It’s a go: John Tory running for mayor of Toronto

When The Camera reached John Tory for an interview, with regards to the good news that he is running for Mayor of Toronto? He was already up and running!

Gwyneth Chapman, left (Photo by Lawremce Kerr) and John Tory (Photo from the Progressive Conservative Party website)
Gwyneth Chapman, left (Photo by Lawremce Kerr) and John Tory (Photo from the Progressive Conservative Party website)

And the forward thinker and community advocate Gwyn Chapman, could not help but to wear her enthusiasm on her sleeves. “Our community must hear the clarion call and give John a hand up so he can continue to be a blessing to us. Young people do need to come on board and serve, learn, be mentored, for the day when like John, they will fight the good fight of faith in their vision, mission and values,” Chapman told The Camera.

Tory, the civic advocate and former leader of the Progressive Conservatives is slated to become the most formidable declared challenger to incumbent Rob Ford. “I have lived my whole life in this City and so it comes naturally that I would love to continue to serve where I am planted. ” Tory said. He filed his registration papers at city hall on Monday.

The beloved family member of the Caribbean community enthused with passion, “It’s time for action. I want to make the City livable, meaning first and foremost these days, tackling congestion.”

And the latest Forum polls shows John Tory would beat Rob Ford in a head-to-head race.

Tory is committed to helping the community’s youth, as detailed in his Time for Action: a report on violence affecting youth. “As a volunteer, once you have reached out, look, listened and learned, you then take action, whether to give of your time to address a problem you found, mobilize others or raise funds,” Tory said.

According to Tory, “More often than not, the young people who become involved in acts of violence emerged from communities in which there is inadequate access to the necessary educational resources, community activities and facilities, jobs and economic opportunity.” Tory stressed “If we are going to give these young people a fighting chance to erase the economic and employment deficit faced by them and by their families, I believe we need to dramatically expand the number of internship programmes with position of this kind available to young people, especially those who are seen at being at risk.”

According to Tory, “Although our consultations involved a wide range of people involved in violence affecting youth, we heard repeatedly about the need for mentoring and tutoring programmes and the need for these to feature young people themselves as the mentors and tutors.”

Tory, whose impressive track record includes working with social services agencies and in the corporate sector, noted “It is our recommendation that programmes patterned after the initiative working today for East Metro Youth Services to establish at-risk areas across the province that do not currently have a programme in place. These programmes should be established and managed through the boards of education.”

And with voting day eight months away, the early campaign intensify: all but certain candidate Olivia Chow, the NDP MP, is now the only rumoured contender who will not have registered as of Monday. All three currently active challengers to the conservative Ford – Tory, Stintz, and former councilor David Soknachi- are on the centre-right.