John Tory is definitely maybe entering the mayoral race

In a column published late Wednesday, the Star’s Bob Hepburn claims to have the answer to a question that has been confounding Toronto politics-watchers for the better part of a year: will John Tory, the Schrödinger’s cat of candidates, actually enter the 2014 mayoral race?

Hepburn says his sources tell him that the answer is a definite “yes,” and that the radio host and ex-Ontario PC leader is already planning a “huge kickoff event” for late February. Hepburn’s sources also tell him that Tory’s organizers have assembled a bipartisan group of supporters from Toronto’s business and political communities, and that his platform will touch on improved public transit, youth unemployment, economic development and (naturally) restoring order at city hall.

Tory’s participation in the 2014 mayoral campaign would alter the landscape of the election. As a right-leaning candidate, he could count on support from some of the same people who voted Rob Ford into office last time around. This is potentially problematic for TTC chair Karen Stintz, many of whose own votes will need to be drawn from that same well. Tory’s natural opponent is Olivia Chow, an NDPer with name recognition on par with his. With her on the left and Tory on the right, it’s not clear where Ford’s niche would be; he could find himself squeezed out—as could poor David Soknacki, the former city councillor whose actual mayoral campaign has so far grabbed fewer headlines than Chow and Tory’s hypothetical ones.