Mayor John Tory’s inauguration would have marked a strong start toward a more unified Toronto — if not for what he’d done the day before.

Tory said all the right things as he was sworn in on Tuesday, pledging to build public transit, reduce gridlock, bolster trust, restore faith in public service and develop a “real poverty reduction strategy” for Toronto.

Vowing to be a mayor with “an open door and an open mind,” Tory declared a goal of unity, ending internal divisions that have “paralyzed, at times, city hall itself.”

His choice of anti-violence activist Louise Russo as inaugural speaker marked an inspired change from four years ago, when Rob Ford called on bombastic hockey commentator Don Cherry for this municipal honour.

Cherry, wearing a garish pink blazer (“for all the pinkos out there”), lambasted cyclists, the media and city bureaucrats before defiantly declaring: “Put that in your pipe, you left-wing kooks.”

In the wake of this polarizing screed, just about anyone would have appeared a moderate alternative. But Russo, an innocent bystander left paralyzed in a 2004 gangland shooting, proved to be a particularly enlightened choice. Her speech painted a heartfelt picture of a better city. Also on hand, quite deservedly, was Tory’s political mentor, former premier Bill Davis.

Had this inspiring inauguration event been Tory’s first major move as mayor we could all applaud. But the day before, he announced his inner circle at city council — the people he will rely upon to deliver his agenda. And this remarkably one-sided team does not bode well for unity.

Indeed, it’s hard to read these choices as anything other than a declaration of war against downtown progressives, as the Star’s Edward Keenan noted.

Council’s left wing includes some remarkably talented and experienced people but they were entirely shut out from Tory’s executive committee — a body akin to the cabinet at other levels of government. Indeed, a majority of those selected had also served on Ford’s executive.

Tory kept another Ford crony, the hopelessly inept Frances Nunziata, as council speaker. And he named arch-conservative Denzil Minnan-Wong as deputy mayor.

These appointments matter. Unlike upbeat speeches pledging an abstract commitment to unity, they go a long way towards determining how Toronto will actually be governed.

Tory attempted to leaven the one-sidedness of this selection by appointing council progressives Pam McConnell and Glenn De Baeremaeker as ceremonial deputy mayors, along with former Ford loyalist Vince Crisanti. But that’s little compensation for the polarizing make-up of Toronto’s new executive and its committee chairs.

The appointments are no accident; they’re the product of careful planning. If Tory intends to be at loggerheads with council’s left he has effectively fired the first volley, noted the Star’s Royson James.

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This can only disappoint the many downtown residents, urban activists and progressive voters who took Tory at his word and accepted his assurance that he would strive to turn this divided city into “One Toronto.” Many of them gave him their vote.

Certainly, Tory is harder working, more responsible and far better informed than his predecessor. But – rhetoric aside – his first major step in governing looks regrettably like the old, badly polarized model that characterized Ford’s misrule. He can, and should, do better.

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