On the heels of a stunning Election Night victory for the Liberal Party, Mayor John Tory says he’ll be able to work with the new government and Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau to move the city’s interests forward.
“The people of Toronto made a clear choice yesterday and on their behalf I congratulate Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau,” Tory said at a news conference Tuesday morning.
In addition to leaping from third place to a 184-seat-strong majority government, the Liberal Party won every riding in Toronto, as well as nearly all the ridings in the GTA.
“His victory and the number of Liberal candidates who were elected in Toronto last night sends a strong message about what this city values going forward,” Tory said.
The mayor said he learned about the Liberal sweep of Toronto from Trudeau himself when he called to offer congratulations, as he had been at the Jays game and hadn’t seen the full results.
“I told him of my desire to work closely and well with him and with his colleagues to advance Toronto and Canada,” Tory said.
He said the Liberal victory shows that people want governments that will work together rather than take polarizing positions. He also said the Liberals have made several commitments during the campaign with regards to issues where the city needs help from the federal government.
“On housing the Liberals have pledged to both expand our efforts to produce more affordable housing and they were the first to be clear that infrastructure funds could be found to repair social housing,” Tory said. “This may be the file with the greatest sense of urgency attached because as you know our own funds are reaching the limit of what we can do with property taxes alone.”
Tory said he would continue to advocate on the issues on which he was elected himself almost a year ago, namely improving transit.
“There’s reason for optimism on the transit file as not only has Mr. Trudeau committed to expanded stable transit funding, but he also made a specific commitment to fund SmartTrack,” Tory said.
He said while he doesn’t know Trudeau well, the two have an “excellent” relationship based on their conversations so far. In addition to the prime-minister designate, Tory said he has good relationships with a number of other Liberal MPs who will be heading to Ottawa, including Adam Vaughan, Chrystia Freeland, former police chief Bill Blair, as well as Bill Morneau, whom he called a “shining addition” to the roster of Toronto MPs.
Speaking with CP24 Tuesday morning, Vaughan – a former Toronto councilor – said he expects city-building will be part of the new Liberal government’s agenda.
“I think Torontonians want us to get together and fix things and build a better country and that means building better cities,” he said.
In addition to expressing optimism about the new government, Tory thanked Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his service.
“Throughout my time here he treated me as mayor of Toronto with complete respect and in particular I note the fact that he was the first prime minister in Canadian history to establish a permanent national fund for public transit which led to a number of initiatives that will benefit Toronto in the years ahead,” he said.
He also paid tribute to Finance Minister Joe Oliver, whom he called “as dedicated and decent a minister to work with as you could ever find,” who is dedicated to the best interests of the city and the country.
