With two council meetings behind us and a Toronto Police Services Board meeting underway, one might think that we’d have some idea of what kind of a mayor John Tory will be.
And indeed, we’re finishing up the year with a very clear picture of the kind of mayor Mr. Tory wants to be: hard-working, cordial, diligent, holding pragmatism over ideology, mindful of the rules council has set for itself and watchful on matters of spending.
But the question remains, what sort of a mayor will he actually be.
During the month-long hiatus between election and swearing-in, he studied the administrative details of the City of Toronto in some detail. At the same time, Tory was learning and embracing the centrist path of pragmatism the reality of Toronto’s complexities demands. By the time he was sworn in, Tory was singing his former opponent Olivia Chow’s plans to boost bus service, and about the need to improve the conditions of Toronto’s poorest, and narrow the effective income gap between the city’s wealthiest and poorest.
At the same time as this was going on, Tory’s hand-picked transition team was building him a political fortress of experienced right-of-centre councillors who have very different views as to the direction the city ought to take.
Can Tory lead this crew in the direction he wants to go? A lot will depend on that ephemeral quality known as "leadership."
It is genuinely hard to say how much of that quality Tory in fact possesses. He has spoken clearly and articulately as to the direction of his government. How well will he be able to stick with it?
Perhaps he can do so very well indeed. First, however, he must unlearn some of the instincts he picked up during his tenure as a talk radio host. He was quick, for instance, to condemn his Police Board Chair Alok Mukherjee — an obvious ally in his stated goal to end the discriminatory practise of police carding — for his provocative Facebook posts surrounding police violence in jurisdictions other than Toronto’s.
Just like that, for a time at least, Tory found himself in the camp of the Toronto Police Association, who was somewhat more forcefully calling for Mukherjee’s removal.
At Tory’s first Police Services Board meeting Monday, Dec. 15, that didn’t happen: the board (including Tory) accepted Mukherjee’s apology, and took a step back from one of the political leg-hold traps all too common around Toronto City Hall.
Tory will be able to avoid a big one — the question of expansion of the Billy Bishop Airport – by dint of his son’s financial interest in the place. It will be some time before his signature election item, the SmartTrack surface item, reaches a point at which council has either opportunity or inclination to bring about a serious challenge. The 2015 budget can likely survive with staff recommendations and minimal intervention.
The question will be whether Tory’s political instincts are good enough to see him through the little crises, and strong enough to steer council and his own team in the direction he’s articulated.