Saturday, February 11, 2023

Things Can Change Quickly

 


It caught us all by surprise. The Toronto Star's Edward Keenan writes:

Well, holy mackerel. Did anyone see this coming?

But this is a shock. Mayor John “Bland Works” Tory, who has spent decades developing a reputation as the walking personification of pablum, who often spoke with apparent devotion of the wife he has been with since the disco era, who was swept into office eight years ago on the promise of ending the three-ring circus of personal drama hijacking city business that had defined the Rob Ford era ...

For Torontonians, the revelations and the resignation come together, all of a sudden, just months after they’d overwhelmingly elected Tory to a historic third term, after he’d asked for and accepted unprecedented new strong mayor powers, and just a week before the climax of a city budget process he has controlled in a way no other mayor previously has.

And it throws the city’s government and political situation into disarray.

So Jennifer McKellvie, the deputy mayor, will take over until there is a by-election. Tory's resignation reminds us that things can change very quickly.

And that the Greeks knew a lot about human frailty.

Image: CTV News Toronto

9 comments:

Cap said...

Hard to believe, isn't it? The guy who didn't disclose that he was still receiving a six-figure salary from Rogers, who secretly asked Ford for strong mayor powers then acted like he never wanted them, was creeping behind his wife's back with a woman 37 years younger than him? The only surprise is the resignation.

jrkrideau said...

I was not paying much attention to the news yesterday and this morning went, "What"?

Things do change quickly at times. If CBC is correct, we will see a by-election. That must be causing consternation (mad panic?) among the Toronto political class. I wonder how Doug feels? Can a Toronto politician base a campaign on the greenbelt?

OT but interesting if people have not seen it is Danielle Smith's History of Canada.

It will be interesting to hear what some of the Alberta First Nations spokespersons have to say.

Owen Gray said...

I'm sure there will be lots of digging now, Cap.

Owen Gray said...

As I wrote in response to Cap, there will be lots of things that will now come out, jrk.

zoombats said...

Does O.H.I.P cover the cost of Viagra?

ffd said...

So did John Tory really sleep with some staffer? He may have but it seems out of character. Why are there no details whatsoever? How closely did they work together anyway? I thought people were working from home during the pandemic. I really want some solid objective facts.

Tory may have been told to fall on his sword to avoid worse consequences. It is awfully easy to get rid of political opponents through some vague, unproven accusation. Some guy kissed a girl at a party 25 years ago and now she says she didn't want it, even though it took her 25 years to say so. So now he has to resign. Maybe Tory wasn't considered far right enough or extreme enough to please some people. Who knows what is going on behind the scenes.

Owen Gray said...

I suspect that a lot of that will become public, ffd.

Northern PoV said...

The gory Tory story sure ain't full of glory.

Next?

Owen Gray said...

Good question, PoV. I haven't got an answer.