John Howard Tory OOnt KC (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023.

After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 Toronto municipal election and lost to David Miller.

[citation needed] In March 2004, Tory hinted that he would be seeking the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives, after Ernie Eves announced his intention to resign from that post.

Tory's opponents for the leadership post were former provincial minister of finance Jim Flaherty and Oak Ridges MPP Frank Klees.

In the 2007 general election, Tory ran in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, the area where he grew up, raised his family and lived most of his life.

The platform, A Plan for a Better Ontario, commits a PC government to eliminate the health care tax introduced by the previous government, put scrubbers on coal-fired power plants,[20] address Ontario's doctor shortage,[21] allow new private health care partnerships provided services are paid by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP),[22] impose more penalties on illegal land occupations in response to the Caledonia land dispute,[23] fast-track the building of nuclear power plants,[24] and invest the gas tax in public transit and roads.

[27] Most of the campaign was dominated by discussion of his plan to extend public funding to Ontario's faith-based separate schools,[28] during which Tory supported allowing the teaching of creationism in religious studies classes.

[29] Earlier in the year, indications were that the party would have been a strong contender to win the election, but the school funding promise resulted in the Liberals regaining the lead in popular support for the duration of the campaign.

[32] On election night, the PCs made minor gains and remained the Official Opposition while Dalton McGuinty's Liberals were re-elected with a majority.

[36][37] Throughout 2008, Tory's leadership of the party was perceived to be tenuous, as he faced widespread criticism for his seeming failure to convince a sitting MPP to resign in order to open a seat for him.

[42] Several weeks following the end of his provincial political career, Tory announced he was returning to broadcasting, to host a Sunday evening phone-in show on Toronto talk radio station CFRB.

[46] Tory was considering challenging incumbent Toronto Mayor David Miller in the 2010 municipal election as was Ontario Deputy Premier George Smitherman.

[55] On May 27, he announced his Toronto relief plan, entitled SmartTrack, providing electric commuter rail along existing GO train infrastructure with service from Unionville to Pearson Airport.

Soon after the 2014 election, the TPSB quashed rules governing the use of the community contacts policy ("carding"),[67] a controversial practice allowing police to randomly and routinely stop and demand identification and personal information from any individual deemed suspicious.

[72][73] Carding was effectively ended province-wide in 2017 when the provincial community safety minister, Yasir Naqvi, issued a regulation banning police from collecting data arbitrarily.

[79] Among the motions included the creation of a non-police crisis response pilot program and a $5 million funding increase to allow for front-line officers to be equipped with body cameras.

The city would explore how duties currently assigned to sworn officers would be assumed by "alternative models of community safety response" to incidents where neither violence nor weapons are at issue.

[87] Union leaders and passenger advocacy groups demanded action from the city, calling for increased mental health programs, social services and security.

[105] In 2016, council faced a decision on the future of the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway east of Jarvis Street, as the aging structure would require significant renovations it was to remain in service beyond 2020.

[106] Citing his election promise to improve traffic, Tory supported a hybrid option, which would see roughly $1 billion spent to reconstruct the structure with on and off ramps reconfigured.

It includes incentivizing construction of rental housing by reducing fees and charges, the creation of a new Development and Growth Division, which aims at speeding up approval times.

[127] The proposal was described as "a profoundly bold plan" by former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who ran against Tory for mayor in 2018, and praised by housing advocacy groups.

[137] The development group plans to build a park at half the size of the city's original proposal, with mixed use towers taking up the remaining space.

[144][145] On March 31, Tory announced that the City of Toronto would cancel all city-led major events, festivals, conferences, permits and cultural programs until June 30.

[151][152] On November 16, 2022, the province proposed further changes the powers of the mayor, introducing the Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 which would allow by-laws to be passed with only one-third of council voting in favour if Tory declared it to be in line with provincial priorities.

[153] At a press conference, Tory stated that when speaking to the public, he often hears complaints relating to housing and community safety, but nobody has complained about the new powers.

[156] The National Post's Adam Zivo argued that the mayor is just as legitimate as council and that the changes will increase Tory's "political capital and influence," which he can use to push for the city's interests to other levels of government.

[155] Political science professors such as Harvard's Pippa Norris and Laval's Louis Massicotte were puzzled by the legislation, as no other democratic legislature in the world can pass laws with only one-third support.

[161] The Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee questioned why Tory had chosen not revealed his plans to the public,[154] and described the changes as "offensive in principle and dangerous in practice".

[7] His maternal grandmother, Helen Yvonne Solomon, was born in 1909 to a Russian Jewish family that had immigrated to Canada six years earlier and settled in Toronto.