Who is John Tory? A profile of the mayoral candidate

Watch the video above:  A 1-on-1 with John Tory. 

TORONTO – John Tory announced Monday that he would once again be running for mayor of Toronto.

“The skills and experience I have, I think are right to bring the kind of leadership to the city now to get some things done, getting transit built and getting people working together,” he said on The Morning Show.

He will be going up against Mayor Rob Ford but Tory has a lengthy résumé in politics.

He ran for mayor of Toronto in 2003 against David Miller but lost, bringing in 38 per cent of the vote compared to Miller’s 43 per cent.

But his first brush with politics was in the office of the premier under Bill Davis from 1981 to 1986.

Watch: Mon, Feb 24: Talk-radio host and former leader of the PC Party of Ontario, John Tory, talks about the race to become mayor of Toronto.

In the early 1990’s he worked with the federal conservative party, chairing the campaigns Brian Mulroney and the disastrous 1993 campaign of Kim Campbell.

The campaign faltered after intense criticism over an attack ad targeting then Liberal Leader Jean Chretien which featured several unflattering close-up photos of the Chretien.

Many people thought the ad focused on Chretien’s facial abnormality caused by Bell’s Palsy, though the ad makes no mention of it. The Progressive Conservatives, led by Campbell, lost 154 seats that election finishing last out of five parties.

Tory has also served in high-profile positions away from politics, serving as CEO of Rogers Communications Inc. from 1995 to 1999 and as Chairman of the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1996 to 2000.

Federal lobbyist data shows Tory was registered as a lobbyist in the Prime Minister’s Office for Rogers until January 02, 2014.

A few months after losing the mayor’s race to Miller, Tory took a shot at provincial politics seeking to replace Ernie Eves as leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party. He led the Tories until 2007 when he ran against then MPP Kathleen Wynne in her riding of Don Valley West.

He returned to broadcasting after the election hosting a radio show on Newstalk 1010 from 2009 to 2014 and as co-host of Focus Ontario on Global News.

But he hasn’t stepped away from politics, assuming the chairmanship of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance in 2012. The group has championed transit reform and initiated a large advertising campaign asking people what would “would do for 32” minutes, or the amount of time lost in gridlock each day round the GTA.

And transit is expected to play a large part in the October election as the city discusses transit expansion, including the possible downtown relief line, the recently approved Scarborough subway (which David Soknacki wants to reverse) and a possible subway along Sheppard Avenue (which the mayor wants to see built).