John Tory picked up a big endorsement Sunday from the editorial board of The Toronto Sun, the second newspaper to back the mayoral candidate in the last week.
On Thursday, Tory was endorsed by The Globe and Mail and in an editorial published in The Sun today, the paper urged voters to throw their support behind Tory, saying that the city needs a “consensus-builder,” rather than a “bully.”
"We believe John Tory... is the best candidate to get Toronto moving forward again, with everyone pulling in the same direction," the editorial read.
"He wants to bring Torontonians together, not drive them apart in never-ending political wars between the suburbs and the downtown core."
Tory told CP24 that he is “honoured” to be endorsed by both papers.
“(The Sun editorial) says I can bring people together to get things done. That is something I pride myself on, it is something that I think I do bring to the table,” Tory said after receiving an endorsement MPP Reza Moridi in North York on Sunday morning.
“They said when it came to bringing people together and creating consensus, I was there preferred candidate by a wide margin.”
At a news conference Sunday, Doug Ford shrugged off the endorsement from the paper, which officially endorsed Rob Ford in 2010.
“Like any media, newspapers don’t vote. People do. So we look forward to having the people get out,” Ford said. “We had an incredible day yesterday, right across the city.”
Ford went on to talk about the support he has been receiving along the campaign trail and mentioned one specific stop he made at a west-end Walmart on Saturday.
“I can’t tell you how good I felt after leaving the Walmart store yesterday because those are real people and I just feel right at home with the people that shop at Walmart because that is where I shop,” Doug Ford said.
Olivia Chow also weighed in on The Sun’s endorsement Sunday, saying it indicative of Tory’s conservative roots.
“I notice that John Tory is getting endorsements from a lot of the conservatives… these kind of endorsements tells you what his real belief is,” Chow said at the Ghanaian Presbyterian Church of Toronto, near Finch Avenue and Weston Road.
Chow also attacked Tory for endorsing two city council candidates who she says both support the island airport expansion.
“I believe that since his son works and is on the executive of a company on the island airport, I believe he has a conflict of interest,” Chow said.
“For him already to (be) supporting people that want to expand the island airport… I think ethically it is a problem.”
Tory, who has not yet publicly taken a position on the island airport expansion, was quick to dismiss Chow’s claims, saying he endorsed the candidates because of the long-standing relationship he has with the two of them.
“(Jon Burnside) was a hugely-involved volunteer for me when I was running provincially in 2007 and he is someone that I know very well from that experience… (Christin Carmichael Greb) I’ve known her father our entire life, since we were boys,” Tory said.
“They both support SmartTrack, they both support tax increases at or below the rate of inflation and they both support the contracting out of garbage in the east of the city. All three of which are things I support and they are just good people that I am happy to lend some support to.”
At a fundraiser in North York on Sunday night, Tory received three more endorsements from Toronto Argos legend Pinball Clemons, TSN's Michael Landsberg and the Daily Bread Food Bank's executive director Gail Nyberg.
