Rob Davis

Former conservative city councillor Rob Davis is running for mayor

Rob Davis announced that he is running for Toronto mayor, and established his conservative credentials on day one.

Upon announcing that he was entering what could be a very crowded race, Davis said that if he won, one of his first acts as mayor would be to rescind the decision to rename Dundas Street. The street was named after Edinburgh, Scotland’s Henry Dundas, who has historically racist ties.

Checking Davis’s Twitter feed, there are a number of policy-style tweets over the last few days, some with an interesting slant on, for example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Davis refers to as “increased Russian aggression.”

Davis was the first Black Canadian elected to the old York city council in 1991, re-elected in 1994 and 1997 when the city was amalgamated. He lost to Joe Mihevc in 2000.

 

 

According to the bio on his website, Davis “served as vice-chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission, Chairman of the works committee, Budget Chief, a lead member of the Tax Policy and Assessment Task Force, and Co-Chairman of Toronto’s Crime Prevention Task Force.”

On council, Davis has been referred to as an ally of the late Mel Lastman and frequently clashed with fellow city councillor Howard Moscoe, who defeated Davis in the Ward 15 race of the 2010 election.

He is a legitimate conservative candidate for mayor with a history of public service. He was born in the city, studied political science at York University. But he has been out of politics for a long time.

He is the biggest name to officially enter the race for mayor in terms of political experience in addition to Gil Penalosa, runner-up to John Tory in the 2022 election, and Chloe Brown, who finished third in 2022.

Others are expected to announce their intentions soon including former deputy mayor Ana Bailão, current city councillor Brad Bradford, and former police chief Mark Saunders. But nobody seems to really want the job, and we are hoping for another candidate or two that will bring the needed energy for the monumental and crucial task of leading the city.