The no-politics mayoral candidate questionnaire: Anthony Furey

The no-politics mayoral candidate questionnaire: Anthony Furey

“I lived at the National Ballet School as a child”

Mayoral candidate Anthony Furey

Long hours, combative colleagues and mean tweets for days: running Toronto is brutal work. The past two mayors left in ignominy. Why, then, is the slate of contenders longer than the line to eat at Alo? A record 102 candidates know that the city is on the verge of delivering huge, legacy-entrenching projects: thousands of affordable new homes, several new transit lines and the 2026 World Cup to cap it all off. If everything goes to plan, Toronto’s next mayor will get credit for lifting the city out of the pandemic and into a more hopeful future.

But, first, candidates have the daunting task of setting themselves apart from the crowd. For voters who can’t make up their minds based on hot-button issues like TTC safety, affordable housing and the future of Ontario Place, we present the ultimate tiebreaker: a questionnaire in which the front runners give answers on just about every topic other than politics—the theory being that, if their policies haven’t convinced voters, perhaps their personalities will.


Name: Anthony Furey

Age: 39

Neighbourhood: Upper Beaches

Last job: Newspaper columnist and talk radio host

My most-impressive trait: I talk a lot.

My least-impressive trait: I talk a lot.

The last time I experienced joy: Daily, when my five-year-old gets me up in the morning

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My biggest vice: My sweet tooth

My coffee order: A medium roast with milk

The fast food item I could survive on for the rest of my life: Big Mac, of course

How much I usually tip: I’m definitely one of those 15 per cent people, barring exceptional service.

The last book I read: The new Bret Easton Ellis novel, The Shards

The last show I binged: I rewatched all of Seinfeld.

The last concert I went to: Canadian ’80s bands The Pursuit of Happiness and Northern Pikes, performing together

A slightly embarrassing fact no one knows about me: People are usually surprised to learn that I lived at the National Ballet School as a child.

What a bad day looks like for me: Not seeing my wife and kids

My first job: Canadian Tire

My biggest pet peeve: Seeing someone litter

My celebrity doppelgänger: Paul Bettany

My favourite curse word: Whatever I last said on the golf course

My last splurge: A new TV—our old one couldn’t handle all the fancy new streaming apps.

My biggest regret: Travel as much as you can in your early 20s. I did a lot, but I wish I’d done more.

What I’d like written on my tombstone: Meh—cremation.

Car, bike or TTC: Transit

Raptors, Jays, Leafs, TFC or Argos: Jays

My favourite watering hole: I have three small kids. I don’t have a watering hole anymore.

The best view of the city: When I worked in the Postmedia building, we had a beautiful view of the whole east half of Toronto.

The Torontonian I’d most like to spend a day with: My wife

Where I would live if not Toronto: New York