John Tory has committed to remaining mayor through Wednesday’s budget deliberations at city hall.

Tory’s office confirmed the mayor’s intentions in a statement issued late Monday afternoon.

The statement notes that Tory plans to attend the budget meeting to ensure the $16.2B operating budget and $49.3B capital plan “are finalized.”

Tory abruptly announced his intention to resign on Friday night after disclosing that he had committed a “serious error in judgement” by developing a relationship with a former staff member that ended earlier this year.

“The budget makes key investments in housing, transit, and community safety and the mayor will be working to ensure it is approved,” the statement reads. “Further details on the transition will be announced following the budget meeting."

Tory has said that he intends to submit his resignation to the city clerk “in the coming days” but has not provided any further details.

He was spotted in his office on Monday and the statement notes that he met with Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie and city staff “to talk about how best to ensure an orderly transition.

“He's committed to being here and he is committed to speaking and voting for the budget that he has brought forward,” his budget Chief Gary Crawford after meeting with Tory in his office earlier in the day. “I do not want to play politics with this budget. It’s too important and it has to happen. His leadership is critical and I support him being there Wednesday.”

Crawford would not say when the mayor plans to formally submit his resignation paperwork to the city clerk, calling that a “personal decision.”

He did, however, note that he would have ‘preferred’ Tory to stick around and would support him should he have a change of heart about his intention to resign.

“If he decided to change his mind and stay I would support that but that is something I cannot comment on because it is a decision he really needs to make with his family,” he said.

 

 

Tory allies had raised concern about fate of budget

Crawford told reporters earlier in the day that Tory had committed to stay on for the entire “budget process,” which could actually keep him in power past Wednesday.

Under new provincial legislation, the mayor can veto council amendments to the budget up to 10 days after those amendments are passed. Council would then have 15 days to override the mayor’s veto with a vote by at least two-thirds of all members.

News that the mayor will remain in office in order to see through his budget comes hours after another member of his executive committee raised concerns about possible “wholesale changes” to the $16.2 billion fiscal plan “at the 11th hour."

“My concern is that the politics are going to be flying - partisan angles, ideology - and the notion that some of my colleagues have floated out there, you know, ‘lets’s blow up the budget,’ it is just not helpful,” Beaches – East York Coun. Brad Bradford told CP24 on Monday morning. “The events of Friday do not change the merit of this budget, which has been consulted on with thousands of Torontonians. There has been numerous points of engagement and it has been months in the making to put this document together.”

Tory is yet to release any specific information about when he might formally resign. 

Speaking with CP24 earlier on Monday, Bradford said that there is “room for amendments” to the budget that will be presented to council but he said that “wholesale changes in the 11th hour” would not be responsible.

His comments came after the advocacy group ‘No Pride in Policing’ released a statement, calling on council to “overhaul” Tory’s “destructive budget” and “take Toronto in a new direction.”

The group is also calling for the Toronto Police Service budget to be reduced by 50 per cent.

Tory’s budget includes a $48.3-million increase for the Toronto Police Service.

“There are folks down there that see themselves in the opposition benches and you know, they want to take a moment like this and spike the football - pardon the Super Bowl reference there - but it's just not helpful,” Bradford said. “We need responsible government. We need folks who are focused on the issues and delivering action for Torontonians.”

 

Matlow has called for ‘an improved budget’

Wednesday’s budget deliberations were set to be the first under new strong mayor legislation that would have allowed Tory to veto any amendments backed by less than two-thirds of city council.

There is, however, now considerable uncertainty about the road ahead.

In a message posted to Twitter over the weekend, Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's Josh Matlow said the council cannot let Tory’s abrupt resignation distract its focus “from delivering an improved budget this Wednesday.”

“I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure that every Torontonian has a warm place to go, the TTC is truly safe and reliable, we address the roots of health and safety of our communities, repair our crumbling infrastructure and roads, and finally make the necessary investments in well-maintained parks and the services residents rely on,” he said.

The proposed budget includes a 5.5 per cent increase to the residential property tax rate, which would be the biggest since amalgamation.

There is also a $1.4 billion shortfall in the budget, largely due to the financial impacts of COVID-19.

In an interview with CP24 on Monday morning, former Toronto chief planner and 2018 mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat said council should be working to “recalibrate the budget” to address the “social distress” the city has seen as it has exited the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said that long-term there should also be discussions around cancelling a costly rebuild of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway, which Tory has supported throughout his mayoral tenure.

“Now is the time to kill the Gardiner East rebuilding and focus on reinvesting in the city,” she said. “You know, the potholes that we see in the streets, it's the Gardiner. The service levels declining on the TTC, it's the Gardiner. The fact that we don't have enough maintenance in the parks, it’s the Gardiner. It sounds crazy but the vast majority of our capital budget is actually going to building antiquated infrastructure that other cities have been taking down.”