Latest news with #JohnTory
National Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- National Post
Chris Selley: Banning MAGA singer Sean Feucht, Canada slips further into Trump-ian incoherence
Article content You'll often hear politicians say that government-owned spaces have a special obligation not to rent venues to people whose views don't reflect appropriate 'values.' 'When it comes to public buildings, I believe we should hold ourselves to the highest standard,' then Toronto mayor John Tory averred in 2019, when the Toronto Public Library rented a stage to barely controversial feminist Meghan Murphy. Article content It's exactly the opposite. Government-owned venues are subject to the Charter. Privately owned venues, such as those Feucht ended up performing at instead near Halifax, Moncton and Charlottetown, are not. It would certainly be interesting to see someone mount a Charter challenge to these decisions. Article content Article content As is often the case with censorship, one of the primary achievements of these cancellations was to give a ton of free publicity to Feucht. He's not exactly a household name even in the United States. Exactly one of his records has ever charted: at number 37 on Billboard's Christian albums, in 2016. His constituency is considerably smaller north of the border. I would never even have heard of him had these cities just let the shows go ahead. Article content Article content Had we denied him entry to Canada, as many were calling for, it would have been an even bigger deal. It's also one of those things you could imagine Trump taking note of and retaliating — say, by banning godless Canadian bands from crossing the border and performing in the U.S. Article content And the crazy thing is, many Canadians would say, 'good, they shouldn't be playing in the U.S. anyway.' Canadian singer-songwriter Matthew Good received lavish praise for cancelling his stateside shows recently … though he had only booked them in January, when Trump was already president. Article content
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Olivia Chow would easily win re-election unless John Tory enters race, new poll suggests
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow speaks during a panel at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Ottawa on Friday, May 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Olivia Chow would comfortably secure a second term as Toronto's mayor if an election were held today but she could face a significant challenge from John Tory if he enters the race, a new poll conducted by Liaison Strategies for the Toronto Star has found. Liaison Strategies surveyed 1,000 Torontonians on their voting intentions, with the next municipal election still nearly 16 months away in October, 2026. It found that in the event that an election were held today, Chow would have the support of 41 per cent of all voters and 49 per cent of decided voters. That would give her a sizeable double-digit lead over her next closest competitor. However, in the event that John Tory were to enter the race, Chow's support would drop to 34 per cent among all voters and 39 per cent among decided voters. In that scenario, Tory would be her clear challenger with the support of 31 per cent of all voters and 35 per cent of decided voters. 'If John Tory doesn't run we see that one out of five people who say they would vote for him say that they would (instead) vote for Olivia Chow, so there is a lot of overlap between the two of them, even though you may not think that would be the case' David Valentin of Liaison Strategies told CP24 Breakfast on Monday morning. The release of the Liaison Strategies survey comes after Chow marked the second anniversary of her win in a mayoral byelection that followed Tory's sudden resignation. So far few people have stepped forward to indicate an intention to run in the next municipal election, so Liaison Strategies opted to ask Torontonians about the candidacy of several rumoured and former mayoral candidates. In a race without Tory, Chow's next closest competitor would be Coun. Brad Bradford (16 per cent of all voters, 19 per cent of decided voters) and former deputy mayor Ana Bailao (11 per cent of all voters and 13 per cent of decided voters), both of whom ran in the mayoral byelection. Former mayoral candidate Anthony Furey was in fourth with the support of 10 per cent of all voters and 12 per cent of decided voters while former Liberal MP Marco Mendicino was a distant fifth with the support of three per cent of all voters and four per cent of decided voters. About 16 per cent of respondents said that they were still undecided on who they would vote for. If Tory were to run, Liaison Strategies found that it would essentially become a two-horse race with no other candidate garnering the support of more than seven per cent of decided voters. In that scenario, 12 per cent of voters identified themselves as undecided. 'There are people who want him (Tory) to come back. Ultimately you are talking about someone who has very high name recognition in a level of politics where name recognition is everything,' Valentin said. The Toronto Star reported in June that multiple sources close to Tory believed that he was considering a run for mayor. However, Tory told NewsTalk 1010 days later that he had no immediate plans to run. 'I don't have any plans to run for mayor right now,' Tory said at the time. 'The election is 16 months away. I've got a lot to think about, but I'm just going on with my life, trying to help the city the ways that I did before I was mayor and the way I have done after.' The Liaison Strategies survey found that a slight majority of Torontonians (51 per cent) approve of the job Chow is doing as mayor. That approval rating, however, is the lowest that Chow has recorded since entering office and marks a drop from December when 60 per cent of Torontonians approved of the job she was doing, according to Liaison Strategies. Asked about the numbers during a media availability on Monday to launch a pilot project to provide air conditioning units to seniors, Chow declined to comment. 'There is so much work that needs to be done in so many areas and I am not at all thinking about elections, re-elections, I am trying to find more money to buy more of these air condition units,' she said. The survey was conducted from July 2-6 using interactive voice response technology and is considered accurate to withing 3.09 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Toronto councillor wants speed cameras shut off until September
A Toronto councillor said he wants the city's speed camera program put on hold and is vowing to prompt a vote on the matter at Thursday's council meeting. Humber River-Black Creek Coun. Anthony Perruzza called the cameras "speed traps" in a news release and said he wants them shut off until September so city staff can review Toronto's approach to slowing down motorists. His appeal comes three months after the city doubled the number of automated speed cameras it uses to 150. The system launched in the summer of 2020, under former Mayor John Tory, with the goal of slowing down drivers in community safety zones, such as on roads next to schools, and areas where there have been serious collisions. Perruzza, without providing supporting evidence, said in a news release the cameras have "no meaningful impact." Perruzza's bid to pause the speed camera system comes weeks after Vaughan's city council opted to do just that after drivers there racked up more than 30,000 tickets in three weeks. Perruzza said he's heard from plenty of frustrated drivers in his ward. "Often, drivers are unaware that this camera exists here, and responsible drivers are ticketed despite traveling at speeds close to the posted limits," he said, leaving them feeling "unfairly penalized." The city always posts signs 90 days ahead of a speed camera being installed, and keeps signage in place where they are running. It also maintains a map of the speed camera locations. By the end of 2022, the city had collected some $34 million in fines from speeding drivers caught on camera. This March, Transportation Services head Barbara Gray maintained the program isn't focused on bringing in revenue. "If the cameras generated no revenue, that would be best, because that would mean that people weren't speeding," she said.
CBC
26-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Toronto councillor wants speed cameras shut off until September
A Toronto councillor said he wants the city's speed camera program put on hold and is vowing to prompt a vote on the matter at Thursday's council meeting. Humber River-Black Creek Coun. Anthony Perruzza called the cameras "speed traps" in a news release and said he wants them shut off until September so city staff can review Toronto's approach to slowing down motorists. His appeal comes three months after the city doubled the number of automated speed cameras it uses to 150. The system launched in the summer of 2020, under former Mayor John Tory, with the goal of slowing down drivers in community safety zones, such as on roads next to schools, and areas where there have been serious collisions. Perruzza, without providing supporting evidence, said in a news release the cameras have "no meaningful impact." Perruzza's bid to pause the speed camera system comes weeks after Vaughan's city council opted to do just that after drivers there racked up more than 30,000 tickets in three weeks. Perruzza said he's heard from plenty of frustrated drivers in his ward. "Often, drivers are unaware that this camera exists here, and responsible drivers are ticketed despite traveling at speeds close to the posted limits," he said, leaving them feeling "unfairly penalized." The city always posts signs 90 days ahead of a speed camera being installed, and keeps signage in place where they are running. It also maintains a map of the speed camera locations. By the end of 2022, the city had collected some $34 million in fines from speeding drivers caught on camera. This March, Transportation Services head Barbara Gray maintained the program isn't focused on bringing in revenue. "If the cameras generated no revenue, that would be best, because that would mean that people weren't speeding," she said.
CTV News
20-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
‘I've got a lot to think about': John Tory says he has no immediate plans to run for mayor
While it's only a year away, speculation still swirls surrounding new and familiar faces who may run in Toronto's next mayoral election. While it's only a year away, speculation still swirls surrounding new and familiar faces who may run in Toronto's next mayoral election. Speculation circulates around who will run in Toronto's next mayoral election Former mayor John Tory says while he has no immediate plans to run for mayor, he has 'a lot to think about' before the next municipal election is held next year. Tory made the comments to Newstalk 1010 on Friday morning amid speculation that he is considering a run for mayor once again. 'I don't have any plans to run for mayor right now,' Tory said Friday. 'The election is 16 months away. I've got a lot to think about, but I'm just going on with my life, trying to help the city the ways that I did before I was mayor and the way I have done after.' Previous reporting by the Toronto Star cited multiple sources who confirmed that Tory is considering another mayoral bid but has not made a final decision. 'Bottom line is I love the city. I'm spending all of my time now helping out in different ways,' Tory said, pointing to his work with the Scarborough Health Network, WoodGreen Community Services, and the Toronto International Film Festival. Tory resigned in February 2023, just months into his third term as mayor, after it was revealed that he had been involved in a relationship with a member of his office staff during the pandemic. Mayor Olivia Chow was elected to replace Tory four months later when voters returned to the polls in June next municipal election is scheduled to be held on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. While no notable names have thrown their hat in the ring just yet, rumours have been circulating over some possible contenders to face Chow in the election, including Marco Mendicino, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister who recently announced he would soon be stepping down as Prime Minister Mark Carney's chief of staff. At the time of his resignation, several sources close to Mendicino confirmed to CTV News that he is seriously considering a bid to run for mayor of Toronto. At a campaign-style news conference outside of his ward on Thursday, Coun. Brad Bradford, who placed eighth in the mayoral byelection in 2023, repeatedly faced questions from reporters about whether he will make a run for the mayor's chair again next year. 'I have not made any decision on that,' he said Thursday. 'As a member of the 25 councillors and 26 including the mayor, it is becoming on all of us to stand up and fight on the issues that are important for people that are trying to call the city home.'
