WATCH: John Tory told Global’s Dave Trafford that accountability will be his top priority.
TORONTO – Among all the campaign promises, platform planks and crises facing the city of Toronto, Mayor-elect John Tory says his success will come down to accountability.
“One of the problems (at city hall) is accountability,” Tory said, adding there’s also a tangible lack of urgency about meeting objectives and goals.
He said the issue became especially apparent to him during the post-election transition period.
“A lot of these issues had been around and had been the subject of reports and debates but that nobody could summon up the will, in the end, and the determination to do something about them.”
Tory said there is a level of impatience among the residents of Toronto “about the traffic, about getting on with transit, and about jobs.”
READ MORE: Tory says Toronto needs more funding for transit, housing
He the apparent lack of urgency only served to feed that rising sense of frustration.
Tory’s agenda will depend on his ability to get along with the rest of council and reinvigorate Toronto’s relationship with the other levels of government. But he will have to rely heavily on staff to execute the process.
Will he go so far as to fire people who don’t get the job done? He says he can’t.
“I’m not in a position, per se, to fire public servants nor do I sort of start into office saying that’s my biggest objective in life. But if you said to me, would I turn to the city manager and say, if over and over again we have failure to adhere to budgets, a failure to adhere to schedules, a failure to produce results, would I be turning to the city manager and saying. ‘Well, certainly, in my books that’s somebody where we need to make a change?’ The answer is ‘Yes’”
Tory said he’ll set the tone with his own sense of urgency on traffic, taxes and money, housing, and poverty.
“I want to use greater accountability to get more results faster.”
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