John Tory’s judgment is slipping and it shows

Backing controversial Liberal candidate Doly Begum after his own scandal reinforces a pattern voters are starting to notice

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Three federal by-elections were held on Monday. If Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals won two of them, it would turn his one-seat minority government into a majority government.

While that’s not a significant difference in terms of governing the country on a day-to-day basis, it would be a huge morale boost for the PM to consolidate power on Parliament Hill.

Unsurprisingly, Carney achieved his majority before the night was out.

Yet, there was an eye-raising political story that occurred in one of the three federal ridings. It wasn’t going to change the result, since the Liberals were already favoured to win. Nevertheless, the bizarre endorsement of a controversial Liberal candidate may have changed many people’s perceptions about one longtime public figure.

The latter refers to John Tory. He’s a well-known lawyer, businessman and broadcaster who previously served as commissioner of the Canadian Football League, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader (and Leader of the Official Opposition) and, most recently, mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023.

Tory would still be in office today if he hadn’t sabotaged his own career.

He had just won a third successive election in Oct. 2022, and would have been the city’s longest-serving mayor at the end of this term. Alas, he resigned in disgrace in Feb. 2023 after a Toronto Star piece revealed the then-68-year-old mayor had been having an affair with an unnamed 31-year-old former staffer during COVID-19. Tory resigned within an hour of the story’s release and acknowledged he had made a “serious error in judgment” by engaging in this inappropriate relationship.

“It has been the job of a lifetime,” he told the media, “and while I have let them and my family down in this instance, I have nonetheless been deeply honoured by the opportunity to serve the people of this wonderful city and I believe that I did some good for the city, that I did make a positive difference for the city that I truly love, particularly during the pandemic.”

Tory considered making a political comeback in this year’s Toronto mayoral election. He decided against entering the race on March 3. His statement suggested it was “not because I lack the energy or the desire … I will not be running for mayor because I feel I cannot put my family and the people I care about through the inevitable attacks on me and my personal life that we’ve started to see before I’ve even announced my intentions.” Moreover, he told Newstalk 1010 host Deb Hutton that “the woman I had a relationship with, I still have a relationship with.”

Toronto seemingly dodged a huge political bullet in more ways than one.

The Star reported on April 11 that Tory had endorsed and campaigned with Liberal candidate Doly Begum in the Scarborough Southwest by-election. “She is a capable, collegial person who will do a good job representing the people of Scarborough Southwest in the Parliament of Canada,” he told the newspaper in an email response. He had also apparently met Begum—who was an Ontario NDP MPP before jumping ship to run for the federal Liberals—while he was mayor.

As an aside, Star reporter Daniyah Yaqoob mentioned that Tory was “an independent who was once closely affiliated with the Progressive Conservatives.” (This confirmed what I had been told privately earlier this year.)

Nevertheless, it was a strange decision for several reasons. Tory doesn’t live in the riding. His nod of approval came at the very end of the by-election period. Begum was already a lock to win, too. Scarborough Southwest has been almost entirely in Liberal hands from 1988 to 2026, save New Democrat Dan Harris’s one term in office (2011-2015).

Most importantly, Begum is a controversial candidate.

She wrote in an Instagram post/statement last September that “Canada remains complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” She suggested that “to recognize Palestine while simultaneously supplying arms and supporting those carrying out atrocities is not only hypocritical—it is a betrayal of justice and a moral failure.”

Begum also said in the Ontario Legislature last November that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “far-right coalition—with the help of others, including Canada—continues its military campaign, and what we’re witnessing right now is not peace, Speaker. It’s devastation.” In her view, the Carney Liberals needed to find “its moral backbone, the courage and conviction to stop sending arms and enabling this genocide.”

This is the same party and government she’s running for.

Was Tory aware of Begum’s controversial remarks on these issues? I don’t know. Does he agree with her positions? I’d like to think not.

I asked Tory these questions in an X post that received a decent amount of attention. I’ve known him for years, although we haven’t spoken recently. There’s been no response to date—or to similar concerns from others.

Frustration over Tory’s bizarre by-election endorsement could be seen across the political spectrum, including by some old supporters and admirers. The damage may be irreparable in most instances. While it didn’t hurt or affect Begum’s campaign as she coasted to victory, it proved that the former mayor’s poor political judgment is getting worse with age. That’s a notable story in itself.

Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.