Toronto Mayor John Tory leaves his office at Toronto City Hall, on February 15, 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Torontonians will be going to the polls in June or July, unless council acts to jump-start the election process, after Mayor John Tory formalized his resignation from office.
Mr. Tory, who won a decisive victory for a third term in October, announced his resignation last week as he admitted to a lengthy affair with a staffer in his office. However, the Mayor did not set an exit date until after Wednesday’s budget debate, which locked in his priorities for the year.
The Mayor’s resignation letter put an end to days of speculation about his future, as Tory loyalists and Premier Doug Ford urged him to reverse course and stay. As council debated the budget, Mr. Ford argued that Canada’s largest city needed Mr. Tory as he warned that a left-wing mayor taking power following a by-election would be a “disaster.”
Mr. Tory will leave office effective 5 p.m. on Friday, according to his resignation letter. The post of mayor will then be vacant, with its duties assumed by Councillor Jennifer McKelvie, who was named deputy mayor by Mr. Tory last year.
Under city regulations, Ms. McKelvie will not become interim or acting mayor, although she will be acting as mayor. She will remain officially the deputy mayor. And according to the province, she will not assume Mr. Tory’s strong-mayor powers to veto bylaws or to pass them, in some circumstances, with only minority council support.
Ms. McKelvie said Thursday she would not contest the upcoming mayoral by-election.
“Residents can rest assured that my entire focus at this time is ensuring a smooth transition and continued good governance,” she said in a statement.
“I will oversee the operations of the Office of the Mayor from the moment Mayor Tory’s resignation is formally effective, until a new Mayor is elected by residents.”
The exact timing of the election to replace Mr. Tory remains unknown, with several steps that must be undertaken.
Council must declare his position vacant and its next scheduled meeting comes in late March. At that point, the city clerk will set a nomination period of between 30 and 60 days, which will be followed by a 45-day campaign.
This suggests an election in between the middle of June and the middle of July. However, Ms. McKelvie or a majority of councillors could call a special meeting to declare the mayoralty vacant, speeding up the process.
Few big-name candidates have declared themselves either officially in or out of the race. Urbanist Gil Penalosa, who came a distant second to Mr. Tory in October, has said he is running. And former councillor Joe Cressy, who had a high-profile role chairing Toronto’s board of health during the pandemic, has said he will not.
But some other possible candidates – including councillors Josh Matlow and Brad Bradford, and former councillor Ana Bailao – have not made their intentions clear.
Toronto election campaigns are typically much longer, and a short race favours candidates with organization behind them, said Matti Siemiatycki, a professor with the School of Cities at the University of Toronto.
“With these type of campaigns, the ground game is really important, and being able to use existing networks and then get out the vote is key,” he said.
Mr. Tory was a former lawyer and Rogers executive who became a broadcaster and Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader before winning the mayoralty in 2014 with a promise to return dignity to an office sullied by the behaviour of former mayor Rob Ford.
He won a third term handily in October, but behind the scenes the seeds of his downfall had already been planted. He said, when admitting the affair last Friday, that the relationship began while he and his wife were spending extended periods of time apart during the pandemic. The other person was his employee when the affair began. The affair ended this year, the Mayor said.
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Mr. Tory said he would resign to take time to “reflect on my mistakes and to do the work of rebuilding the trust of my family.”
However, it soon became clear that he first wanted to stay long enough to preside over Wednesday’s budget meeting. Under “strong mayor” powers introduced by the provincial government, he would be able to veto any changes that council’s progressive wing might try to introduce. The budget debate ended without any changes that would have been unpalatable to Mr. Tory, clearing the way for his departure.
Wednesday’s budget meeting also offered a taste of what he might have faced had he not followed through with his pledge to resign. The council chamber was packed with spectators, and some hissed at the mayor when he began to speak.
The actual budget debate started hours late, derailed for most of the morning by a variety of protests. Some people were physically removed by City Hall security guards, and the chamber was cleared twice for security sweeps. Protesters chanted: “House the homeless, feed the poor, kick John Tory out the door!”