Mayor John Tory says he believes the Toronto Police Services Board made the right decision when it reappointed Dr. Alok Mukherjee for another year.

Tory made the comments to reporters shortly after the seven-member board voted to reappoint the embattled chair at the first Toronto Police Services Board meeting of the year.

“This year we have the selection of a new chief, we have negotiations ongoing, we have the whole community engagement issue to be dealt with and I just think he will be the right man to lead us forward for another year to address those matters,” Tory said Wednesday afternoon after leaving the board meeting.

There was some speculation over whether Mukherjee would be reappointed after he came under fire for two controversial posts on his personal Facebook page last year. One of the posts compared police killings in the U.S. to terrorism and Ebola while the other seemed to make light of spousal abuse.

Tory previously said he was “troubled” by the posts.

Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack was critical of the reappointment, calling Mukherjee “irrelevant.”

“There are some adult members on the board who behave in the proper way and we are looking forward to dealing with them,” McCormack said.

In response to McCormack’s comments, Mukherjee told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the police union president was entitled to his opinions.

“We live in a country that protects freedom of expression,” Mukherjee said.

When asked how McCormack’s views could potentially impact Mukherjee’s ability to deal with the union at the bargaining table, the board chair replied, “…grown-ups find ways to deal with these things.”

“At the end, we are not negotiating out of our ego. I represent the board, which represents the public interest. Mr. McCormack represents his 8,000 members. It is their interest that he has to worry about,” he said.

Mukherjee, who has sat as the board chair for a decade, said he sees this next year as an opportunity to wrap up some important initiatives before handing over the reins to someone new.

“I think 10 years is a long time and I have two little granddaughters I would like to play with,” he said.

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