John Tory: for the last time, I’m not running for mayor
The city hall press corps’s lack of enthusiasm for the current crop of mayoral candidates is pretty palpable. Having seen their initial excitement for each eventually fade or be dashed, reporters—like the Star‘s Royson James—appear to be casting about looking for someone new to pin their hopes to. Last week, in his column, James raised the notion of John Tory re-entering the race. Last night, while moderating the 9,723,249,233rd mayoral debate, Tory reiterated he had no interest in running for a second time.
The Star reports:
John Tory ended rampant speculation on his political future Monday night by saying he has not reconsidered his decision to stay out of the mayoral race.
After moderating a debate, at which two of the front-running candidates clashed over whether the new amalgamated city was working, Tory said he hadn’t even “thought about reconsidering or revisiting a decision I made in January.”
How “rampant” was the speculation if it was largely pushed by, and confined to, the Star‘s columns? Regardless, it’s a mark of how underwhelming the herd of mayoral aspirants is that city hall reporters are busy trying to think of exciting new candidates, and John Tory is the best they could come up with. The man spent much of the past decade as a punching bag, losing political contests at the provincial and city level. Who can blame him for saying no?
James ended his near-plea last week with the hope that Tory would “get us out of the mess,” but in Tory’s shoes, it’s clearly the better choice to say, “So long, you’re on your own.”
• John Tory rules out mayoral bid [Toronto Star] • Tory squelches rumours of mayoral bid [CBC News] • Draft John Tory for mayor? [Toronto Star]
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