Toronto mayoral candidate Gil Penalosa falls short against John Tory

Progressive urbanist Gil Penalosa’s bid to become mayor of Toronto has fallen short after his first time on the ballot as John Tory was re-elected for a third term on Monday.

Experts and pollsters expected the 68-year-old Tory to cruise to victory despite the crowded field of 30 competitors, many of who were largely unknown before the campaign.

Tory’s victory was declared by CityNews within about 20 minutes of the polls closing at 8:00 p.m., with Tory taking a commanding and insurmountable 61 per cent of the vote. Penalosa finished with roughly 18 per cent of the vote.

“Some people say my ideas are common sense. They are. Unfortunately, common sense seems to be the least common of the senses,” Penalosa said following Tory’s win. “We need to have safe streets, we cannot claim victory until we have zero people killed in traffic incidents, and this is doable.”

A native of Colombia, Penalosa had been viewed as Tory’s closest competitor in Toronto’s mayoral race. The founder of not-for-profit 8/80 cities, he drew attention ahead of the municipal election when he said he would replace Billy Bishop Airport with a 215-acre park should he win the vote on Oct. 24.

He backtracked on the proposal to turn Toronto’s downtown island airport into a huge park, saying he heard from people “loud and clear” to consider all options.

The 65-year-old, unafraid of coming to the table with fresh concepts to revitalize the city, also floated the idea of tearing down a section of the Gardiner Expressway and replacing it with boulevards and affordable housing.

Penalosa confirmed he wouldn’t return to the ballot in four years.

“Look, 100 days ago, I registered. I had 1 per cent of the vote. Today, I have approximately 20 per cent,” Penalosa told CityNews on Monday night.

“I got over 100,000 votes. It’s all ideas. I don’t have any political machinery. I don’t have any political party. My budget was one-tenth of Tory’s… I don’t think the ideas resonated, and the ideas are totally free and available.”

Having led urban transformation projects in Bogota in the late 1990s, Penalosa’s platform mainly promised and focused on the evolution of city parks, streets and sidewalks in Toronto. The urbanist maintained a strong emphasis on having city residents walk, ride bicycles, take public transit and increase the use of new, electric vehicles.

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“Almost everything is relatively low cost. But the problem is with [John] Tory, after eight years, we have set the bar so low that people think things cannot happen,” Penalosa said, constantly citing “a bold vision for the future” with sustainable growth.

In a pre-election interview with CityNews, Penalosa said that it wasn’t a “pie in the sky” set of ideas to transform Toronto, should he win and become mayor.

“The overwhelming majority of ideas that I have suggested are not expensive. And they’re totally doable. And doable in the short term.”

Penalosa had also touted his experience compared to Tory’s, telling CityNews that his campaign promise of building more parks demonstrated he was more than capable in the public sector.

“I built over 200 parks before coming to Canada,” Penalosa said.

“In Canada, I created a not-for-profit called 8/80 cities — a simple but powerful concept. What if everything we did in Toronto, the sidewalks, the crosswalks, the library, the buildings, the restaurants, everything had to be great for an eight-year-old and an 80-year-old as an indicator then it would be good for all?”

Unlike Penalosa, Tory has expressed support for the province’s move to give the leaders of Toronto and Ottawa so-called strong mayor powers to veto bylaws, prepare budgets, and appoint chief administrative officers.

With the city amid a historic housing crisis, Tory has hinted at the possibility of using the new powers to pass some of his proposed housing plans if they encounter opposition.

“I hope that they’re bold and they make some changes,” Penalosa said.

“John Tory and the new councillors have an amazing opportunity to create a Toronto for everyone in the next four years, but it cannot be doing more of the same. It has to be radically different.”

With files from The Canadian Press