Policing in Toronto might prove to be John Tory’s toughest issue

WATCH: Could the TPS be the hardest issue for Mayor Tory to tackle? Dave Trafford reports.

TORONTO – Mayor John Tory has made it clear life at city hall over the next four will be considerably less colourful than the Mayor Rob Ford years.

But stability at the helm doesn’t mean the new mayor won’t be navigating some rough waters in the coming months.

His toughest file may prove to be policing in Toronto. In a wide ranging year end interview, Tory admits there are some historic and political obstacles facing the Toronto Police Service.

“It’s complicated. It’s challenging but we’ve got to get back to making progress on it instead of issuing press releases and having polarized presentations. That was achieving nothing”

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That’s why Tory’s taken a seat on the board – to set a new tone. He’s made no bones about his concerns of a dysfunctional board and a lack of community trust in the police.

“We’ve got to get back to stopping the fighting. Starting to sit down and say – kind of what I often say – which is we shouldn’t leave this room until we’ve sorted something out that can be sorted out,” he said.

READ MORE: Toronto’s police union chief condemns anti-police rhetoric in column

Getting the commissioners and members of the service to behave more like adults may be the easier part of his challenge. The accusations of racial profiling, the deeply rooted anger around the police practice of “carding” is more emotional and less in the mayor’s control. The matter of community trust has been an issue in some quarters for decades, dating back to the early 1990’s.

But Tory is convinced that “people of good faith” can create and promote a climate of trust without compromising the work of front line officers.

“You don’t get at it through polarized discussion,” he said. “If people form themselves into a series of camps where all they do is send press releases to each other and make statements at each other, then you will never resolve the issue.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You don't get at it through polarized discussion," he said. "If people form themselves into a series of camps where all they do is send press releases to each other and make statements at each other, then you will never resolve the issue."

Tory noted the next chief will play a key role in re-establishing the community’s trust in the Toronto Police Service. But the mayor says Chief Bill Blair’s successor doesn’t necessarily have to come “from Toronto.”

Tory said the best person for the job will come down to “their ability to administer a billion dollar budget, their sensitivity to the issues of diversity, their knowledge of this community.”

SmartTrack, the TTC, and public transit

Tory’s already moving forward with planning for his SmartTrack initiative but says he will be sitting down with regional representatives, including Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, in the New Year to discuss the bigger connectivity plan.

“People who live in Mississauga or Toronto don’t really care about the border. They don’t really care about the different transit systems. They just care ‘Is there a way for me to get to work that is convenient.'”

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But it doesn’t mean he’d advocate eventually doing away with the TTC and uploading public transit to the province or to a regional transit authority.

“When you look at all the local bus services,” Tory said. “You begin to realize that is purely local. Those are local bus services happening entirely within 416.”