HAAS PARTY #18: Sorry, Tory

John Tory doesn't deserve a third term as mayor of Toronto.

I’m breaking my very infrequent newsletter format to write about Toronto’s upcoming municipal election on Monday, October 24th. That's because John Tory has been an embarrassingly ineffective mayor for this city. (I say that as someone who voted for him in 2014, simply to avoid having Doug Ford in charge. That worked out great, eh?) 

Here's why I think Torontontians shouldn't re-elect John Tory:

• In his 2014 campaign, Tory promised his SmartTrack transit program would be built by 2021. Now they say by 2026 (with fewer stations)

• John Tory is paid $100,000 per year as a board member of the Rogers Family Trust—on top of his job as mayor. He faced an integrity complaint related to ActiveTO voting because of this. The complaint ended because there "wasn't enough time" to answer it 

• Toronto is spending $3 billion to repair 1.7km of the Gardiner, despite cheaper (better) alternatives. Council voted on this in 2014. One phase has been completed. The second was just delayed until 2023. There are three phases. 

• Toronto recently cancelled 540 recreation courses because they couldn't hire instructors, affecting approximately 3,800 registrants

• The city's public library has been told to submit a budget with 0% spending increase for next year, which likely means library cuts in 2023

• In 2017, Tory launched the Vision Zero project with the goal of reaching zero traffic deaths by 2021. Deaths remain in the double digits. At least 58 people died on Toronto streets in 2021 alone and 44 so far in 2022.

I am voting for Gil Penalosa. Here are some reasons why:

• He has worked in over 350 different cities in all continents

• He advocates improving city parks: in Bogotá, Colombia, he led the design and construction of over 200 parks. His team also radically transformed the Ciclovía / Open Streets – from a program of few kilometers to one that sees over a million people walk, run, skate and bike along 121 kilometers of Bogotá’s city roads every Sunday of the year

• His safe streets plan includes implementing a 30 km/h maximum speed on all neighbourhood streets and getting rid of right turns on red lights (like in NYC and Montreal.)

• He is in favour of allowing alcohol consumption in city parks until 9pm

• He will cut the use of private consultants, which doubled under John Tory

• He is proposing making two major roadways (Bloor and Yonge) pedestrian only every Sunday in the summer

• He plans to limit chain stores in condo buildings to better support local businesses

• He wants to get rid of horse cops

• His bike network plan

John Tory wants a third term to finish what he has started. What he has started is a series of expensive projects that are often viewed unfavourably by urban planning experts. He is not building the Toronto that I want to live in.

Gil Penalosa has policy ideas that align with the kind of city I want to live in. Maybe he or another candidate better represent the kind of city you want, too. 

—Who’s The Haas?