Shock, disappointment, hope: What Torontonians are feeling after Tory's abrupt decision to resign

What's it like in Toronto the day after yet another political bombshell in the mayor's office?

It depends on who you ask.

Some Torontonians who spoke with CBC Toronto's field crews expressed disappointment that Mayor John Tory, who just cruised to his third term last October, is stepping down following a relationship with an ex-staffer – a revelation first reported by the Toronto Star Friday evening. Others voiced hope a better leader would take his place.

But one feeling they all shared: shock. 

"We don't need this right now," said Marla Hanson.

"There's just so much stuff going on in the city ... like our homeless issue, our infrastructure issues, all the mess of construction and how hard it is to get around the city. All [of] these things are just going to be thrown up in the air."

Ivy Chan said when she heard the announcement Friday night, she was "surprised" to see Tory step down.

"We like him," Chan said, noting Tory's worked for the city for years. 

"He did a lot of things … good things for the City of Toronto."

Tory first became mayor in 2014 during the turbulent time following Rob Ford's tenure in office, and appeared focused on creating a sense of stability in the city.

However, Tory is leaving his post amid heightened criticism about the state of Toronto under his leadership. His opponents spent the leadup to the October 2022 municipal election attacking Tory for the city's high cost of housing, aging infrastructure, overflowing garbage bins and more.

Last week, Tory was under further scrutiny for opting against opening more 24-7 warming centres for people without homes. 

Some Torontonians are hoping Tory's exit will lead to change at city hall.

Political science students at the University of Toronto Aisha Philippe and Yehjen Cha say the news, though shocking, was welcome to them.

"We were pretty much excited and pretty much took it as good news because we were talking about how he was already letting down the city," Cha said, noting a lot of people from her generation feel the same.

"Of course we are concerned for the city, but I think ... we were just excited for a change."

Philippe said she hopes this will help push the city in a new direction.

"I think the results of the last election were disappointing on how unanimously John Tory the [voters] were ... obviously this is like stalling city government in a way that's really inconvenient, but I'm hoping that it gets us something that's actually going to move the city forward," Philippe said.

"I wonder … OK, John Tory resigns over an affair. What else are we going to find out?"

Torontonians 'tired' of voting 'again and again'

Maya Churliov said she hopes the next mayor of Toronto will push for change.

"I never really thought that that would come from the mayor, but I guess I have to say that I respect the fact that he chose to leave out of his own volition," said Churliov.

"Hopefully the next person has it together a bit better."

Now that Torontonians are bracing to go back to the polls this year, Shubam Mohan said he expects many residents to be frustrated with the upcoming byelection.

"People [are] just getting kind of sick and tired of voting again and again and they're just looking for accountable people to be taking office, so that we don't have to keep having elections all the time," Mohan said.