John Tory has cruised to a third term as Toronto’s mayor, the CBC News decision desk projected Monday, as Canada’s biggest city faces down an intractable housing crisis and a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall.
Tory, 68, beat out 30 other largely unknown candidates to hold on to the mayor’s chair at city hall. With a majority of polls reporting, he looked set to win at least 61 per cent of the votes.
The longtime politician and former executive at Rogers Communications ran a typical frontrunner’s campaign that featured few major commitments and saw him participate in only two debates with a select group of his challengers.
His win comes as he’s faced criticism about the state of Toronto under his leadership.
Opponents noted the high cost of housing, aging infrastructure, overflowing garbage bins and shuttered parks. Tory’s main challenger, progressive urbanist Gil Penalosa, had said he was motivated to run after talking with residents who felt the city was “falling apart.”
You can see results from the mayor’s race at the bottom of this story.
The new city council term will see Tory have the option to wield so-called “strong mayor” powers granted to the leaders of Toronto and Ottawa by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government this year. You can read more about what those powers include here.
Tory has repeatedly stressed that he prefers to build consensus with councillors and intends to use the new powers sparingly. While Ontario has no political parties at the municipal level, in his eight years at the helm Tory has built a majority bloc of mostly centrist and centre-right leaning allies at city hall, rarely losing a vote during his last term.
He spent significant time campaigning with some members of that coalition facing close races, including Mark Grimes in Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Gary Crawford in Scarborough-Southwest. He also looked to expand his influence, supporting and endorsing candidates in the three of eight open wards previously held by progressive councillors that sometimes voiced opposition to his agenda.
Tory rose to power in the city of nearly 2.8-million people following the tumultuous, and at-times chaotic, tenure of the late former mayor Rob Ford. His political brand is built upon his reputation as a manager that puts a premium on stability and incremental change.
Few of his headline commitments from his 2014 run to lead Toronto have come to fruition over two terms, though he has fulfilled a key promise to keep property tax increases at or below the rate of inflation — a policy he has said he will continue (although inflation is far higher now than it was when he previously made that promise.)
More to come.
Find ward-by-ward election results at the links below:
- Etobicoke | Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Etobicoke Centre, Etobicoke North
- North Toronto | Humber River-Black Creek, York Centre, Willowdale, Don Valley North
- Downtown and Midtown Toronto | Parkdale-High Park, York South-Weston, Eglinton-Lawrence, Toronto-St. Paul’s, Davenport, Spadina-Fort York, University-Rosedale, Toronto Centre, Toronto Danforth, Don Valley West, Don Valley East, Beaches-East York
- Scarborough | Scarborough Southwest, Scarborough Centre, Scarborough-Agincourt, Scarborough-Guildwood, Scarborough North, Scarborough-Rouge Park
Most of Toronto’s voting stations closed at 8 p.m. E.T. You can get live results in the mayoral race below: