The complaint, filed by Parthi Kandavel, an 8-year Toronto School Board trustee who ran for council in Ward 20 – Scarborough Southwest, alleges Tory used his power as mayor to influence outcomes in his ward.
In the robocalls, made on Election Day, Tory is said to have referred to himself as “Mayor John Tory” rather than “mayoral candidate John Tory” and to have endorsed incumbent Gary Crawford.
“In short, Mr Tory breached sections 7.1 and 8.0 [of the Code of Conduct for Council Members] improperly using the influence of his office when he referred to himself as ‘Mayor John Tory’ in a robocall in support of Gary Crawford’s October 2022 reelection campaign,” the complaint states.
“It is a fundamental principle of the Code of Conduct that councillors, including Mr Tory, will not use resources or privileges of any kind available to them because of their position to promote private interests,” it says.
Ward 20 would ultimately go to Crawford, but the vote was close — Crawford won with about 35 percent of the vote, while Kandavel secured about 30 percent.
Toronto Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Baty confirmed to CTV News Toronto that his office has received the complaint, but stressed that he has not yet decided whether to investigate the matter.
“At this point, I don’t have any more information to give,” Batty said.
When reached for comment Monday, a spokesman for the mayor’s office said they had also received a copy of the complaint.
 “The Mayor respects the Integrity Commissioner and his process, and given that, we will not be making any further comment at this time,” said Don Peat.
Ultimately, Kandavel says the complaint is “not about the outcome of the election, but about the spirit of local Toronto democracy and the integrity of our public officials.”
Tory is currently under investigation in a separate complaint originally filed by activist Adam Chaleff in July, who asked Commissioner Batty to look into Tory’s relationship with Rogers after an alleged conflict of interest during his vote June for the ActiveTO program.  The results of this investigation, which was interrupted during the municipal elections, are pending.