Mayor John Tory has travelled to London for a two-day trade mission despite growing concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Tory is slated to meet with 15 different companies during the course of the trade mission, which is also being attended by representatives from Toronto Global, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, the World Trade Centre Toronto, Tourism Toronto, and Exhibition Place.
Speaking with CP24 on Tuesday, Tory said that he spoke with Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa prior to leaving the city and was assured that those on the trip wouldn’t face any elevated risk of transmission.
He said that he also made sure that de Villa and her staff had a handle on the response to the virus locally and did not need him to remain in the city.
The number of confirmed cases of the virus in the United Kingdom stands at 324 compared to 77 confirmed cases in Canada.
“The purpose of it is that we have to carry on with attracting jobs to Toronto. We have 70,000 people coming to the city every year and we have to have places for them to work,” Tory said of the trade mission. “If you miss these meetings or you just keep cancelling them these people don’t take you seriously so we are here doing that job for two days and then we are going to be back.”
Tory said that some of the businesses he is meeting with during the trade mission include a “huge toy retailer, an automated vehicle company and a large pharmaceutical company.”
He said that the trade mission is "going well," so far and he is confident that “quite a few of these (meetings) are going to come to fruition as investments that will be made and will create jobs in Toronto.”
“These are big global companies in many cases, British-based, but we want them to expand to Toronto and sometimes you have to come and make that case and close that deal,” he said.
Tory also led a business delegation to London in October of last year while en route to the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen.
