Tory wins third term as Toronto mayor in predictable election

In an unsurprising outcome, incumbent Mayor John Tory was re-elected on Monday night, becoming the first post-amalgamation mayor of Toronto to win the city’s top job a third time.

Tory did it without props like David Miller’s broom or a catchy slogan like Rob Ford’s ‘stop the gravy train’ – in the end, his name recognition and reputation for centrist stability was enough to earn the votes of a relatively unengaged electorate.

“I’m hugely hopeful about the future of this city, but there are challenges in front of us, and we have to meet those challenges together,” Tory said during his victory speech.

“I have never been more optimistic about this city’s future, and you should be optimistic too.

“I’ll be in the office first thing tomorrow morning working for you.”

Tory’s win was declared by CityNews within about 20 minutes of the polls closing at 8:00 p.m. after he took a commanding and insurmountable 61 per cent of the vote.

His closest competitor, Gil Penalosa, had about 18 per cent of the vote.

The municipal mismatch marked a particularly tepid mayor’s race that was reflected by dismal advanced voter turnout.

Just 115,911 voters cast early ballots during the eight days of the advanced voting period that ended on October 14 – down nearly 30 per cent from 2014 when Tory was first elected.

Turnout at the polling stations is still being tallied, but it’s expected to be low.

Pundits blamed the boring mayoral race on a lack of marquee-name opponents combined with general apathy following the pummeling of a long pandemic.

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Tory’s most noted rival, Penalosa, had an impressive resume as a city planner in Bogotá, Colombia, but failed to make the breakthrough he was hoping for in Toronto.

“If I don’t dream the impossible, we can not really do the possible,” Penalosa said after learning of his defeat.

“All my ideas are available to Mayor Tory,” he added. “Everything is doable, and it’s doable with the existing budget.”

Leading up to election night, Penalosa unveiled an ambitious platform that included ideas like tearing down a section of the Gardiner Expressway and replacing it with boulevards and affordable housing.

At one point, he proposed replacing Billy Bishop airport with a 215-acre park that would give pedestrians walking access to the Toronto Islands. He later backtracked on that idea, saying he would consider other options.

He badgered Tory about Toronto’s housing crisis and crumbling infrastructure during two mayoral debates.

“In the last eight years, the city has been less affordable, less equitable, less sustainable, and we need to change,” Penalosa said during the first debate.

“When we see the parks, that they don’t even open the water fountains – half of them were not even open in June … maybe it’s time that we have a mayor that actually walks or takes public transit or uses public parks as a normal part of their leisurely life.”

Tory seemed to concede that there’s room for improvement, simply saying: “We can do better, and we will do better.”

Throughout the campaign, Tory touted his experience and his ability to secure funding from the provincial and federal governments for transit and housing projects.

“I reached the transit agreements with the other two governments on how to build transit and how to pay for it,” he told CityNews in an interview last week.

“We have achieved a lot more on affordable housing with the help of the other two governments than previous administrations had in the city.”

“If people are looking now at the size of the challenge and the uncertainty of the times in terms of the economy and so on, they will opt for experienced leadership.”

He was right.

But Tory’s relatively easy win on Monday night doesn’t mean easy days are ahead.

Toronto is facing an unprecedented budget shortfall, which Tory’s detractors often blame on his stubborn insistence on keeping property taxes below the rate of inflation.

“The city itself is looking at a more than $1 billion budget crunch for next year, and since I will not be imposing big tax increases on people … it does mean that the challenge in front of all of us is to work together to find better ways to do things,” the three-term mayor said, stressing that the city’s success depends on partnerships with other levels of government.

“We are not equipped to go it alone,” he admitted.