John Tory

John Howard Tory
33rd Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)
In office March 29, 2005 – September 10, 2007
Preceded by	Ernie Eves
Succeeded by	Bob Runciman (interim)
20th Leader of the Ontario PC Party
Incumbent
Assumed office  September 28, 2004[1]
Preceded by	Ernie Eves
MPP for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
In office March 29, 2005 – October 10, 2007[2]
Preceded by	Ernie Eves
Succeeded by	Sylvia Jones
Born	May 28 1954 (1954-05-28) (age 53) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Ontario PC Party
Spouse	Barbara Hackett
Children	John Christopher Susan George
Alma mater	Trinity College (UofT) Osgoode Hall Law School (YorkU)
Profession	Businessman Lawyer political activist political aide lobbyist
Religion	United Church of Canada
Website	OntarioPC.com

John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian businessman, political activist, leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and former Member of Provincial Parliament. Tory is the son of John A. Tory, president of Thomson Investments Limited and a director of Rogers Communications. He grew up with two brothers who now live in Westmount , Quebec and London UK, and his sister Jennifer Tory (current Toronto and GTA regional President RBC Financial Group). John H. Tory has been married to Barbara Hackett since 1978. The couple has four children (John, Christopher, Susan, and George). Tory is considered by some to be a Red Tory, and holds socially liberal views on a number of issues including same-sex marriage. In the 2007 provincial election, Tory was defeated in the riding of Don Valley West by Liberal incumbent Kathleen Wynne. Although Tory was defeated in both his riding of Don Valley West and the race for the premiership, he said that he will stay on as leader of the Ontario PC unless the party wanted him to resign.^[3][4]

Contents 1 Background 2 Toronto mayoral election campaign, 2003 2.1 Election results as a mayoral candidate 3 Leader of the Ontario PC Party 3.1 2007 Ontario general election 3.2 Election results as PC leader 4 See also 5 References and footnotes 6 External links 7 Political offices

Background

From 1972 to 1979, Tory was hired by family friend Ted Rogers as a journalist for Rogers Broadcasting's Toronto radio stations CFTR and CHFI. Before enrolling in university, he attended the University of Toronto Schools, a private high school affiliated with the University of Toronto. Tory received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College, University of Toronto in 1975. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978 from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 1980. From 1980 to 1981, and later from 1986 to 1995, Tory held various positions at his father's Toronto law firm Tory, Tory, DesLauriers & Binnington, including partner, managing partner, and member of the Executive Committee. From 1981 to 1985, Tory served in the Office of the Premier of Ontario, Bill Davis as Principal Secretary to the Premier and Associate Secretary of the Cabinet. In 1985, Davis retired as Premier. Tory joined the Office of the Canadian Special Envoy on Acid Rain, as Special Advisor to the Special Envoy. The Special Envoy had been appointed by the federal government of Brian Mulroney to review matters of air quality with a United States counterpart. Tory supported Dianne Cunningham's bid to lead the provincial Progressive Conservative Party in 1990 (Toronto Star, 3 May 1990). Tory later served as Tour Director and Campaign Chairman to then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and managed the 1993 federal election campaign of Mulroney's successor, Kim Campbell. Tory was criticized for approving a 1993 election ad that mocked Liberal Party leader Jean Chrétien's facial deformity (although the Conservatives denied that was the ad's intention). The Conservatives suffered the most lopsided defeat for a governing party at the federal level, losing half their vote from 1988 and all but two of their 151 seats. From 1995 to 1999, he returned to Rogers Communications Inc., but this time as president and CEO of Rogers Media^[5]which had become one of Canada's largest publishing and broadcasting companies. Rogers has interests in radio and television stations, specialty television channels, consumer magazines, trade magazines and, at the time, the Toronto Sun and the Sun newspaper chain. In 1999, he became president and CEO of Rogers subsidiary Rogers Cable,^[5] Canada's largest cable television company and a leading video rental chain and cable Internet provider. He led it through a period of transition from a monopoly environment to an open marketplace, overseeing a significant increase in operating income. Tory stepped down after Ted Rogers announced that he would stay on as President and CEO of parent company Rogers Communications. Tory also served as commissioner of the Canadian Football League from 1996 to 2000.^[5]

Toronto mayoral election campaign, 2003

After six years as a key backer of retiring Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, Tory ran in the November 2003 election for Mayor of Toronto. He finished in second place, behind councillor David Miller and ahead of former mayor Barbara Hall, former councillor and Member of Parliament John Nunziata, and former councillor and budget chief Tom Jakobek. Tory and Miller both entered the race with limited name recognition and support, but each quickly claimed a core base -- Miller among progressives and Tory among more conservative voters. Nunziata and Jakobek were sidelined by controversies, and Hall's initially commanding lead fell under the weight of a lacklustre, low-risk campaign. Tory's campaign came under fire when it was accused by opponent Nunziata of attempting to bribe him into pulling out of the race by offering the Deputy Mayor's position. At first, Nunziata did not reveal who attempted to bribe him but several media sources speculated that it was Tory's campaign. Besides denying these allegations, Tory also made the pledge to drop out from the race if a police investigation found out that any member of his team was charged with wrongdoing. As a result, he suffered minimal damage from the incident and actually received a boost in personal popularity due to his honesty and handling of the issueIN0TR0. After the election, he helped Miller and Hall raise funds to repay their campaign debts.

Election results as a mayoral candidate

Toronto municipal election, 2003: Mayor of Toronto
Candidate		Votes	%	±%
Y	David Miller	299,385	43.26
	John Tory	263,189	38.03
	Barbara Hall	63,751	9.21
	John Nunziata	36,021	5.20
	Tom Jakobek	5,277	0.76

Leader of the Ontario PC Party

In March 2004, Tory hinted that he would be seeking the leadership of the provincial Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, after Ernie Eves announced his intention to resign from that post. The provincial PC leadership election was announced for September 18, 2004, and Tory made his candidacy official on May 6, 2004. John Laschinger was appointed to be Tory's campaign manager. Tory won the support of former provincial cabinet ministers Elizabeth Witmer, David Tsubouchi, Jim Wilson, Janet Ecker, Chris Hodgson, Cam Jackson, Phil Gillies and Bob Runciman as well as backbench Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) Norm Miller, Laurie Scott, Ted Arnott and John O'Toole. Tory's campaign team included such organizers as Ted Matthews, Wayne Snow, Peter Kearns, Aaron Bradley, Kim Groenendyk, Luc Leclair, Catherine Pringle and Barb Fisher. Tory's opponents for the leadership post were former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Oak Ridges MPP Frank Klees, both from the right-wing faction of the party. Tory positioned himself as a centrist candidate, and defeated Flaherty 54% to 46% on the second ballot. When Flaherty later left provincial politics to seek a seat in the Canadian House of Commons as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Tory endorsed his former rival in the 2006 election; Flaherty was successfully elected and was appointed Finance Minister. Tory also campaigned prominently with Flaherty's wife Christine Elliott in the provincial by-election held March 30, enabling her to win the seat formerly held by her husband. Tory told the media in November 2004 that he would seek election to the legislature in time for the spring 2005 legislative session. On December 7, 2004, the Ontario Liberal Party announced that it would run a candidate against Tory in a by-election. This caused some controversy as the Liberal and Conservative parties in Canada have historically allowed major party leaders who do not have a parliamentary seat to enter the legislature unopposed, though this has been broken in recent years and the NDP have never followed such an unwritten rule. On January 31, 2005, after much public speculation and some delay, Ernie Eves resigned his seat and cleared the way for Tory to run in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, the safest Conservative seat in the province. As a "parachute candidate", Tory faced some criticism about his commitment to the riding. Nevertheless, he easily won the March 17, 2005 by-election with 56% of the vote. Former Premier Davis appeared for Tory's first session in the legislature as Progressive Conservative leader. In the 2007 general election, Tory ran in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, the area where he grew up, raised his family and lived most of his life. It is also one of the wealthiest ridings in the province. He was defeated by the incumbent, Ontario Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne.

2007 Ontario general election

See also: Ontario general election, 2007

John Tory released his platform on June 9 2007. The platform, A Plan for a Better Ontario, commits a PC government to eliminate the health care tax introduced by the previous government, put scrubbers on coal-fired plants,^[6] address Ontario’s doctor shortage,^[7] allow new private health care partnerships provided services are paid by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP),^[8] impose more penalties on illegal land occupations (in response to the Caledonia land dispute),^[9] fast-track the building of nuclear power plants,^[10] and invest the gas tax in public transit and roads.^[11] A costing of the platform released in August estimates the PC promises will cost an additional $14 billion over four years.^[12]

The PC campaign was formally launched on September 3.^[13] Most of the campaign was dominated by discussion of his plan to extend public funding to Ontario’s faith-based schools.^[14] Later in the campaign, in the face of heavy opposition, Tory promised a free-vote on the issue.^[15]

With the beginning of the official campaign period on September 10, the PC campaign made clear its intention to make the previous government’s record a key issue. In particular, Tory focused on the Liberals' 2003 election and 2004 pre-budget promise not to raise taxes and their subsequent imposition of a Health Care Tax.^[16] On October 10 2007 during the 2007 election, Tory failed to win his seat in the Don Valley West riding. Although Tory was defeated in both his riding of Don Valley West and the race for the premiership, he said that he will stay on as leader of Ontario PC unless the party wants him to resign.^[3][4] Earlier in the year, indications were that Ontario PC would be a strong contender to win the fall election. The unexpectedly large election loss is attributed mainly to the issues regarding the Ontario PC policy that would have provided funding for faith based schools.^[3][4]

Election results as PC leader

Ontario general election, 2007: Don Valley West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kathleen Wynne	23,059	50.4	-
	Progressive Conservative	John Tory	18,136	39.7	-
	Green	Adrian Walker	2,202	4.8	-
	New Democrat	Mike Kenny	2,135	4.7	-
	Family Coalition	Daniel Kidd	183	0.4	-

2005 Ontario By-Election: Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	John Tory	15,610	56.3
	Liberal	Bob Duncanson	4,625	16.7
	New Democrat	Lynda McDougall	3,881	14.0
	Green	Frank de Jong	2,767	10.0
	Family Coalition	Paul Micelli	479	1.7
	Independent	William Cook	163	0.6
	Libertarian	Philip Bender	135	0.5
	Independent	John C. Turmel	85	0.3

See also

• Ontario PC Party

References and footnotes

External links

• 2007 PC Party election campaign website
• Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario website
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario profile

Political offices

Political offices
Preceded by Ernie Eves	Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party 2004 - present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Preceded by Bob Runciman	Leader of the Opposition in the Ontario Legislature 2005 - 2007	Succeeded by Bob Runciman (interim)
Preceded by Ernie Eves	Member of Provincial Parliament for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey 2005 - 2007	Succeeded by Sylvia Jones

•  • e Leaders of the Ontario PC Party
Macdonald · Cameron · Meredith · Marter · Whitney · Hearst · Ferguson · Henry · Rowe · Drew · Kennedy · Frost · Robarts · Davis · Miller · Grossman · Brandt · Harris · Eves · Tory

Sporting positions
Preceded by Larry Smith	Canadian Football League commissioner 1996 - 2000	Succeeded by Michael Lysko