after the “French connections” cronyism scandal -- is a polarizing figure among Conservatives.

At last Thursday’s massive Tory fundraising dinner, he was spotted working the room with Saunders and touting his fundraising prowess.

Saunders made history as Toronto’s first Black police chief on the same force where he spent nearly four decades, including time as the head of homicide.

His tenure as chief began in 2015 with promises to modernize the service and rebuild trust with the city’s Black community.

With eight months left on a rare second contract, Saunders resigned abruptly in July 2020. That decision came at a pivotal moment, as the force faced loud calls for reform and defunding in the wake of shooting of George Floyd in the U.S.

Saunders faced several controversies as chief, including criticism of the force’s investigation of a serial killer targeting the LGBTQ community in the Church-Wellesley area, and his handling of carding.

He also sparred with the city’s police union, which held a vote of no-confidence in him.

In a statement this week, Toronto Police Association president Jon Reid said the union doesn’t endorse specific candidates.

The association “would like to work with a mayor who recognizes that a world-class city like Toronto deserves a police service that is well trained and equipped to provide public safety in partnership with communities,” Reid said.

“It is our hope that the next mayor prioritizes productive labour relationships with a focus on enhancing working conditions for our members so they can serve the people of Toronto.”

Ford appointed Saunders to Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine task force. In February 2021, he was appointed a special adviser on the redevelopment of Ontario Place.

Saunders would join a race that is already gathering steam in advance of a nomination period that begins April 3 and continues until May 12.

Coun. Brad Bradford (Ward 19--Beaches-East York) has attracted Ford’s provincial campaign manager Kory Teneycke and ad guru Dennis Matthews, as well as Navigator principal (and Star contributing columnist) Jaime Watt and top Ontario Liberal strategist Bob Lopinski.

Former councillor and deputy mayor Ana Bailão is building a team that includes Liberal campaign whiz Tom Allison and PC pollster Nick Kouvalis, who was instrumental in getting Ford elected last June and in Tory’s three mayoral victories.

Coun. Josh Matlow (Ward 12-Toronto-St. Paul’s) is considering a bid with the support of former mayor John Sewell and street nurse Cathy Crowe, among other progressives.

Coun. Stephen Holyday (Ward 2-Etobicoke Centre) is kicking the tires on a mayoral bid.

Urbanist Gil Penalosa, who finished a distant second to Tory on Oct. 24, is also pledging to run again.