{"id":50858,"date":"2015-02-09T07:30:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T12:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=50858"},"modified":"2015-02-09T10:01:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T15:01:15","slug":"lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"feature-lorinc\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At their confab in Toronto last week, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities big city mayors caucus welcomed John Tory like the return of the prodigal son. \u201cI can\u2019t underscore enough the importance of having Toronto at the table, fully engaged again,\u201d gushed Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, according to The Globe and Mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also glad that Tory showed up, smiled for the cameras and made the right noises about pushing Ottawa to treat its \u201cmarriage\u201d with cities as a seven-days-a-week affair. But all the adulation reminded me a bit of the Nobel Foundation\u2019s decision to award U.S. president Barack Obama the peace prize about ten minutes after he\u2019d been elected.<\/p>\n

Maybe we should wait and see if the guy can advocate effectively before slathering on the gratitude.<\/p>\n

With a federal election possibly coming as early as March and certainly by the fall, Tory \u2013 who, as mayor, is officially designated to manage intergovernmental relations \u2013 will have to figure out what kind of role he\u2019s prepared to play in this exquisitely important campaign.<\/p>\n

Besides the policy advocacy Tory oversaw during his Civic Action days, there\u2019s little on his resume to indicate how he\u2019ll manage the politics. But his long-standing connections with Stephen Harper\u2019s Conservatives (as well as those of his staff) should cause everyone to wonder if he\u2019ll be pulling his punches or deftly allowing others \u2013 e.g., Calgary\u2019s Naheed Nenshi \u2013 to do the heavy rhetorical lifting.<\/p>\n

By breeding and temperament, Tory is the type of person who prefers to deal with his political counterparties in person, and behind closed doors. Frankly, it\u2019s easier that way, because the fighting doesn\u2019t take place in public, on camera.<\/p>\n

Few politicians want to reach for the nuclear codes, but they have to be prepared to do so when pushed. If I had to cite one of the gutsiest acts of political brinksmanship I\u2019ve witnessed at City Hall, I\u2019d go back to the early days of amalgamation, when the Mike Harris Tories reneged on a private pledge to provide the City with transition funds.<\/p>\n

When then-mayor Mel Lastman found out, he flipped out, called a press conference at Metro Hall and accused Harris of lying to his face. Lastman was a peek-a-boo Tory. He knew he was taking a huge risk, but he called out Harris nonetheless. (The gambit earned Lastman an important concession \u2013 a no-interest $200 million \u201cloan\u201d that the province eventually wrote off.)<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to the current budget cycle, and the food fight over that $86 million shortfall on social housing grants from the province<\/a>. Despite a much-hyped pre-budget tete-a-tete<\/em> with Premier Kathleen Wynne, Tory offered at best a half-hearted push back when the Liberals reneged on their policy to upload such costs. Obviously, the mayor has decided to pick his battles. But it\u2019s difficult to ignore the nagging feeling that if he\u2019ll allow himself to be rolled once, he\u2019ll let it happen again.<\/p>\n

There are other causes for concern. As chair of Civic Action and a radio show host, Tory frequently talked about the need for revenue tools to help fund transit in Greater Toronto. He, and many others, reckoned that such campaigns would create more political space in which the elected officials could move. But when he shifted (back) to the political side of that equation, he ran as fast as he possibly could from the case for revenue tools (to be fair, so did the provincial Liberals, who had initiated the debate). He opted instead for one of those magical thinking taxes that apparently generate dollars without generating political discontent.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also found myself wondering how Tory will play the issue of the cancelled long-form census, one of the Harper government\u2019s most dim-witted decisions, and a major headache for municipal planners. Nenshi loves to\u00a0 hammer the Harper government about the census<\/a>. But asked by The Globe and Mail about the census file on the eve of the mayor\u2019s summit, Tory said he\u2019d raise the issue with the mayors<\/a> and \u201cask if this is a problem they are facing.\u201d Really? For someone who\u2019s had his head in municipal affairs for years, that response seems weirdly hedgy.<\/p>\n

As the election draws nearer, the FCM and the big city mayors caucus will amp up their pressure-group advocacy, likely focusing on the need for more cash for transit and affordable housing. But voters don\u2019t pay attention to the FCM press releases and public information campaigns. They pay attention to what comes out of the mouths of high profile mayors \u2013 figures like Iveson, Nenshi, Vancouver\u2019s Gregor Robertson and, presumably, Mississauga\u2019s Bonnie Crombie.<\/p>\n

When David Miller was in the mayor\u2019s chair, he didn\u2019t just participate in the orchestrated pan-urban advocacy campaigns. Miller actually got out front of the other big city mayors, for example launching, in 2007, the One-Cent Now campaign<\/a>, a high-visibility effort which sought to push Ottawa to hand over a portion of the GST. The FCM later adopted the campaign, although not all the big city mayors did.<\/p>\n

During federal elections, Miller also made a point of publicly backing a few select candidates \u2013 the Liberals\u2019 John Godfrey (Miller\u2019s dance partner during the Paul Martin government\u2019s New Deal for Cities program), and the NDP\u2019s Peggy Nash. He didn\u2019t, however, offer up support to any Tories, because he didn\u2019t see any who were prepared to speak up for Toronto\u2019s interests in caucus or cabinet.<\/p>\n

Point is, Miller had political skin in the game. Those gestures clearly telegraphed a broad message to the federal parties: “I\u2019m a popular mayor with a big bullhorn and a tall soap box, and I will deploy said tools until I get what I want.”<\/p>\n

When the Tories go to the polls, they\u2019ll tell voters about the billions they\u2019ve spent or will spend on infrastructure. The big city mayors will collectively say it\u2019s not enough, especially for transit. But each mayor must sell that line. Each mayor will have to make it clear that their own support is available, but for a price. And at a certain point in the campaign, each mayor will have to decide which horse to back.<\/p>\n

Will Tory take a strong stand when the writ drops, or will he hedge and hide behind others\u2019 voices? From what I\u2019ve seen so far, the answer is anything but clear.<\/p>\n

photo by WD Wilson<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At their confab in Toronto last week, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities big city mayors caucus welcomed John Tory like the return of the prodigal son. \u201cI can\u2019t underscore enough the importance of having Toronto at the table, fully engaged again,\u201d gushed Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, according to The Globe and Mail. I\u2019m also gladContinue reading “LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":50863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At their confab in Toronto last week, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities big city mayors caucus welcomed John Tory like the return of the prodigal son. \u201cI can\u2019t underscore enough the importance of having Toronto at the table, fully engaged again,\u201d gushed Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, according to The Globe and Mail. I\u2019m also gladContinue reading "LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-09T12:30:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-09T15:01:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Lorinc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/\",\"name\":\"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-09T12:30:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-09T15:01:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1130},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e\",\"name\":\"John Lorinc\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Lorinc\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/john\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"At their confab in Toronto last week, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities big city mayors caucus welcomed John Tory like the return of the prodigal son. \u201cI can\u2019t underscore enough the importance of having Toronto at the table, fully engaged again,\u201d gushed Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, according to The Globe and Mail. I\u2019m also gladContinue reading \"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2015-02-09T12:30:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-09T15:01:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1130,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Lorinc","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Lorinc","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/","name":"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-09T12:30:04+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-09T15:01:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/tory-fcm.jpg","width":1600,"height":1130},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/02\/09\/lorinc-john-tory-need-activist-mayor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LORINC: John Tory and the need for an activist mayor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/faff9da0e20b8f5223099d707e940d8e","name":"John Lorinc","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73e05cb61860b63be76ffccf72a4d736?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"John Lorinc"},"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/john\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50858"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50865,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50858\/revisions\/50865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}