Toronto’s integrity commissioner has found that Mayor John Tory did not break conflict of interest rules when he voted to limit ActiveTO road closures in the summer, arguing that any interest he had in the matter due to his ties to Rogers was “too remote” to be declared.

On Tuesday, Jonathan Batty released his findings on his investigation into the mayor’s comments and vote on re-evaluating the program, which started in 2020 by closing select roadways to give residents space to participate in recreational activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Batty agreed to commence an investigation following a complaint issued by civic activist Adam Chaleff in July 2022 that centred around Tory’s ties to Rogers.

Chaleff alleged that Tory contravened the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act when voting on limiting ActiveTO road closures on Lake Shore Boulevard West after the Blue Jays said the road closures impacted fans’ ability to attend games, and therefore their business.

Since Tory is a shareholder of Rogers Communications and has a long personal history with both the Rogers family and telecom giant Chaleff argued that Tory should have disclosed that relationship.

Batty agreed to start an inquiry after he found sufficient grounds for an investigation. The Integrity Commissioner is an independent officer who oversees the conduct of elected and most appointed officials in Toronto. The commissioner also conducts investigations into allegations about breached standards.

However, Batty’s probe was paused in August due to the municipal election in October. Based on the City of Toronto Act, such investigations cannot be held during campaigning and must resume after voting day, which Batty did.

This past summer there were calls on city council to re-evaluate the ActiveTO program, specifically road closures on Lake Shore Boulevard West, and its impact on traffic around the city as traffic volumes had returned to relatively normal rates after lockdown restrictions were lifted.

According to city data, in 2021 suggested travel times on the Gardiner Expressway and the Queensway double or even triple on ActiveTO days versus “conditions with no ActiveTO closure and provincial lockdown measures in place.”

City council decided to vote on re-evaluating the program in mid-June and ahead of that meeting Toronto Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro wrote an open letter to council requesting that the frequent closures of Lake Shore Boulevard be scrapped.

Shapiro acknowledged the program helped people to get moving but said the closure of the busy boulevard “drastically impacted” the ability of Jays fans to access Rogers Centre.

“Many of our fans travel to Rogers Centre from outside of the GTA and taking public transit is not an option. Out-of-town fans are often not aware of ActiveTO and do not know to allocate extra travel time. On the days when ActiveTO has been in effect on Lake Shore, our local fans have experienced significant transit delays because traffic is grinded to a halt on all downtown routes,” he said in the June 6 letter.

Shortly before Shapiro issued his letter, Tory conceded to CP24 that the road closures had a “bigger adverse impact on traffic” so far in 2022 compared to previous years. He added that he would like to see the program continued but in a different form, and that the program would likely not be eliminated entirely.

On June 15, Tory and council accepted city staff’s recommendation to limit the number of ActiveTO closures on Lake Shore Boulevard West in an effort to limit gridlock and issues accessing businesses along the waterfront.

Instead of recurring weekend closures, council agreed to the road closures only being for "limited special events.”

A month later, Chaleff filed his complaint to the city’s integrity commissioner against Tory for not declaring an alleged conflict of interest when commenting and voting on the decision given his ties to Rogers Communications.

In response to Challeff’s allegations, Tory said the matter had been a broad-based discussion and that he followed the rules while addressing it.

In Batty’s decision released today, he said he found “no evidence of direct or indirect communication, consultation and coordination between the Blue Jays and Mayor Tory.”

“While Mayor Tory had a pecuniary interest in the agenda item as he is a director in Rogers family ownership structure, his interest was “too remote” in this case to need to be declared. This was because my inquiry found ActiveTO road closures had no adverse effect on the Blue Jays’ financial interests,” Batty wrote.

In addition, Batty said he found that ActiveTO road closures on Lake Shore Boulevard had only been scheduled on eight days coinciding with Blue Jays games between July and September 2021, and that there was “no impact on attendance at games.”

Based on his findings, Batty said he will not be bringing the matter before a judge but Chaleff can do so if he desires.