Long gone John

Someone asked me recently, “How do you think John Tory’s doing?” I realized I had no opinion. After becoming mayor of Toronto two years ago, John Tory’s become all but invisible. Oh, he marches at Pride parades and announces parks on top of railway tracks, but nothing comes of anything.

I know Tory. He’s an admirable man. He has certainly shown his mettle in tough political campaigns. He ran Kim Campbell’s efforts in 1993 when the federal Progressive Conservatives almost disappeared. Tory ran for mayor of Toronto in 2003 and lost. As leader of the provincial PCs, he ran in a safe seat and won, then went up against Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, and lost. He then ran in another supposedly safe seat, lost again, and resigned as leader. Finally, in 2014 he was elected mayor.

Tory is a vast improvement over Rob Ford, but after all that work to get elected to a position of power, you’d think Tory would have arrived with a to-do list. After almost two years in office, the only I thing I can think of that he’s stood for is that foolish multi-billion-dollar one-stop subway extension in Scarborough.

John Tory is like Paul Martin Jr. who fought for years to become prime minister. But when Martin finally got where he always wanted to go, he didn’t have any idea why he was there. Same with John Tory. His strength, his ability to talk, is also his weakness. He’s sure a talker. But he’s not a doer.