Tory leaves behind complicated legacy stained by sex scandal: experts

Even John Tory conceded the last week of his political career will forever leave a stain on his legacy.

The now former mayor admitted as much as he said goodbye to city hall Friday afternoon in a news conference held less than an hour before his resignation was made official. Standing at a podium a week after admitting to having an affair with a former staffer, he was blunt in his assessment. 

"What do I want to be remembered for?" he asked as several dozen reporters looked on.

"I know my departure and its circumstances will rank high on some lists."

But Tory then listed a series of things he views as his greatest accomplishments, making one last attempt to carve out his legacy in his own words — and set it apart from the shocking sex scandal that had immolated the newly re-elected mayor's decades-long political career.

Transit is being built, so is housing, and establishing "financial discipline" on the city's books. These are all things Tory pointed to as key accomplishments. 

"But more than anything, what I hope is remembered of my time is that I did the work," he said.

"I did the work of keeping the city stable and moving forward. That I did the work of reaching out to those who share my deep love for the city and try to work with them to make things better."

That's how John Tory would like to be remembered. But some experts are critical of Tory's eight plus years in office, questioning what his lasting impact will be beyond the stunning events of the past week.

Sex scandal 'off-brand' for Tory, expert says

Zachary Spicer, an associate professor of political science at York University, said the shadow the scandal casts will be long and dark. 

"I think if you ask people in 10 years to think back on John Tory's time as mayor, they will probably point to this, primarily because the scandal is so outside of his character and very much off-brand," he said. 

Spicer said Tory has been a good manager, but he will not be accused of being a visionary leader. Instead, he said, Tory will be remembered for stabilizing city hall after the scandal-plagued years of former mayor Rob Ford and navigating the difficulty of the council cut of 2018 by Premier Doug Ford.

Spicer said the former mayor's list of accomplishments will be difficult for people to nail down. And on some files, including Tory's handling of the growing homelessness crisis, he will receive a failing grade, he added.

"Part of the reason why he has been so popular, or he has seemed to be, is that a lot of people can't rattle off 10 achievements, but they probably can't rattle off 10 failures either," he said.

"I think he's handled a few files, like encampments, very, very poorly. I think that the city has become more unequal the last four or five years."

High marks on pandemic response

Former city councillor Joe Mihevc said that in time the stain of the sex scandal will fade. But he agreed that Torontonians chose Tory in 2014 because of his calm and stable persona.

Mihevc, who is a former chair of the city's Board of Health, praised Tory and former councillor Joe Cressy for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tory's efforts on the city's vaccination campaign will be part of his legacy, he said.

"They really focused their energy to make sure that the people who were not vaccinated, and were a step removed from the corridors of power ... that there was a real serious outreach program to them to get vaccinated," he said.

"Toronto had one of the highest vaccination rates of big cities around the world and we also had a very, very solid response and daily information. And he was churning it out," he added. 

Transit advocate Steve Munro told CBC's Metro Morning that Tory's legacy on mobility around the city is mixed. He credits the former mayor for successfully staving off TTC cuts when ridership plummeted during the pandemic by securing funding from upper levels of government.

But Munro has been critical of Tory's signature transit election plan from 2014, SmartTrack, which failed to materialize in the way the former mayor promised voters.

"It was pitched as the one line, one solution to every problem and Toronto's transit is far more complex than that," he said.

Giles Gherson, executive vice president at the Toronto and Region Board of Trade, said Tory acted as a stabilizing force in one of the fastest growing cities in North America. That was good for business and has helped the city, he said.

"We've been a very fast growing city for a long period of time but we're still a well functioning city and that's quite a feat," he said on Metro Morning.

"There's lots more that can be done, and needs to be done, and I think you can see the livability of the city has been fraying over the last while, [which is] not surprising when you see the growth."

Gherson also lauded Tory for his leadership during the pandemic. 

"He was the voice of calm and steady leadership there as well," he said. "And I think we owe him a debt of gratitude for that."

Kofi Hope, a community leader and newspaper columnist, said Tory's legacy is a "mixed bag". Taxes were held below the rate of inflation, but that also means the city services many depend on weren't properly funded, he said. 

"I'm going to really think not so much about what he did, but what he didn't do right," Hope said.

"He took a very cautious, small 'C' conservative approach. He kept our property taxes very low ... when we really need to see investment in city services."