An integrity complaint has been filed against Toronto Mayor John Tory for failing to declare an alleged conflict of interest when he commented on and voted to end the Active TO program, given his ties to Rogers Communications.
Toronto resident Adam Chaleff provided documents to CP24 saying he filed a complaint with Toronto’s integrity commissioner about the Tories’ public comments and their vote to end the Lake Shore West Boulevard program.
Chaleff alleges Tory violated sections of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA) by discussing and voting against extending the outdoor program after the Blue Jays, owned by Rodgers, publicly said ActiveTO was influencing on their business.
Tory is a shareholder in Rogers Communications and has a long personal history with both the Rogers family and the telecommunications giant, where he ran two different subsidiaries in the 1990s.
“This series of events raises concerns that Mayor Tory has breached Sections 5, 5.1 and 5.2 of the MCIA. The Integrity Commissioner has a duty to conduct an investigation into the matter and use the investigative powers in Part V of the City of Toronto Act 2006,” the documents state.
The Integrity Commissioner, Jonathan Baty, is an independent officer who oversees the conduct of elected and most appointed officials in Toronto. The Commissioner also conducts investigations into allegations of breached standards.
Torrey says the commissioner’s office has yet to contact Torrey about the complaint and that he first learned of it through a media inquiry from the Toronto Sar.
Tory added that the matter was a wide-ranging discussion and that he followed the rules while considering it.
“I follow the rules. I think people trust me to follow the rules. I did it, you know, in a very deliberate way during my time as mayor. And the integrity commissioner, I have a lot of respect, and he hasn’t contacted me about it yet,” Tory told CP24 on Wednesday morning.
“We’ll deal with it as we’ve dealt with things like this before, but I’m confident that I’m following the rules and I’m continuing to follow the rules, and I’m going to continue to follow the rules. I was very transparent about that.
In the summer of 2020, the city implemented ActiveTO, which closed select city streets, including Lake Shore Boulevard West, to vehicular traffic on weekends to give pedestrians, bicyclists and runners room to physically distance themselves amid the COVID pandemic -19.
While some residents have enjoyed the experience of car-free roads, others have expressed frustration with increasing levels of traffic, especially in recent months as more people commute into the city due to improved pandemic conditions.
In June, Torrey said the city council received a report from city staff on the impact of the program on weekend vehicle traffic.
Tory has spoken publicly on the issue and said the program would not be scrapped entirely, but would instead demonstrate a “balance” between easing traffic and continuing car-free streets at times.
“I have the traffic data. There’s no question that it had a greater adverse impact on traffic during that time,” Tory told CP24 on June 8. “All I can say is that we very carefully examine all these results, data and actual real evidence, as opposed to stories.”
In light of the news of council considering changes to ActiveTO road closures, Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro sent a letter to the mayor and city staff asking council not to vote in favor of expanding the program to Lake Shore Boulevard West.
“The Toronto Blue Jays are a major sports franchise that draws millions of fans to Rogers Center every season. Given the unprecedented levels of construction and other diversions in downtown Toronto, removing one of the only routes in and out of the central core would be extremely challenging for our fans who rely on these routes to attend our games, Shapiro wrote in his June 6 letter.
On June 15, the council reviewed traffic data and city staff recommendations and voted to limit the number of ActiveTO closures on Lake Shore Boulevard West this summer.
Instead of recurring weekend closures, the closures will be “limited special events” and will be based on several factors, including the number and location of scheduled street events in the city on a given weekend.
Chaleff’s complaint alleges that Tory had a conflict of interest in the matter and that he should not have spoken publicly about it or voted to end the program given his involvement with Rogers.
“As a member of the Rogers Control Trust Advisory Committee, Mayor Tory has an indirect pecuniary interest in any matter affecting the finances, economic prospects and/or property value of the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Center and should have declared that interest.” , the documents state.
City Hall says it will have no further comment on the matter as it is before the commissioner.
“We respect the integrity commissioner and will make no further comment on this matter while the appeal is before him, other than what we said at the time: This vote was for a city program that the mayor put in place and supported during the pandemic, and it was very broad public issue involving all road users in the city,” Don Peat, Tory’s executive director of communications, said in a statement.
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