Toronto mayor John Tory has appointed Jennifer McKelvie, the city councillor for Scarborough-Rouge Park, as his statutory deputy mayor for his final term in office.

Tory made the announcement Wednesday morning and said he’s already met with McKelvie to discuss her new role, which is effective immediately.

"Jennifer McKelvie is a hardworking, experienced City Councillor and I am proud to appoint her as my Deputy Mayor. I am confident that she shares my commitment to getting more housing built as quickly as possible, getting our $28 billion transit plan built across the city, keeping our city as affordable as possible and making sure the nuts and bolts of municipal government work,” he said in a Nov. 16 press release.

“I have a renewed mandate from Toronto voters and I look forward to moving these priorities forward with the help of Deputy Mayor McKelvie and our City Council colleagues."

The statutory deputy mayor assists the mayor, serves as vice chair of the Executive Committee, and can act as mayor when they are absent from the city, absent due to illness, or when the office of the mayor is otherwise vacant.

McKelvie, a professional geoscientist, is serving her second term as city councillor after receiving over 70 per cent of the vote in this year’s municipal election. She was first elected to council in 2018 after narrowly defeating incumbent Neethan Shan by 154 votes.

"Mayor Tory has a strong mandate to get things done for the people of Toronto this term and I am proud to support that agenda as his Deputy Mayor," McKelvie said in a press release. "I want to thank Mayor Tory for this opportunity to help serve the people of Toronto."

The post of statutory deputy mayor was held by former councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong during Tory’s last two mayoral terms. Minnan-Wong was one of seven incumbents who chose not to run for re-election this term.

At the beginning of his previous term, Tory also gave ceremonial deputy mayor titles to three other councillors; Ana Bailão, who did not run for re-election this term, Stephen Holyday, and Michael Thompson.

Thompson was stripped of his deputy mayor title in late September after allegations of sexual assault were made against him, however Thompson was re-elected to council in last month’s election.