Olivia Chow takes aim at Tory’s political past

Olivia Chow accused John Tory of “bashing” Toronto on Sunday, marking a campaign shift in which she is positioning herself as the only progressive candidate in the final weeks of the race to become Toronto’s mayor.

“Instead of standing up for Toronto, he promised when he was the leader of the Progressive Conservatives he would ship 5,000 jobs outside the city,” she said.

“When there was a provincial budget, he said in the legislature that the budget was too Toronto-centric.”

In a written statement released by Chow’s campaign Sunday, Chow demanded that Tory explain why he made those comments several years ago.

“Unlike John Tory, I stand up for Toronto. I didn’t talk the city down when I was an MP in Ottawa. I’ve never said our city has too many jobs,” the statement read.

John Tory responded to Chow’s criticism at the Word on the Street festival Sunday afternoon.

“She is focussing on something I said seven years ago when I was a provincial politician with a different responsibility,” Tory told reporters.
“During that time I had lots of positive things to say championing Toronto and over the intervening years since I stopped being a provincial politician, I have championed Toronto on many causes including transportation as head of CivicAction, including getting jobs here, chairing task forces on youth unemployment for the province.”

Tory made a point of bringing up his “track record” as a provincial politician once again when he addressed questions about recent tensions with The Globe and Mail.

Tory previously admitted to having “issues” with the publication when asked about refusing to answer questions from Globe reporters at a recent news conference. On Sunday, Tory simply stated that issues had been resolved.

“If you go and ask the people at Queen’s Park who had to deal with me when I was the leader of the opposition there I think you’ll find that I was accessible. My team often told me I was too accessible, answered too many questions,” he said.

“But having said all that, I wanted to be accessible. It is a part of the job.”

Agencies/Canadajournal