John Tory's closest advisers are urging him to stick with his resignation, sources say
CBC
Since Toronto Mayor John Tory announced he will resign in the wake of an affair with one of his staff, a range of voices from council allies to a Toronto Star columnist to (reportedly) Premier Doug Ford have urged him not to quit.
But the advisers who've been by Tory's side the longest — and who the mayor trusts the most — are remaining steadfast in their belief that he needs to step down, multiple sources tell CBC News.
Tory, who has not formally resigned, will preside over Wednesday's budget meeting at city council.
Had he resigned before the budget passed, the acting mayor would not hold the "strong mayor" powers granted by the Ford government that allow Toronto's mayor to veto budget amendments with just one-third of council on side.
The rumblings that Tory could walk back his promised resignation are being fuelled in part by polling. "Support for Mayor Tory remains significant," said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research polling firm. "It's possible that Torontonians are open to Tory continuing in his role."
But even Tory himself appears to be throwing cold water on any idea that he will stay on as mayor.
The mayor's press secretary said in a statement that Tory has met with the deputy mayor, city manager and city clerk "to talk about how best to ensure an orderly transition" and that "details on the transition will be announced after the budget meeting."
Tory maintains a tight inner circle of close political advisers, sometimes referred to as his "kitchen cabinet." It includes his first city hall chief of staff Chris Eby, political consultant Patrick Harris, pollster Nick Kouvalis, public affairs specialist Bob Richardson, and his 2018 to 2022 chief of staff Luke Robertson.
The inner circle met on Friday to hear Tory's accounting of the affair and to discuss what to do about the Toronto Star story that would soon reveal it.
Their view was unanimous that Tory's only path, both politically and personally, was to step down, three sources close to the mayor tell CBC News.
"It makes no sense to stay," said a Tory confidante. "Any integrity he can salvage is in doing the right thing, and that's trying to fix the family."
The confidante says there's no reasonable way for Tory to justify changing his mind so quickly.
"You can't stand in front of the cameras on Friday night and say you made a terrible error in judgment and you have to resign to go be with your family, and then a week later say you have to stay."
CBC News is not publishing the names of the sources so they could speak freely about their behind-the-scenes discussions.