**** just got real
John Tory officially joining Toronto's mayoral race Monday
John Tory will end months of speculation Monday by declaring his candidacy for Toronto mayor, promoting low taxes and a downtown relief subway in a bid to unseat Rob Ford.
Mr. Tory, a radio personality and former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, has been rumoured for months to be considering running. On Monday, he will formally register for the October election. Former TTC chair Karen Stintz is also signing up as a mayoral candidate Monday morning.
Known as a Red Tory for his fiscally conservative and socially liberal views, Mr. Tory – who narrowly lost the 2003 Toronto mayoral race – has long been seen as the greatest threat to Mr. Ford’s chance of re-election. His platform will overlap with some of the mayor’s biggest concerns, including subways, and keeping a lid on taxes. But he plans on setting himself apart as a big-tent conciliator, banking that Torontonians are ready for a more collegial style after the acrimonious mayoralty of Mr. Ford.
He’ll also represent an alternative for voters on the right who may be hesitant to back Mr. Ford again after the drug controversy that has plagued the past year of his mayoralty.
“I’m John Tory and I’m running for mayor of Toronto,” he says in a campaign ad set to launch Monday.
“This is the city I love. This is home.”
The ad, which showcases Mr. Tory’s blue and green campaign logo, gives hints of his platform, including building a downtown relief subway line.
“The Yonge Street subway relief line is job one for me, and that means getting the shovels in the ground,” he says.
In November of last year, after Mr. Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine once “in a drunken stupor,” Mr. Tory said that he thought the mayor should take time off. But Mr. Tory will likely steer clear of the scandals in his campaign, the organizer said, arguing that Mr. Ford’s troubles are already well-known.
Mr. Tory will, however, campaign on “gridlock at City Hall” – an apparent reference to Mr. Ford’s polarizing effect on council. “People have to come to work at City Hall – councillors and everybody, and work together, not against each other,” Mr. Tory says in the ad.
The fact that Mr. Tory is launching his bid on the same day as Ms. Stintz – also a centre-right contender – was described by a Tory organizer as a mere coincidence.
A group of Mr. Tory’s loyalists have been lining up endorsements for months. Councillor Jaye Robinson, former deputy mayor Case Ootes, Daily Bread food bank executive director Gail Nyberg, provincial minister Brad Duguid and Scarborough Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (who worked with Mr. Tory at CivicAction) are among them, the source said.
His team will also be filled with big names. Tom Allison, the organizational mastermind behind Kathleen Wynne’s stunning leadership victory last year, will be leaving his job in the Premier’s office at the end of the week to become Mr. Tory’s campaign manager. And two former members of Mr. Ford’s 2010 campaign, strategist Nick Kouvalis and Ontario PC party president Richard Ciano, will also be on the team.
Mr. Tory’s campaign hopes to compete for votes across the city. In 2003, when Mr. Tory lost narrowly to David Miller, he polled well in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. Since then, he’s been upping his profile in the inner city through work with CivicAction and his advocacy for dedicated revenue to pay for transit. In 2004, he shifted his sights briefly to provincial politics, becoming leader of the Ontario PC Party. He lost the 2007 election to Dalton McGuinty and the Don Valley West seat he contested to Ms. Wynne.
And though Mr. Tory is only now entering the race, he’s already been subject of an attack from the Fords. Earlier this month, after advising women who want to get ahead to take up golf, and citing studies that claim women don’t ask for pay raises as often as men, Mr. Tory was slammed by Mr. Ford’s campaign manager, Doug Ford, as “chauvinistic.” Doug Ford further stoked the fire by calling Mr. Tory – a former CEO of Rogers Media – “one of the elites of the 1 per cent.”
John Tory officially joining Toronto’s mayoral race Monday - The Globe and Mail
John Tory officially joining Toronto's mayoral race Monday
John Tory will end months of speculation Monday by declaring his candidacy for Toronto mayor, promoting low taxes and a downtown relief subway in a bid to unseat Rob Ford.
Mr. Tory, a radio personality and former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, has been rumoured for months to be considering running. On Monday, he will formally register for the October election. Former TTC chair Karen Stintz is also signing up as a mayoral candidate Monday morning.
Known as a Red Tory for his fiscally conservative and socially liberal views, Mr. Tory – who narrowly lost the 2003 Toronto mayoral race – has long been seen as the greatest threat to Mr. Ford’s chance of re-election. His platform will overlap with some of the mayor’s biggest concerns, including subways, and keeping a lid on taxes. But he plans on setting himself apart as a big-tent conciliator, banking that Torontonians are ready for a more collegial style after the acrimonious mayoralty of Mr. Ford.
He’ll also represent an alternative for voters on the right who may be hesitant to back Mr. Ford again after the drug controversy that has plagued the past year of his mayoralty.
“I’m John Tory and I’m running for mayor of Toronto,” he says in a campaign ad set to launch Monday.
“This is the city I love. This is home.”
The ad, which showcases Mr. Tory’s blue and green campaign logo, gives hints of his platform, including building a downtown relief subway line.
“The Yonge Street subway relief line is job one for me, and that means getting the shovels in the ground,” he says.
In November of last year, after Mr. Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine once “in a drunken stupor,” Mr. Tory said that he thought the mayor should take time off. But Mr. Tory will likely steer clear of the scandals in his campaign, the organizer said, arguing that Mr. Ford’s troubles are already well-known.
Mr. Tory will, however, campaign on “gridlock at City Hall” – an apparent reference to Mr. Ford’s polarizing effect on council. “People have to come to work at City Hall – councillors and everybody, and work together, not against each other,” Mr. Tory says in the ad.
The fact that Mr. Tory is launching his bid on the same day as Ms. Stintz – also a centre-right contender – was described by a Tory organizer as a mere coincidence.
A group of Mr. Tory’s loyalists have been lining up endorsements for months. Councillor Jaye Robinson, former deputy mayor Case Ootes, Daily Bread food bank executive director Gail Nyberg, provincial minister Brad Duguid and Scarborough Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (who worked with Mr. Tory at CivicAction) are among them, the source said.
His team will also be filled with big names. Tom Allison, the organizational mastermind behind Kathleen Wynne’s stunning leadership victory last year, will be leaving his job in the Premier’s office at the end of the week to become Mr. Tory’s campaign manager. And two former members of Mr. Ford’s 2010 campaign, strategist Nick Kouvalis and Ontario PC party president Richard Ciano, will also be on the team.
Mr. Tory’s campaign hopes to compete for votes across the city. In 2003, when Mr. Tory lost narrowly to David Miller, he polled well in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. Since then, he’s been upping his profile in the inner city through work with CivicAction and his advocacy for dedicated revenue to pay for transit. In 2004, he shifted his sights briefly to provincial politics, becoming leader of the Ontario PC Party. He lost the 2007 election to Dalton McGuinty and the Don Valley West seat he contested to Ms. Wynne.
And though Mr. Tory is only now entering the race, he’s already been subject of an attack from the Fords. Earlier this month, after advising women who want to get ahead to take up golf, and citing studies that claim women don’t ask for pay raises as often as men, Mr. Tory was slammed by Mr. Ford’s campaign manager, Doug Ford, as “chauvinistic.” Doug Ford further stoked the fire by calling Mr. Tory – a former CEO of Rogers Media – “one of the elites of the 1 per cent.”
John Tory officially joining Toronto’s mayoral race Monday - The Globe and Mail
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