Will John Tory’s ‘prudent’ leadership be tough enough to tackle Toronto’s big issues if he’s re-elected?
“I have spent the last month talking to people across the spectrum and listening closely to their concerns,” says John Tory, as he gives his supporters one last hug and then departs for a fundraising event. “I have spent hundreds of hours in my office listening to what Toronto needs and what the issues are, or at least what people wanted me to get to. I can tell you I got a few things done, and I will continue to do that – and I will listen, and I will do what I can.” — John Tory: ‘I would be a good leader’
The day begins with a series of photo opportunities, including several photos with kids and couples, with a theme of families. John Tory takes the first turn. He takes a photo with the woman walking with her two children dressed up as Princess Jasmine and Prince Zepplin. They walk off into a crowd of people, he’s shaking hands, and they take the photo on their smartphone. The same kind of photo with a child dressed up as a princess takes place with the two-year-old dressed up as a rabbit. They take the photo on their cellphone.
John Tory leaves behind the last photo with a mother and son and their son’s father who just celebrated his father’s birthday. In this photograph, a father takes a baby in his arms and looks off into the distance as if to say ‘look, your son is with a grown man – he’s with a grown man.’
We are all adults here. At any other occasion, this child would be standing on the sidewalk or in his mother’s arms. But John Tory didn’t think this picture was necessary. He had to take this photograph because he wanted to make a comment. He wanted to say something about where he was and where Toronto was going in the coming years.
John Tory has spent the last three months in a debate over Toronto values – his values – that began on November 15 when he first announced his candidacy in this campaign. By ‘values,’ John Tory is referring to issues of immigration, public safety, classism and what he terms as ‘entitlement’ –
