Toronto mayor resigns, admits affair with ex-staffer: ‘Most of all, I apologize to my wife’

The mayor of Toronto said Friday he was stepping down after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a former staffer.

Mayor John Tory made the surprise announcement at a news conference Friday night, about an hour after The Toronto Star published a report exposing the affair.

“During the pandemic, I developed a relationship with an employee in my office in a way that did not meet the standards to which I hold myself as mayor and as a family member,” Tory, 68, told reporters in a brief address from Toronto City Hall.

“I am deeply sorry, and I apologize unreservedly to the people of Toronto, and to all of those hurt by my actions,” he said. “Most of all, I apologize to my wife, Barb, and to my family.”

Tory, who was reelected in October to a third term, said the affair happened when he and his wife of four decades “were enduring many lengthy periods apart” due to his COVID-era responsibilities.

Tory, a moderate conservative, took office after the chaotic tenure of Rob Ford, whose leadership of Canada’s largest city was marked by his heavy drinking and use of crack cocaine. Ford died of a rare cancer in 2016.

Tory’s more sedate style stood in contrast to his combative predecessor’s.

Tory met his wife, Barbara Hackett, in 1976. They married two years later and share four adult children and six grandchildren.

Without identifying the former staffer, the mayor said that their relationship ended by “mutual consent earlier this year.”

The woman was described as a 31-year-old former adviser, The Star reported. She left the mayor’s office in early 2021.

Tory described his relationship with the staffer as a “serious error in judgment.”

“As a result,” he said, “I’ve decided that I will step down as mayor so that I can take the time to reflect on my mistakes and to do the work of rebuilding the trust of my family.”