Baking Cookies with John Tory: Mayoral hopeful steps out of his comfort zone, addresses Rob Ford’s absence

You can say one thing about Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory – he’s a man who’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty.

That became evident when he joined Yahoo Canada to make a batch of cookies – oatmeal raisin – and willingly dove in to mix raisins and cranberries into the batter by hand.

There was John Tory, businessman, lawyer and mayoral candidate: His crisp, white shirt rolled up to his forearms, dough stuck to everything below.

“If you said these are the best cookies you have ever eaten, I would say, ‘That’s good, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with my ability to run this city,’” he said with a grin. A short time later, he would offer me a doughy handshake, laughing again.

This was the second Toronto mayoral candidate to join Yahoo Canada in a downtown kitchen to test their culinary skills. As luck would have it, both Tory and Olivia Chow were first-time cookie makers. For Tory, it was by design.

“I have developed the art form of showing up after the cookies have been made, to do the quality control,” he quipped.

Tory may not have experience baking cookies, or changing his car’s oil as he would admit, but you wouldn’t notice a gap of experience when looking at his resume. He’s the former CEO of Rogers Media, the former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, a former talk radio host and the former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.

He’s a lawyer, a member of the Order of Ontario and now a two-time Toronto mayoral candidate. He first ran in 2003, finishing second to David Miller. After that, Tory then turned to provincial politics, holding a Toronto seat for two years before losing to now-Premier Kathleen Wynne in 2007 and in a by-election shortly afterward.

He was widely rumoured to be considering a run for mayor in 2010, but says he decided not to because he needed a break from politics. Rob Ford went on to win that election. Three years later, Tory felt he had more to offer the city.

“I would say you learn more from losing than you do from winning. Winning you think you are on top of the world and have all the answers. When you lose you reflect on these things. I’ve learned that it’s important to be honest and to stick to what you believe in,” Tory said.

“Compared to the first time I ran for mayor, I am 11 years wiser and 11 years more experienced about the city. I didn’t spend those years thinking about another run, because I didn’t think I’d have another chance. I spent those years deeply immersed in the city and volunteering for just about everything you can name.”

Tory explains that his lack of experience with cookies comes, in part, from a recent diet in which he lost a significant amount of weight. Now, he watches what he eats and drinks.

“I avoid as much as possible. I’m not trying to pretend I live in a monastery and eat bread and water. But I try to avoid sweets, the obvious stuff. Alcohol of any kind is bad for you in terms of a diet. It’s like anything else, moderation in all things,” he said.

“I have this vague notion that oatmeal raisin cookies are better for you. Eating oatmeal is good and raisins are fruit, as opposed to eating chocolate chips, which sort of seem just more evil.”

As the cookies go into the oven, the conversation turns to more heated topics. The mayoral campaign was recently turned on its head when Ford announced he was taking a temporary leave from office, and the campaign trail, after fresh allegations of crack cocaine use surfaced, at the same time as an audio recording was released of an inebriated Ford making racist, violent and sexually aggressive comments.

Ford’s camp says the mayor is seeking treatment for substance abuse. The mayor’s demons were a topic Tory spoke frequently about during his time as a radio host on Newstalk 1010. He says now, as he did then, that he hopes Ford finds the support he needs.

“I’ve been talking about Rob Ford for two years on the radio and I’ve been very consistent in saying that the behaviour and hanging around with criminals was not acceptable, I felt very badly about some of the personal issues he had. I never criticized him for those, and haven’t now as a candidate,” Tory said.

“I’ve always said I hope he gets help, and I assume that’s what he’s doing now. And I hope that help is successful for him and his family. I do think that he has some behavioural issues that go beyond the substance problems. He hangs around with bad people and lies to the media and public constantly, and that is unacceptable.

“We have to do better than that, and we have to get beyond that. He has disqualified himself from holding an office with the important responsibilities of mayor and where credibility is all-important.”

Ford’s behaviour has now become its own campaign issue. When the latest revelations were released, candidates were split on how Ford should respond. Tory and David Soknacki said Ford should resign immediately; Olivia Chow and Karen Stintz were critical but said Ford’s fate should be left up to the voters on October 27.

“It’s a matter of personal opinion, and he’ll do whatever he chooses to do. But I felt under the circumstances that … it would be respectful of the office he holds, it would be honourable thing to do to resign. Just resign.”

Tory maintains that Ford’s absence from the campaign trail doesn’t change his own strategy. He is still focused on building transit, still focused on keeping taxes low.

“My campaign will be the same and I am delighted to have the opportunity to go out and tell people what I’m going to do, instead of responding to attacks or trying to get into them. I just don’t think that is very constructive,” Tory said.

In recent weeks, Tory has announced plans to invest in Toronto’s music industry and released a job creation plan that identified several major opportunities for growth in the city. The plan noted how and why Tory would push for each one.

Still, Tory has been criticized for making announcements that lack detail. It’s a common issue in political campaigns. When should candidates release information? Do they do it early, giving opponents a chance to react and respond? Or do they hold it until later in the campaign? Tory notes there are still five months before Election Day – more than enough time to release the details of his policies.

“I’m putting these ideas out there as to the kind of city I want to lead and the kind of ideas on which I want to spend my time as mayor. There will be more details to follow. Will I have spelled out every detail? I think people should be suspicious if I had,” he said. “The notion that any politician, no matter who he or she is, has all the answers is rubbish. I was going to say BS, and I will say BS. It is BS.”

Tory says transit is the No. 1 priority in the campaign. “We have neglected it for so long that is has become a crisis,” he says. His major issue is the Scarborough subway line, a project that rival Olivia Chow says she would replace with a less expensive light-rail transit line.

The additional cost of building the subway would be worth it in the long run, he maintains, because subways have a longer lifespan – about 100 years to the 35-year lifespan of an LRT line. He adds a subway line would bring more growth potential to the Scarborough area. Plus, funding is already in place and all three levels of government have agreed to the plan. “How often does that happen?” he quips.

The second major transit priority for Tory is the downtown subway relief line – a long-considered line that would help alleviate congestion from Toronto’s primary Yonge Street subway corridor. Tory and Chow both support building the line, but Tory has suggested the line isn’t a priority for his rival.

“Ms. Chow says we’ll get along without that Yonge Street Relief Line, and she says it could be done by 2031. I will be 77 years old then, that is 17 years from now. I’m not prepared to wait 17 years. We’re going to get to it faster,” he said.

Tory said he would reveal how he will pay for the construction later in the campaign. When directly asked when he would have the line finished, Tory would only say it would be a lot sooner than 2031.

As the cookies come out of the oven, there is excitement in Tory’s eyes. A hint of pleasure in his voice as he shares his hope that they come out soft, rather than hard and crumbly. The come out golden brown, like soft pillows of oats and dried fruit.

We don’t wait for the cookies to cool before we dig in, and they pass the test. Soft, sweet. Tory smiles.

“I think they are fantastic. That’s just me, objectively speaking,” he says, laughing again.

Want to know what news is brewing in Canada?
Follow @MRCoutts on Twitter.