John Tory
John Howard Tory is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007 while he was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2004 to 2009.
After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 Toronto municipal election and lost to David Miller. Tory was subsequently elected as Ontario PC leader from 2004 to 2009, and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey and serving as the leader of the Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007. After his resignation as PC leader in 2009, Tory became a radio talk show host on CFRB. Despite widespread speculation, Tory did not run for mayor again in 2010. He was also the volunteer chair of the non-profit group CivicAction from 2010 to 2014.
On October 27, 2014, Tory was elected mayor of Toronto, defeating incumbent mayor Rob Ford's brother, councillor Doug Ford and former councillor and member of Parliament Olivia Chow. On October 22, 2018, he was re-elected mayor of Toronto in the 2018 mayoral election, defeating former chief city planner Jennifer Keesmaat. He was elected to a third term as mayor on October 24, 2022, after defeating urbanist Gil Penalosa. He announced his intention to imminently resign as mayor on February 10, 2023, after admitting to having an affair with a staffer during the COVID-19 pandemic. He submitted his resignation letter to the city clerk on February 15, and formally left office on February 17, at 5 p.m. Tory was succeeded by Olivia Chow as mayor of Toronto.
Early life and education
John Howard Tory, the eldest of four, was born on May 28, 1954, in Toronto, Ontario, to Elizabeth and John A. Tory, president of Thomson Investments Limited and a director of Rogers Communications. His grandfather was lawyer John S. D. Tory and his great-grandfather founded Sun Life of Canada.He attended the University of Toronto Schools, at the time a publicly funded high school affiliated with the University of Toronto. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1975. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978 from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 1980.
Business and early political career
From 1972 to 1979, Tory was hired by family friend Ted Rogers as a journalist for Rogers Broadcasting's Toronto radio stations CFTR and CHFI. From 1980 to 1981, and later from 1986 to 1995, Tory held various positions at Tory, Tory, DesLauriers & Binnington including partner, managing partner, and member of the Executive Committee.From 1981 to 1985, Tory served in the office of the premier of Ontario, Bill Davis, as principal secretary to the premier and associate secretary of the cabinet. After Davis retired as premier in 1985, Tory joined the office of the Canadian Special Envoy on Acid Rain, as special advisor. The special envoy had been appointed by the Mulroney government to review matters of air quality with a United States counterpart. Tory supported Dianne Cunningham's bid to lead the Ontario PCs in 1990.
Tory later served as tour director and campaign chairman to then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and managed the 1993 federal election campaign of Mulroney's successor, Kim Campbell. In his role as the Progressive Conservative campaign co-manager that year, he authorized two infamous campaign ads that ridiculed Liberal candidate Jean Chretien's face, which is partially paralyzed due to a childhood disease. The ads were greeted with much outcry among the Canadian public. They were withdrawn ten days after their first airings, and the Progressive Conservatives would proceed to be decimated in the federal election.
From 1995 to 1999, he returned to Rogers Communications, but this time as president and CEO of Rogers Media which had become one of Canada's largest publishing and broadcasting companies. Rogers has interests in radio and television stations, internet, specialty television channels, consumer magazines, trade magazines and, at the time, the Toronto Sun and the Sun newspaper chain.
In 1999, he became president and CEO of Rogers subsidiary Rogers Cable, which he led through a period of transition from a monopoly environment to an open marketplace, overseeing a significant increase in operating income. Tory stepped down after Ted Rogers announced that he would stay on as president and CEO of parent company Rogers Communications. He served as the ninth commissioner of the Canadian Football League from 1996 to 2000. Tory later was a board member of Rogers between 2010 and 2014, stepping down to run for Mayor of Toronto.
Tory continued to have an interest in being a broadcaster throughout his life and, as a Rogers executive, hosted a public affairs program on Rogers Cable's community access channel for many years. He sat as a board member of Metro Inc., the Quebec-based parent corporation for Metro and Food Basics grocery stores.
First campaign for mayor (2003)
After six years as a key backer of retiring Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, Tory ran in the November 2003 election for mayor of Toronto. He finished in second place, behind councillor David Miller and ahead of former mayor Barbara Hall, former councillor and MP John Nunziata, and former councillor and budget chief Tom Jakobek.Tory and Miller both entered the race with limited name recognition and support, but each quickly claimed a core base—Miller among progressives and Tory among more conservative voters. Meanwhile, Hall's initially commanding lead slowly dissipated over the course of the campaign, and the campaigns of both Nunziata and Jakobek were sidelined by controversies.. One of his campaign co-chairs was Mitzie Hunter.
Tory also accepted an endorsement from the Toronto Police Association. He held the traditional suburban conservative vote that had helped to elect Mel Lastman in the 1997 mayor's campaign, but lost the overall vote to Miller in a close race. After the election, Tory helped Miller and Hall raise funds to repay their campaign debts.
Leader of the Ontario PC Party
In March 2004, Tory hinted that he would be seeking the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives, after Ernie Eves announced his intention to resign from that post. The provincial PC leadership election was announced for September 18, 2004, and Tory made his candidacy official on May 6, 2004. John Laschinger was appointed to be Tory's campaign manager. Tory won the support of former provincial cabinet ministers Elizabeth Witmer, David Tsubouchi, Jim Wilson, Janet Ecker, Chris Hodgson, Cam Jackson, Phil Gillies and Bob Runciman as well as backbench members of Provincial Parliament Norm Miller, Laurie Scott, Ted Arnott and John O'Toole.Tory's opponents for the leadership post were former provincial minister of finance Jim Flaherty and Oak Ridges MPP Frank Klees. Tory defeated Flaherty with 54 per cent on the second ballot. When Flaherty later left provincial politics to seek a seat in the House of Commons as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Tory endorsed his former rival in the 2006 election; Flaherty was elected and was appointed the federal minister of finance. Tory also campaigned prominently with Flaherty's wife Christine Elliott in the provincial by-election held March 30, enabling her to win the seat formerly held by her husband.
Tory told the media in November 2004 that he would seek election to the legislature in time for the spring 2005 legislative session.
On January 31, 2005, after much public speculation and some delay, Ernie Eves resigned his seat and cleared the way for Tory to run in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, the safest PC seat in the province. As a "parachute candidate", Tory faced some criticism about his commitment to the riding. Nevertheless, he easily won the March 17, 2005 by-election with 56 per cent of the vote. Former premier Bill Davis appeared for Tory's first session in the legislature as PC leader.
2007 Ontario general election
In the 2007 general election, Tory ran in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, the area where he grew up, raised his family and lived most of his life.Tory released his platform on June 9, 2007. The platform, A Plan for a Better Ontario, commits a PC government to eliminate the health care tax introduced by the previous government, put scrubbers on coal-fired power plants, address Ontario's doctor shortage, allow new private health care partnerships provided services are paid by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, impose more penalties on illegal land occupations in response to the Caledonia land dispute, fast-track the building of nuclear power plants, and invest the gas tax in public transit and roads. A costing of the platform released in August estimated that the PC promises would cost an additional $14 billion over four years.
The PC campaign was formally launched on September 3. Most of the campaign was dominated by discussion of his plan to extend public funding to Ontario's faith-based separate schools, during which Tory supported allowing the teaching of creationism in religious studies classes. Earlier in the year, indications were that the party would have been a strong contender to win the election, but the school funding promise resulted in the Liberals regaining the lead in popular support for the duration of the campaign. Later in the campaign, in the face of heavy opposition, Tory promised a free vote on the issue.
With the beginning of the official campaign period on September 10, the PC campaign made clear its intention to make the previous government's record a key issue. In particular, Tory focused on the Liberals' 2003 election and 2004 pre-budget promise not to raise taxes and their subsequent imposition of a health care tax.
On election night, the PCs made minor gains and remained the Official Opposition while Dalton McGuinty's Liberals were re-elected with a majority. Tory was defeated in Don Valley West by the incumbent Ontario Liberal MPP, Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne. Although Tory was defeated in both his riding of Don Valley West and the race for the premiership, he said that he would stay on as leader unless the party wanted him to resign.