The no-politics mayoral candidate questionnaire: Anthony Furey
“I lived at the National Ballet School as a child”
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
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
NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY
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