Liberal sweep of Toronto shows ‘what this city values,’ Tory says

Toronto mayor says he told Justin Trudeau he wants to work closely with him to advance the city’s interests.

Thestar.com
Oct. 20, 2015
By Betsy Powell

Mayor John Tory says he is looking forward to advancing Toronto’s interests with prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau and Canada’s new Liberal majority government.

“His victory and the number of Liberal candidates who were elected in Toronto last night sends a strong message about what this city values,” Tory said Tuesday.

Tory described his relationship with Trudeau as “excellent,” though he doesn’t know him “really well.” They spoke on the telephone Monday night.

“I told him of my desire to work closely and well with him and his colleagues to advance the interests of Toronto and Canada,” Tory said. He was at the Blue Jays game and not completely “up to date” on the evening’s results so it was Trudeau “who told me that the Liberals had won every seat in Toronto.”

Tory noted he has worked with several of the elected Liberal MPs, including former city councillor Adam Vaughan, Chrystia Freeland, whom he worked with at Civic Action, a coalition of civic leaders, and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair.

Tory would not comment on Vaughan’s campaign pledge to ensure that there are no jets at Billy Bishop Airport. Tory has declared a conflict on the issue because his son works at the airport. “I guess we’ll see what unfolds in terms of the federal government’s view on that as we go forward.”

He singled out Bill Morneau, the Liberal newcomer who won Toronto Centre and is touted as a potential finance minister in a Trudeau cabinet. Tory called him a “shining addition to the public life of this city and this country. He has an outstanding business background and is himself an outstanding citizen.”

Morneau is a former chair of C.D. Howe Institute, a public policy think-tank.

The mayor said the election result is reason for optimism on transit and the affordable housing files, both which Trudeau has committed to funding.

“They were the first to be clear that infrastructure funds could be found to repair social housing. This may be the file with the greatest sense of urgency attached,” as some of the city’s aging housing stock is on the verge of becoming “uninhabitable.”

However, Tory said the election result does not change any of the timelines surrounding SmartTrack, Tory’s proposed 22-stop rail line. All three parties had committed to funding the project.

Tory said he interprets the Liberals’ decisive victory - and the higher the normal voter turnout - as a sign that people across the country are hopeful and tired of governments mired in polarized debate and conflict.

“They wanted change and they voted for it,” he said.

Tory had no explanation for the NDP shutout in the Toronto region, other than the voters’ desire for a new government in Ottawa.

“When the tide goes out, I’ve been through this experience in a number of respects personally, it just goes out,” he said.

“I think people coalesced around Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal Party as the vehicle to best deliver change and I think they ran on a campaign that was a positive campaign.”

Asked if the defeat of Harper’s Conservatives was a repudiation of a mean style of campaigning, Tory said: “Like food you keep in your refrigerator, governments have a certain shelf life and ... the average seems to rest at about nine or 10 years.”

Tory also paid tribute to Joe Oliver, the former finance minister who was defeated, and Stephen Harper. Tory said the outgoing prime minister treated him, as mayor of Toronto, “with complete respect.”