As John Tory marks his one-year anniversary as the mayor of Toronto, here is a look at some key issues that have defined his term so far:
Gardiner East:
The fate of the crumbling elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway from Lower Jarvis Street to Logan Avenue was a contentious issue among city councillors, community leaders and city staff. While many believed that the aging section of the highway should be completely torn down, Tory took a strong stance in favour of the more costly hybrid option, which would see the section of the highway rebuilt from the Don Valley Parkway to Jarvis Street. Ultimately, council voted in favour of the hybrid option, which Tory claimed was a win “for the whole city.”
SmartTrack:
The mayor’s major campaign promise was to build SmartTrack, a 22-stop, 53-kilometre rapid transit plan that will cost an estimated $8 billion. Tory has said the project would need to be funded equally by the federal government, the province and the city and so far, he has been able to secure funding promises from higher levels of government. How the city will pay for its portion of the project remains to be seen.
Uber:
Mayor Tory has ruffled a few feathers in recent months with his pitch to regulate UberX, a popular ride-hailing service that has seen tremendous growth in ridership in the past year. While Tory has previously said that he believes the city must include Uber in its ground transportation bylaw to move forward, opponents say the service is “illegal” and should not be allowed to operate in Toronto.
TTC fare hike:
After promising not to increase TTC fares during his election campaign, Mayor Tory took a significant amount of heat when he went back on that promise and raised fares by $0.10. At the time, Tory said he had no choice but to increase fares in order to improve service.
Carding:
About two months after supporting a revamped 'carding' policy he hailed as an "important landmark in advancing bias-free policing," Tory held an impromptu press conference at the beginning of June calling for a “permanent cancellation” of the controversial practice. Tory’s about-face came after several opponents spoke out and condemned ‘carding’ as racially discriminatory.
Tory's take on the past 12 months:
Speaking to CP24 Tuesday afternoon, Mayor John Tory said he thinks some of his biggest accomplishments over the past year have been restoring transit service that was cut by the previous administration and securing funding for SmartTrack.
Going forward, Tory said he plans to continue to improve transit and traffic in the city.
"I have to do more than blitzes for towing and ticketing. Transit, (we have to) move the projects that are already approved— the Scarborough subway— forward and get SmartTrack going," he said.
Tory also said building more affordable housing is high up on his list of priorities.
"Rob Ford had basically had given up on that and the city achieved none of its own targets on that," he said.
