The 68-year-old admits he had had an affair with a 31-year-old city hall staffer during the COVID period
Web Desk
TORONTO: John Tory, the 65th mayor of Toronto, has become the first mayor in the city’s history to resign after a sex scandal.
Tory, 68, who was elected mayor in 2015, resigned on Friday, admitting that he had had an affair with a 31-year-old city hall staffer during the COVID period.
His resignation follows after the Toronto Star broke the story of his affair with his junior.
Admitting `a serious error in judgment’, Tory said, “During the pandemic I developed a relationship with an employee in my office in a way that did not meet the standards to which I hold myself as mayor and as a family man.”
Tory, who has been married for over 40 years to his wife Barb, said, “I am deeply sorry and apologize unreservedly to the people of Toronto and all those harmed by my actions, including my staff, my colleagues on city council and the public service for whom I have such respect.
“Most of all, I apologize to my wife Barb and to my family who I have let down more than anyone else.”
Tory’s predecessor Rob Ford too was notorious for his many scandals, including drinking and smoking crack cocaine.
In fact, mayoral scandals in Toronto go back to the inception of this office in the city in 1834 when William Lyon Mackenzie was sworn in as the first mayor.
Mackenzie himself was involved in many controversies and had to flee the city.
Toronto’s fifth mayor John Powell became notorious for shooting dead his captor Anthony Anderson in 1837. This notoriety helped him get elected as the city’s (fifth) mayor in 1838. In the same shooting incident, Powell could have also shot dead the city’s first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie if his gun had not jammed.
The city’s fourth mayor George Gurnett (1837) was involved in the torture of an opposition candidate in which he poured molten tar on the victim.
Toronto’s seventh mayor Henry Sherwood (1842) led a mob in 1826 in invading the home and newspaper offices of the city’s first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie. Sherwood fathered 18 children.
So turbulent was the city’s politics during the first 10 mayors that the first Mayor William Lyon Mackenzie) and the third mayor Dr. Thomas Morrison (1836) had to flee Toronto and live in exile.
Morrison was accused of treason and he spent three months in jail. Mackenzie had to flee the city after trying to stage a coup d’etat.
Toronto’s 30th mayor Earnest Macdonald went insane while in office (1900) and later died from acute syphilis.
John Tory has just joined the list of his notorious predecessors.
