Breaking: John Tory To Announce Candidacy For Mayor In Weeks
June 27, 2009 · By Matthew Campbell
Word was let loose last night during the opening hours of the 2009 Ontario PC Leadership Convention in Markham that failed Ontario PC leader John Tory will be announcing his intention to run for mayor of Toronto in next year’s municipal election. The source, a party operative from Etobicoke attending the Randy Hillier hospitality suite, indicated that all the pieces of Tory’s campaign are in place and that we should be seeing a formal announcement as July rolls in. Tory, who surprised many observers in 2003 when he came close to pulling off a come-from-behind victory against eventual winner and current incumbent David Miller spent most of the six years since that campaign running the Ontario PC Party and fought a ill-received campaign against Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals in 2007. During that time, Tory’s success with the provincial PCs faltered and whispers about him returning to re-contest the municipal race in 2006 or 2010 hovered over the former Rogers CEO. No word yet on whether Liberal operative Warren Kinsella, who has had a weekly series on his blog this week titled “Toronto Needs A Mayor” will return to help Tory’s campaign as he did in 2003. More as it develops.
Update: Welcome Newswatch readers!
Things John Tory should not do while campaigning:
Don’t talk about privatization of services. Just talk about making municipal government more efficient. Leave the privatization talks until after the election if he becomes mayor.
No promises about getting the Olympics, Pan Am or Commonwealth Games, or the Stanley Cup finals. The first two are highly improbable and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The third one is impossible.
John Tory can promise jobs for Toronto. However, can he develop a community? That part may be Tory’s weakness and Miller’s strength. Municipal politics is about community building. Jobs may be framed in terms of community building. The problem with jobs alone is that anyone outside Toronto can take those jobs. Not everyone inside Toronto would be qualified to fill those jobs. Community building involves receiving effective services from the municipal government. Are there good roads, community centres, libraries, sports programs, local arts, recreation parks, and other services? Will there be good public transit people and roads for cars?
SkinnyDipper – it seems Torontonians don’t think it’s a strength of Miller’s. Check out these numbers.
John gets my support..Miller has ruined Toronto…The city is a disgrace…absolutely filthy+too many socialists.
Wow. There is only one person in the world who could convince me to vote for David Miller. That person is John Tory,
Is there nobody else in this so-called City?
John Tory is one of the few polticians that talks common sense. 905 ers can’t vote BUT toronto is crazy if they turn down all that John Tory could offer them. Toronto has stuck with Miller so maybe that speaks volumes in itself…..Wouldn’t set foot in Toronto anymore, although i grew up there…I miss the city that was……
VOTE FOR JOHN and bring your City back from disaster…
Good advice LadyLis. Toronto the Good is now Toronto the Terrible – weighed down by the stinking mess (no, not the garbage strike) they voted in with Miller and friends. I too, am staying away.
I voted for Tory before, and I’d vote for him again in a heartbeat! I really don’t know how Miller could have won over a stupid island bridge issue…. don’t the people of Toronto have any brains to think about the larger issues? Incredible.
I don’t know if John Tory will receive this, but like thousands of others, I would like him to know that I am sorry he will not run for mayor of Toronto. Hopefully he can make good things happen in this city even while unelected.
Thank you, John, for your integrity and enthusiasm.