Toronto’s integrity commissioner is investigating Mayor John Tory for an alleged conflict of interest related to his longtime ties to telecommunications, media and sports giant Rogers Communications Inc.
The alleged conflict, which Mr. Tory has denied, relates to his role in a city council debate over the weekend closure of Toronto’s Lake Shore Boulevard as part of the ActiveTO program.
Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro wrote a letter to Mr. Tory in June urging him not to vote to close Lake Shore because it makes it harder for baseball fans to attend games at Rogers Centre.
Mr. Tory, who is running for a third term as mayor in the upcoming October election, publicly defended Mr. Shapiro’s letter and voted in favor of an amended ActiveTO plan that did not include closing Lake Shore.
Mr. Torrey sits on the advisory committee of the Rogers Control Trust, which controls the Toronto-based company through its ownership of 97.5 percent of the company’s voting stock. The Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Center are owned by Rogers Communications.
Last fall, Mr. Tory found himself trying to mediate a bitter feud between Rogers family members over who should run their telecommunications company. The battle ended in a British Columbia courtroom, where a judge handed Edward Rogers, chairman of the company’s board and a family trust, a victory that allowed him to replace five independent directors and oust the telecom’s chief executive.
A spokesman for the mayor said on Friday that Mr Tory was “co-operating fully” with the integrity commissioner and that the mayor would not be commenting further.
“Mayor Tory’s record of integrity speaks for itself,” Lovin Hadissi said in a statement.
Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty confirmed in a letter to Adam Chaleff, who brought the ethics complaint against Mr Tory, that there were “ample grounds” to investigate whether Mr Tory breached the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Not for the first time, Mr. Chaleff, a civic activist and communications professional, has taken aim at an incumbent mayor; in 2012, he organized a high-profile complaint against then-Mayor Rob Ford.
“I decided to investigate,” Mr. Batty wrote to Mr. Chalef. “That does not mean that I have found that Mayor Tory has violated the MCIA or that it is appropriate to go to court. I simply thought there was sufficient reason to inquire as you requested in your application.’
If Mr. Batty concludes that Mr. Torrey has violated the municipal code, he can go to a judge for a formal ruling on the violation. The judge may also impose a penalty ranging from a reprimand to suspension.
The connection between the Tory and Rogers families spans several generations, dating back to the 1960s, when the telecom’s late founder, Ted Rogers, wrote at Torys LLP, the law firm founded by Mr. Tory’s grandfather and later run by his father.
Mr. Torrey was president of Rogers Cable and served on the company’s board before running for mayor. In 2014, when he took public office, Mr Tory stepped down as a Rogers director but remained in his role on the family trust’s advisory committee, citing a “moral obligation” to his friend Ted Rogers, who died of congestive heart failure shortage in 2008
The advisory committee consists of Rogers family members and family friends. The passing of the Rogers family matriarch earlier this year left a vacancy on the previous 10-person commission. It is not clear how or if this position will be filled.
Mr Tory’s stake in Rogers Communications drew attention last year during a tumultuous battle for control of the company.
The power struggle erupted after Edward Rogers first tried to oust the company’s then-CEO, Joe Natale, and replace him with its chief financial officer, Tony Staffieri. The move was opposed by most of the company’s board, including his mother Loretta Rogers and sisters Martha Rogers and Melinda Rogers-Hickson.
Mr. Rogers hit back by trying to replace five of the company’s independent directors with his own slate of candidates without holding a shareholder meeting. The move ultimately succeeded, allowing Mr. Rogers to install Mr. Staffieri as chief executive.
At the height of the boardroom brawl last October, Mr. Tory was asked by reporters whether it was appropriate and the best use of time for the mayor to preside over a meeting of the Rogers family that could determine the future of the nation’s largest wireless carrier.
Mr Tory replied that he attended the meeting after a 12-hour day. “I choose to fulfill a serious fiduciary duty that I promised the deceased [Ted] Rogers, what I would do to try to help his family and his company,” he said at the time, adding, “I don’t think there are too many people who question my dedication to my job.”
In a statement on Friday, Mr Chaleff thanked Mr Bati for his “quick decision” to investigate the alleged conflict. Mr. Chalef has asked the commissioner to speed up the investigation in view of the upcoming municipal elections.
“Toronto residents deserve to know as soon as possible whether their mayor is acting solely in the public interest or is unduly influenced by his loyalty to Rogers,” Mr. Chaleff said.
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