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On the heels of declaring his job the “most fun you could have with your clothes on,” Toronto Mayor John Tory scored his first big win at city council on Tuesday with a property tax hike that one critic warned is a gamble in the long run.

The vote to increase taxes by 2.75% coincided with the 100th day of Mr. Tory’s “common sense” mayoralty.

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The vast majority of Torontonians in last year’s municipal election — 97.16% to be exact — voted for candidates who called for tax hikes at, below or around the rate of inflation, he argued.

“The other way is the easy way out. It is the easy way out to say, let’s just have 3.0%, 4.0% more put on to property taxes, and I know they didn’t send me here and I don’t think they sent any of us here to take the easy way out when it came to property taxation,” the mayor said. “They expect discipline from us because it’s their reality.”