A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MAYOR JOHN TORY
One year after promising change to the citizens of Toronto, the Star followed Tory around this fall to see how he’s coming along
Just over a year ago, Mayor John Tory was elected on a promise to make Toronto more “livable, affordable and functional” — moreover, to bring some pride back to the city’s administration after the scandalous Rob Ford years and to “get Toronto moving” with traffic and transit promises. The Star tagged along one recent fall day to see what trying to accomplish that job looks like in action. Morning 6:10 a.m.: Tory leaves home and jumps on the subway It’s still dark out when the mayor leaves his condo near St. George and Bloor Sts. to board the subway, armed with a bag full of briefing binders he took home to read the night before. He boards the subway southbound at St. George, exchanging nods with some fellow passengers. He stops into the cafeteria when he arrives at City Hall just as it’s opening and exchanges pleasantries with the staff. When he arrives in his office at 6:30 a.m., his is the first light on the second floor to go on. 6:30 a.m.: Office alone time Tory says the hour he spends in his office before meet- ing with anyone, preparing for the day ahead, is often the most productive of his day. He has a two-inchthick briefing binder prepared by staff containing notes he’ll need for the day, and he spends a bit of time revising some speeches he’ll deliver later. He talks about Thanksgiving visits he made to three shelters, where he helped serve food, and says that while people appreciate seeing the mayor there to help, the purpose of such visits is as much to help him understand firsthand the dire problems the city faces in its shelter and housing department. Shortly before 7 a.m., he does a radio phone interview, discussing university research released that morning that says his much-celebrated traffic calming measures — towing parked cars during rush hour, for instance — have had little larger effect. He insists that progress is being made, and drivers can notice it, and talks a bit about some of the larger challenges of synchronizing the city’s traffic signals, a complex problem he’s been working on with traffic services.
7:30 a.m.: Morning meeting
In the boardroom attached to his office, Tory gathers with his senior staff (chief of staff Chris Eby, director of communications Amanda Galbraith, director of strategic initiatives Siri Agrell and council relations adviser Luke Robertson) to go over the day’s events and ongoing projects. Tory reads from a list he’s made on graph paper of things to pay attention to: requests (including the speech revisions he worked on in his office), news items from the morning papers and newscasts he’ll need to be ready to respond to. When he’s done, the other staff read from their own lists.
8 a.m.: TTC budget meeting
TTC CEO Andy Byford, CFO Vincent Rodo, chief customer officer Chris Upfold and chair Josh Colle file into the boardroom to discuss the upcoming TTC budget. The plan, already presented as a draft to the commission, calls for keeping and further implementing the service improvements Tory and the TTC announced last year, but has a significant budget shortfall that will have to be addressed if steep fare increases or tax-supported subsidies are to be avoided. Tory has particular questions about whether savings from reduced absenteeism are reflected in the budget, and how the commission will manage the aggregation of its warehouse space. While the meeting is in progress, baby pandas are born at the Toronto Zoo. His staff sends out a tweet greeting the news.
9 a.m.: Conference call
The mayor has been working with other GTA mayors to set up a new agency to promote foreign investment in the Greater Toronto Area, which he says is ready to be formalized and announced soon. On this call, he and other leaders on the interim board planning the agency discuss next steps and recruiting.
10:30 a.m.: Meeting with U.S. Consul General Juan Alsace
This is the mayor’s first formal meeting with the new American diplomat assigned to Toronto. Alsace is a Buffalo native, and the two men make some jokes about hockey rivalry. Tory is particularly interested in discussing a possible trip to California to market Toronto to both Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The two also discuss the art museum in Buffalo and the upcoming federal election.
Afternoon Noon: TCHC Lawrence Heights announcement
The largest rebuilding project in Toronto Community Housing’s history kicks off with the demolition of some aging townhouses in Lawrence Heights. Before the formal public event begins, the mayor and some other local politicians and TCHC executives meet with local residents in a neighbourhood kitchen to discuss the project. “What could we best be doing that we’re not doing now?” Tory asks the residents. The residents talk about how important community supports like afterschool and job training programs are, that rebuilding and strengthening the community is about more than just replacing buildings. In his speech at the event before formal demolition begins, Tory says that being at this event is among the proudest days of his mayoralty so far, and says that alongside getting transit built, “the litmus test” of his time in office will be housing projects like this one. “Did we address the needs of communities like this? That will be the test,” he says. In her own speech immediately afterward, a local resident thanks Tory, and says, “You’re not only the mayor of Toronto, you’re the mayor of all Torontonians.” Before leaving the site, Tory gives an interview to Global TV about a range of issues of the day.
3 p.m.: Meeting with Brad Duguid
Arriving back at the office, the mayor’s assistant, Dee Dee Heywood, gives him a salad to eat for lunch. He then heads into a meeting with provincial Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Brad Duguid. Among the topics the two discuss is the branding and marketing of the “Toronto-Waterloo Corridor” to tech employers and workers, a prospect Tory has been discussing with the mayor of Waterloo. The two begin thinking about a group visit by the province and both cities to Waterloo to market the region’s strengths, and tentatively discuss ideas to improve transportation between the two cities.
4:10: Photo shoot
A community paper shoots some photos of the mayor in his office.
Evening 4:30 p.m.: SmartTrack strategy meeting
Within days, a staff report on the mayor’s signature transit plan will be released. He meets in his office with senior staff members to plan strategy regarding the report. This is the only meeting of the day the Star is not welcome to sit in on. While he meets with staff privately, Dee Dee Heywood shows me a recent quote from Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey that the mayor’s staff members have printed for posting around the office, one she thinks sums up the work environment: “It’s amazing what a team can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.”
6 p.m.: 41st annual Toronto Heritage Awards
In the car on the way to the event, I ask the mayor about some of his observations about this job, as compared to others he’s had. I note that the mayor is, in title, the CEO of the city, but has to wrangle council support for every item. “It’s not like any chief executive job I’ve had before, that’s for sure,” he says. “I have the accountability that comes with that title, but not the authority. I don’t mind that accountability, I welcome it. But it can be frustrating. You have to use suasion, logic, sometimes even horse-trading. But the buck really stops with city council.” He says the best job he’s ever had was as principal secretary to Bill Davis. The worst? “That’s easy. Leader of the Opposition.” He is also, in title, the host of the wine and hors d’oeuvres reception held before the heritage awards at Koerner Hall, where he meets and greets attendees before giving a largely improvised speech about the importance of protecting the city’s heritage, something he thinks cities such as Milwaukee and Chicago have done better than Toronto. “We can do much, much better,” he says.
7:30 p.m.: Canada-India Business Council Diwali dinner
The mayor sits at the head table during the dinner, and is among many after-dinner speakers. When he takes to the podium just after 9 p.m., he discards his prepared speaking notes — ones I saw him significantly rewrite and revise twice earlier in the day — to improvise some anecdotes about the speakers who went before him. He works his speech around to a rousing conclusion about Toronto, not just in how it can work better with India, but why it’s ideally placed to be a world centre for many countries. “It’s because of how we’ve chosen to live together,” he says, pointing out the city’s multiculturalism. “Not to perfection but to a level of embracing each other, respecting each other . . . The fact is we have this great diversity, and we have gained in strength by all the people who have come here.” Stewardship of that strength, he says, is “maybe my most important responsibility as mayor.”