Toronto Mayor John Tory resigns over admission of affair with staffer. Jennifer McKelvie, Toronto’s deputy mayor, will serve as acting mayor following the scandal-plagued departure of John Tory as mayor. Since 2018, the environmental geoscientist has served as the representative for Scarborough-Rouge Park. She was appointed deputy mayor following the election last fall.
A new mayor of Toronto will be elected in a by-election, therefore it is also possible that ambitious and more well-known politicians are now considering their political chances in a post-Tory Toronto.
Today’s mayors of Toronto have all previously held positions on the city council. Josh Matlow, a center-left councilman who has sparred with Tory, has long been considered a candidate for mayor. The former activist, who was also a provincial Liberal candidate and a former school trustee, has served as a midtown district representative since 2010.
Mike Layton, the son of NDP legend Jack Layton, and former deputy mayor Ana Bailao, both former members of the downtown council, may find themselves having new conversations with their political advisers. Both positions were re-offered in 2022, but Layton declined for personal reasons while Bailao eventually agreed to take a senior job with a builder of affordable housing.
Joe Cressy, who served almost two decades as a downtown councillor before quitting in 2022 to accept a position as senior vice-president of George Brown College, is another former council member who might make a respectable run.
Toronto Mayor John Tory resigns over admission of affair with staffer
Kristen Wong-Tam, a well-liked downtown NDP MPP, and Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who represents Toronto’s east end and has resented his time in Ottawa and is currently exploring a bid for Ontario Liberal leader, are two federal and provincial politicians in Toronto who might be persuaded.
Another long-shot possibility: Tory MPP Mike Ford, the 29-year-old provincial minister of citizenship and multiculturalism in his uncle Doug Ford’s Ontario government.
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