The day after his election win, mayor-elect John Tory stood outside City Hall on Tuesday and said he is willing to work with anyone to heal the city’s political divisions and create “one Toronto,” including his former rivals and outgoing Mayor Rob Ford.
In a lengthy and relaxed press conference that contrasted with the combative approach to the media taken by Mayor Ford, Tory, who beat out Doug Ford and Olivia Chow by taking 40 per cent of the vote in Monday night’s contest, said he would leave the door open to all of his former competitors if they wanted to make “a continuing contribution” to the city.
“I’ve said it publicly and I’ve said it privately to David Soknacki, Karen Stintz, Ari Goldkind, Olivia Chow and Doug Ford,” said Tory, as a light rain fell outside City Hall. “I want all hands on deck to build up the city and I don’t think anybody’s point of view, anybody’s background, anybody’s history is going to be a bar to that in my books.”
Tory’s appeal to cooperation continued the key theme of his winning campaign, in which he promised to unite the city after four years of polarizing rule under Mayor Ford. The deep rifts in Toronto’s political landscape were still evident Monday’s vote while Tory won by more than six points, Doug Ford dominated suburban wards in Etobicoke, Scarborough, and parts of North York.
Asked how he would deal with the unprecedented situation of having a former mayor and one-time opponent sitting on his city council, Tory said he didn’t anticipate any conflict with Rob Ford. Ford won the Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) council seat on Monday after dropping out of the mayor’s race in September to be treated for an aggressive form of cancer.
“He’s a duly elected member of the city council and a former mayor,” Tory said, “and I plan to treat him with just as much respect as I will all the other members of the council.”
As for whether Ford might find a spot on Tory’s executive committee, the mayor-elect said “I haven’t even begun to turn my mind to that yet.”
A transition team headed by Case Ootes has already been assembled to ease Tory into his new role before he’s sworn in on December 2. Ootes, a deputy mayor under Mel Lastman, also led Mayor Ford’s transition four years ago. Tory’s team has been given an office on the 15th floor of City Hall and he has already begun meeting with municipal staff.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Tory’s spokesperson released the full list of his transition team and transition advisory council.
The team, which will manage “administrative and structural matters,” will be chaired by Ootes, and Rod Phillips, the chair of CivicAction, will be vice-chair. Christopher Eby, Tory’s campaign communications director, will be the new mayor’s chief of staff.
The 20-person transition advisory council is made up of luminaries from the corporate and non-profit sectors, including Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy, University of Toronto transportation professor Eric Miller, former olympian Marnie McBean, Daily Bread Food Bank executive director Gail Nyberg, and Blake Hutcheson, president of Oxford Properties. Soknacki, who returned to his spice extract business after dropping out of the mayor’s race last month, is also on the council, which will provide Tory with advice on “transportation planning and SmartTrack,” traffic issues, and housing.
Tory is the first person to be elected mayor of the amalgamated city without first serving on city council, and he arrived at his press conference with a stack of binders staff had given him that outlined some of the issues on next term’s agenda. He said his reading list gave him a sense of “how monumental the task is that lies ahead.”
Throughout the election questions were raised about how Tory would handle his various business interests if he were elected. He sits on the board of Rogers Communications and also holds stock in the company, and his son operates an airline out of the Island airport, the fate of which is expected to be a hot topic in the coming term of council. Tory said Tuesday he will be meeting with the integrity commissioner before he is sworn in to get advice on how to handle potential conflicts, and said he would take “appropriate steps” but gave no specifics.
On another point of controversy from Mayor Ford’s term, Tory said he hadn’t decided yet whether he will hire a driver. “Most of the days, given the hours that I come I’d be happy to take public transit,” Tory said.
bens@nowtoronto.com | @BenSpurr
