Former Toronto mayor John Tory broke ethics rules in his extra-marital affair with a female staffer and by subsequently voting on a city council item involving the woman’s new workplace, the city’s integrity commissioner has decided.
In a 122-page report released on Oct. 5, Toronto Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty concluded that Mr. Tory breached two sections of the code of conduct involving his affair with a junior subordinate, which was revealed on Feb. 10 when the former mayor stepped down from his position.
Mr. Batty said Mr. Tory’s personal relationship with the young female staffer, ‘Ms. A’, began while he was mayor and she worked in his office from January 2018 to March 2021. She was responsible for attending events with Mr. Tory as well as accompanying him on official travel.
During the pandemic, the pair began a “consensual personal relationship,” said Mr. Batty.
“Mr. Tory and Ms. A shared an emotionally intimate relationship outside the workplace. When they spent personal time together, they went on walks and watched sports on TV. They talked politics. They exchanged gifts. Mr. Tory would buy Ms. A flowers. Ms. A would ‘bring groceries’ and often cook or order dinner online (as Mr. Tory had trouble with the technology). When restaurants opened, they would eat out,” said the commissioner.
When Mr. Tory’s wife, Barbara Hackett, discovered the affair, the former mayor told his wife he would end it, said the report.
“Ms. Hackett saw signs in early August 2020 that Mr. Tory had a personal relationship with Ms. A and confronted him about this,” it said.
“With his wife’s knowledge, Mr. Tory emailed Ms. A advising her their personal relationship had to end but that they could still work together.”
“Mr. Tory’s email to Ms. A said their personal communications had to end and they had to ‘find ways to limit their personal contact’ in the workplace,” said the report.
Ethics Violations
The integrity commissioner investigated Mr. Tory’s official trips and the promotion and a later position that Ms. A obtained, as well as the circumstances of her securing employment with the Scarborough Health Network Foundation. The commissioner also reviewed how Ms. A ended up working part-time for MLSE.Ms. A went on to obtain a promotion and to work for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), in relation to the FIFA 2026 World Cup. The mayor was in a relationship with the woman at the same time he was closely involved in planning for Toronto to host the World Cup, said the report.
When Mr. Tory voted at the council meeting on Toronto’s bid to host the World Cup, Mr. Batty said he violated the code of ethics on improper use of influence. “It is apparent that Mr. Tory violated this provision. In the summer of 2022, when he was in a personal relationship with Ms. A, Mr. Tory voted on two matters at Council that would have direct bearing on Ms. A’s employment at MLSE. Mr. Tory had a strong emotional bond to Ms. A.”
Mr. Batty concluded that Mr. Tory “had to have known that voting on these matters would be of direct benefit” to his paramour’s future at MLSE.
The relationship ended in January 2023, and the commissioner notes that Ms. A “began a serious personal relationship with someone else in November 2022.”
Mr. Tory’s resignation made Ms. A a lightning rod for media attention. “The trauma she was put through was clear,” said Mr. Batty.
“Of all people, I was especially concerned about Ms. A. Although not named by Mr. Tory or the Toronto Star, her identity became almost immediately known through social media as Mr. Tory had cited his relationship with her as the underlying reason for his resignation,” said the commissioner.
The commissioner said that Mr. Tory has “accepted almost all of my factual findings and has accepted my conclusion that in two cases he did violate the Code of Conduct.” According to Mr. Batty, the relationship did not constitute sexual harassment, because the relationship between the two was “consensual.”
However, Mr. Batty concluded that Mr. Tory failed to observe terms under the city’s human resources policies and did not follow the ethical framework for staff members.
The commissioner said Mr. Tory did not use his status to influence future jobs obtained by Ms. A, even though his involvement in her hiring “extended beyond providing a typical employer’s reference.” Still, Mr. Batty said, “It did not reach the level of an attempt to exercise undue influence.”
The integrity commissioner said he did not recommend any penalty be imposed because Mr. Tory no longer held office and self-reported his own conduct in resigning.
In a response from Mr. Tory included in the report, the former mayor apologized for his mistake and its impact on those around him and the city, and said he should have gone to the commissioner for advice on how to appropriately handle the situation.
