John Tory's affair violated city council code of conduct: integrity commissioner

TORONTO — Former Toronto mayor John Tory broke the city council's code of conduct with his relationship with a staffer, the city's integrity commissioner found in a report released Thursday.

Tory resigned as mayor on Feb. 10 after admitting he had an affair with someone who worked in his office. 

Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty described the relationship in his report as "on and off" between the summer of 2020 and early 2023, and one that was "emotionally intimate" but involved "very limited" physical contact.

"While they shared many interests and enjoyed spending time together, Ms. A said her interest in having a relationship was limited by their 38-year age difference and the fact she wanted to have her own family," Batty wrote. 

"She wanted to get married and have children and understood Mr. Tory was married and, at his stage of life, was not going to give her any of those things."

The city council code of conduct doesn't prohibit personal relationships, but certain human resource policies have to be followed – especially when one person is in a position of authority – and Tory did not do that, Batty wrote.

"He did not disclose the relationship to my office when it began in order to get advice ... (or) contemporaneously document the measures being adopted to address the issue in the workplace," the commissioner wrote. 

"Ms. A was not provided a 'safe work environment' as required by the Ethical Framework for Members’ Staff. Mr. Tory put his private interests first. He also did not follow the guidance in the Preamble to arrange his private affairs in a manner that promotes public confidence and bears close public scrutiny."

The woman, who the commissioner does not name, worked in the mayor's office from January 2018 to March 2021, and she and Tory began a consensual personal relationship in the summer of 2020, the report said. Tory broke it off via email after his wife discovered the relationship, but later resumed it, the report said.

Batty said Tory also violated the code of conduct when he voted on matters that had affected Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, where the woman went to work after leaving city hall.

Tory, in a response included in the report, said he should have sought the commissioner's advice on how to appropriately handle the matter.

"I’m also sorry for the impact that mistake has had on so many people in my life and on the people of Toronto," he wrote.

The woman told the commissioner that the month after their relationship became public and Tory resigned was one of the worst of her life.

"(What) the media has said, how they've embellished on Mr. Tory's statement is not how I would – that's not how I would describe our relationship," the commissioner quoted her as saying in an interview with his office.

"And trying to explain to people that I love how much somebody meant to me when there's speculation in the media that's inaccurate has been a lot. I'm tired, really tired." 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press