Toronto’s new mayor prepares to tackle old problems

On the eve of Olivia Chow’s swearing-in ceremony, new colleagues and former political foes say they’re ready to work with her to address lingering issues in the city, but just who the new mayor will choose to have in her inner circle remains, for now, a mystery.

When John Tory abruptly resigned following an admission he had a relationship with a staff member, he left Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie with several responsibilities ahead of the byelection. On Tuesday, as McKelvie prepared to helm her final executive committee meeting as the chair, she noted that the city’s most pressing issues remain daunting issues as Chow prepares to take the reins.

In the nearly 145 days since Tory’s departure, McKelvie, much like her predecessor, wasn’t able to secure the necessary funding from upper levels of government to overcome a bleak financial picture. The deputy mayor indicated the city had dipped into its reserve funds and hundreds of millions of dollars of capital expenditures will likely have to be removed this year.

But McKelvie, whose future as the city’s deputy mayor remains murky, signalled a willingness to pull up her sleeves to help the new mayor with the task at hand.

“Yes, this is a responsibility of Mayor Olivia Chow,” she said, adding that “it’s (every councillor’s) responsibility and we need to support her in that effort.”

Etobicoke-Lakeshore Coun. Amber Morley echoed the support, adding that any potential opposition coalition that may be planned for Chow’s tenure will do little to actually solve city issues.

“The best way to get things done is by working together instead of getting in each other’s way,” Morley said.

Chow has called for a rare August meeting of the executive committee to hash out a strategy for the city’s finances ahead of September’s city council meeting. How long she’ll be able to lean on the advice of the city’s current budget chief, Gary Crawford, will depend on how long he sticks around before devoting his attention to a provincial run for the Progressive Conservatives in Scarborough-Guildwood’s byelection.

Crawford, who helped shepherd several budgets for Tory, had early advice for Chow.

“If we don’t look at our fiscal responsibility and our challenges very hard over the next six months, I think there is going to be some difficult challenges that the city faces,” he said.

As for Chow, who will be forced to quickly address growing concerns with violence in addition to the budget, she’s taking comfort in knowing there will be many allies to help achieve the same result.

“Jumping out of an airplane with a parachute of many thousands and thousands of people that want to contribute for this great city makes me feel very secure,” she said.

Exactly how many former Tory allies she will choose to keep on her team, Chow won’t yet say. Ahead of her swearing-in, she declined to answer how many committee chairs or members she plans to shuffle when she takes office.