The editorial the Toronto Star should – but won't – write

The Toronto Star
Editorial Page

Learning from our mistakes

As Canada’s largest newspaper, we pride ourselves on our ability to constructively influence the public agenda within the framework of the strongly held convictions of the Atkinson principles. But just as we advocate for brutal honesty and frequent introspection in our political leaders, so must we display the same traits.

In 2003, we publicly endorsed David Miller over John Tory during the Toronto Mayoral race. Based upon his council experience, we had high hopes for Mr. Miller, and we admit to harbouring a hint of prejudice against the business and upper class background of Mr. Tory. In hindsight, we were wrong. Mr. Tory would have been the better choice.

Mr. Miller has accomplished little during his time in office. Both he and we mocked John Tory’s 2003 campaign pledge to add 400 officers to the ranks of the Toronto Police Service. We thought that Mr. Tory was baiting the right wing with a tough-on-crime stance. But hiring 400 new officers is exactly what Mr. Miller has done, despite his earlier opposition; ignoring the irony, he officiates at each swearing-in ceremony of the very officers he opposed at the time.

With 200 officers needed most weekend evenings to manage sporatic bar fights in Toronto’s entertainment district, these new recruits are certainly welcome. And despite property taxes that have risen 200% since 2003, downtown neighbourhoods like Forest Hill and Rosedale are unlikely to see a patrol car unless 911 is dialed. A baseball bat beating of a doctor out for an evening walk, or the drive-by pellet gun shooting of a stock broker walking along Avondale Road, are curiously not included in local crime statistics, despite the new resources to handle such paperwork.

Our police force is still overtaxed, it appears, despite the new funding. But crime stats that speak to a safer Toronto under Mayor Miller are skewed by incomplete event reporting.

Speaking of the city budget, we now long for Mr. Tory’s experience running the multi-billion Rogers Cable operation. Mayor Miller believes that closing community centres on Mondays, despite there being a full complement of paid staff still inside, is a way to help the City of Toronto solve its budget crisis.

Having proclaimed during the 2003 Mayor’s race that Mr. Miller was “more trusted” than Mr. Tory, to the outright horror of a couple of our own Torstar Board members, we certainly pushed Mr. Miller over the goal line and into office. As such, we now have only ourselves to blame as Mayor Miller drifts aimlessly through his second term of office. There shouldn’t have been a first term, but voters now have a unique chance to get the services of Mr. Tory in a more important chair: that of the Premier of Ontario.

Unfortunately, Mr. Tory has presented us with a difficult situation. Running under the Conservative banner, even a Progressive one, is rarely palatable here at One Yonge Street. Not since Bill Davis have we been very comfortable with Conservative politicians, even when they were pursuing policies (Brian Mulroney) that we knew were right for Canada. We supported John Turner instead, even though we knew in our hearts that he wasn’t the right person to lead Canada in 1988.

To make matters worse, Mr. Tory unwisely opened up the pandora’s box of school funding with his pledge to fund faith based schools, provided they comply with the standards of the public school system, just as the Separate School board does today. As defenders of public education, we naturally fear any funding ideas that could draw dollars away from rebuilding the current public education system.

Of course, every government program that doesn’t involve education, such as road safety or environmental preservation, takes funding away from public education, but no one ever said The Star let facts get in the way of a good story.

And despite being the proud voice of a multicultural Toronto, we find it extremly difficult to support Mr. Tory for one simple reason: we are against his idea of funding faith-based schools. For weeks, we have overtly and covertly used the pages of this newspaper to help Premier Dalton McGuinty earn re-election, despite having little confidence in his record to date or his ability to deal with many of the key challenges facing this Province.

But, that ends today. As a newspaper, we are forever advocating honesty in our politicians, demanding that they admit their mistakes at the earliest opportunity. Yesterday, John Tory admitted that his faith-based funding idea deserves further discussion over the next two to three years. We welcome this chance to engage in a meaningful dialogue without the backdrop of an election.

Today we are going to take our own advice. We cannot bring ourselves to be in a situation a year from now where we have the same regrets about picking Dalton McGuinty over John Tory on October 10th that we have had recommending David Miller’s candidacy over that of John Tory.

Although we don’t agree with Mr. Tory on faith-based funding, we must admire his leadership. As a word, leadership is overused. And while Mr. Tory would likely have won the election had he not stood up for the rights of other religions, primarily those of New Canadians, we admire him for doing so.

In 1896, Sir Wilfrid Laurier took office as Canada’s 7th Prime Minister. Despite being a great Liberal (The Star was acquired by his supporters, who hired Joe Atkinson as their first publisher), he didn’t run on a platform of giving the vote to women. Sir Wilfrid knew, perhaps, that although it might have been the right thing to do, trying to make major power shifts within the populace wouldn’t get him elected. And if he wasn’t elected, he couldn’t pursue his desire to bring English and French Canada closer together. The Toronto Star has fond memories of Sir Wilfrid as a stateman and politician, even though he didn’t have the courage to stand up for the basic rights of women.

John Tory took a different path. He stood up for the rights of Ontarians who aren’t Roman Catholic. He did so knowing that the polling data tilted against the idea. But in many other areas of his platform, we see reasons to be positive and hopeful.

John Tory is the kind of person that The Toronto Star wants in public office. It is disingenuous of us to hector Canadians to run for Parliament, and then pillar them when they make tactical mistakes, particularly “mistakes” involving bringing fairness to the lives of New Canadians. The very market we pursue on a daily basis in our attempts to expand our own readership base.

As a private citizen, Mr. Tory saved the Canadian Football League, he Chaired the Toronto United Way campaign, he raised money for the Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund. He attended the annual Caribbean Ball even when he wasn’t running for office.

We know he has the ethics, training, brains and judgment to be a great Premier. That we do not agree with him on one topic does not impede our ability to vote for him. We admit that. We know that Mr. Tory will do a better job than Mr. McGuinty, and cannot bring ourselves to fall into the predictable trap of supporting the Liberal candidate in this election, solely due to his/her political stripes.

Knowing that – a year from now – we’ll regret supporting Dalton McGuinty, we are going to do what no one expects us to do and admit the mistake of our tilted campaign coverage to date. The editorial page has been known to be hypocritical at times, particularly when it comes to advocating political positions, but this is not one of those days.

We know in our hearts that Dalton McGuinty will only let us down, just as Mayor Miller has done. Mr. Tory is the right person for the task. We believe it is wise to tell you now, and not in 12 months’ time.

MRM