Tension climbs between Wynne, Tory

Premier calls mayor’s actions ‘counterproductive’ with ‘a strong political overtone’

It turns out you can fight city hall.

Just ask Premier Kathleen Wynne, who is escalating her feud with Toronto Mayor John Tory after his complaints that last Thursdays’ provincial budget did not do enough for the city.

“There are statements being made out of city hall that are simply not true,” Wynne told reporters Tuesday in Oshawa.

“I need to have honest and factbased debates and conversations with all of the municipal leaders around the province,” she said. Her comments came after Tory took a campaign-style tour of a westend community housing complex and distributed pamphlets claiming Queen’s Park is neglecting residents by ignoring a city demand to cover a third of social housing repairs totalling $864 million.

“There’s a strong political overtone to it, which I think is counterproductive. That’s my opinion,” Wynne said, clearly unhappy that Tory is playing footsy with Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.

At city hall, Tory stressed that “I didn’t ever say nor would I want it ever portrayed that I was campaigning against anybody.

“I was campaigning for the tenants of Toronto Community Housing and for justice for those neighbourhoods, which are many across the city, and for the notion of Liberal MPPs speaking up on behalf of city of Toronto residents and TCH residents,” he said.

The mayor, a former Progressive Conservative leader, insisted he does not want to increase tensions with the province.

“I’ve tried very hard not to engage in that sort of language and if I have ever done it, I apologize because it’s not my intention,” Tory said.

“I want to have — and believe I will have going forward with Premier Kathleen Wynne — a very good relationship,” he said.

“She has a deep concern in her heart for the well-being of the people who live in Toronto Community Housing, some of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens who are just needing a bit of a hand-up from us, and they should have the dignity to live in properly repaired houses.”

Tensions have been high between the two leaders and one-time allies — since Wynne kiboshed Tory’s plan to slap tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway.

But his complaint that the Liberals are shortchanging Toronto have rankled the premier.

“So when the mayor says that we have not stepped up on transit spending, I can give you the long list of projects that are in the ground and I can assure you that the $150 million that is already in place to do the study on the downtown relief line that’s a future project,” she said.

“It’s just not true that we haven’t stepped up. Likewise, it’s just not true that we haven’t stepped up on housing.”

Wynne noted “there’s $130 million coming from our climate change plan to retrofit social housing units.

“There’s $340 million that will be in the hands of the city of Toronto to deal with homelessness and provide rent supplements and so on, and there’s another $130 million specifically for affordable and social housing.”

Brown, meanwhile, told Matt Galloway on CBC’s Metro Morning that he would be a better partner for Toronto than Wynne.

However, the Conservative leader said he would not allow the municipality to impose any new taxes or tolls.

He stressed that his party would unveil its plans for dealing with the city after a November policy conference and before the June 7, 2018 election.