John Tory has not grown into the job of Toronto’s chief magistrate.

Torontonians gave him a tepid win over Doug Ford in 2014 when the victory should have been resounding. Many voters abandoned their preferred candidate in Olivia Chow because of the credible fear that votes split between Chow and Tory would dilute the opposition to madcap Ford. The very prospect of a return to Ford-inspired chaos was enough to drive scared voters to Tory’s camp.

Four years later, what does Toronto have to show for its trust in Tory? Mediocrity, at best.

Now, run-of-the-mill may be good enough for some citizens. They don’t ask for much — just pick up the garbage, clear the snow, keep the water running and the lights on and the cops happy and “don’t embarrass us in front of the world.” For them, timidity and middling and lukewarm is acceptable.

But Toronto deserves more, needs more and is built for more. Now is as good a time as any to go looking for more.

What images flicker to life when one thinks of Tory? A veritable Energizer bunny that goes and goes from day to night — here a news conference, there a news conference, always talking about this and that and achieving far less than what might be.

Bold? Well there is his out-of-the-blue delivery of free transit for kids 12 and under. This terrific initiative — better than anything he has concocted on the transportation file — was introduced early in his tenure. Having escaped his shell long enough to do something unexpectedly progressive, Tory saw the shadow of some mythic right-wing opponent and went back into his policy hole to re-emerge with uninspired and threadbare musings.

How many times has Tory trundled out promises of getting traffic moving only to see a one-day or one-week improvement before normalcy returned?

The “Vision Zero” policy is meant to eliminate pedestrian and cycling deaths on our street, but the death toll mounts.

On the large files — transit, policing, housing and fiscal sustainability — there’s been a lot of hurry up and stand still.

Housing continues to trend as a major concern for Toronto residents — but homelessness has been replaced with housing affordability in the polling questions. And while most of us demand more housing, we don’t want the new homes near us. This irony stands to be lost on us because our political leader is not seized with its import. We know our kids and family members can’t afford to live near us, but have no clue how to change course or slow the forces that have gotten us there.

Think of the policing file. Tory insisted on sitting on the police services board. Such an important portfolio demanded his personal attention, he said. And, to what end?

He picked a police chief to mollify the police union and avoid a chief versus rank-and-file showdown — only to see the union turn against him and the chief in a public smackdown. He populated the police services board with his acolytes. They messed up the carding file and destroyed the few remaining chords of agreement with the Black community. And now that gun violence has spiked he is channelling right wing populism by throwing more money at the police and asking for powers to bar criminals from social housing.

On transit and transportation he has proven too political and neither fiscally practical nor wise.

One can see the gears grinding in Tory’s brain as he tries to please everyone and cover all bases. To wit: support the Scarborough subway extension because there are lots of votes there . . . but wait, got to maintain the SmartTrack dream I promised, so move the subway east to McCowan ... but wait, subway and SmartTrack are scavenging the other, so reduce the number of stops on the subway to, ah, one . . . but wait, even that would render SmartTrack an overbuild, so greatly reduce the number of SmartTrack stations ... and don’t worry, we will build the relief line as well, and the LRT out to the U of T in Scarborough, and . . .

If one were inclined to turn a blind eye to those faults, Tory cemented his “timid Tory” image with his weak and ineffective response to the Doug Ford government. Tory’s fundamental position is: We have to work with the province on numerous files, so it’s best not to upset them while they set about destroying our government and local democracy.

He forgets the first rule in confronting a bully: If he hits you in the face, hit him in the groin. Respect is earned, not given.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The lasting bitter taste of the Ford government intrusion into Toronto’s local election — and only Toronto’s — is that Toronto’s mayor appeared to be a party to the coup. He didn’t scream early enough, long enough and loud enough. As such, what other outrage will he allow Doug Ford to inflict? A TTC subway grab? Casinos on the waterfront? Privatization of the subway and its real estate holdings?

Another four years of Tory will be much like the last four. Not good enough.

Royson James is a former Star reporter who is a current freelance columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @roysonjames

Read more about: