Mayor-elect John Tory says he will quiz prospective member of his executive committee on whether or not they support SmartTrack in order to ensure the $8 billion light-rail transit plan has plenty of backers amongst the influential group.
Tory made the comment to CP24 on Thursday, hinting that opposition to the 53-kilometre network of light-rail transit lines could be a deal breaker for councillors eager to join his inner circle.
“Certainly one of the things I am going to have to talk to people about is their position with respect to SmartTrack because it is so fundamental to the platform that I got elected on,” he said. “I have been given a mandate by people across the city to do certain things so I obviously am going to put in place people that want to work with me.”
Tory has been relatively quiet on which councillors he may select to chair various committees at city hall, but on Thursday he provided a few more details, telling CP24 that a “willingness” to work with him and a “passion” for a particular file will be among his criteria.
Tory also noted that he has already called many of the 44 councillors elected on Monday night and plans to make contact with the rest by the end of the weekend.
The mayor-elect, however said he is not yet “counting heads on SmartTrack or anything else.”
“They are just sort of introductory phone calls and we are not getting into who wants to do what because there is a process for that,” he said. “Over the coming weeks we will actually ask the members of council what assignments they would like to have and we, with the clerks help, will collect that information and then make decisions.”
In addition to speaking with his new colleagues on council, Tory said he has already spoken to “40 or 50” senior bureaucrats with the city, including TTC CEO Andy Byford, members of the Toronto Police Services Board, Integrity Commissioner Valerie Jepson and Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines.
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