SmartTrack, the King Street pilot, and an admission that ended his mayoralty

John Tory

John Tory served two terms building transit and poverty-reduction programs — then resigned within a week of admitting an extramarital relationship with a former staffer.

John Tory was sworn in as Toronto's mayor on December 1, 2014, after defeating Doug Ford in the 2014 election. He was re-elected in 2018 with 63.49% of the vote. During his tenure he championed the SmartTrack surface-rail transit plan, launched the "TO Prosperity" poverty-reduction strategy in 2015, and made the King Street transit pilot — prioritizing streetcars on a stretch of King Street — permanent after data showed transit ridership rose roughly 16% with faster travel times.

The 2023 resignation

On February 10, 2023, Tory announced he would resign after acknowledging an extramarital relationship with a former staffer in his office, saying the relationship "did not meet the standards to which I hold myself as mayor and as a family man." He formally submitted his resignation to the city clerk on February 15, 2023, with the resignation taking legal effect on February 17, 2023, at which point Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie assumed the mayor's statutory powers on an interim basis pending a by-election, won that June by Olivia Chow.

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