GREETINGS FROM CITY HALL — Playbook sat down with the mayor of Canada's biggest city at his office overlooking Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square. JOHN TORY spoke a mile a second about whatever we wanted to talk about. So we naturally talked about where Toronto fits into CHRYSTIA FREELAND's next federal budget, expected in a few weeks. We also took his temperature on how much he was thinking about the Liberal-NDP deal (spoiler: not much). He claims no party allegiance today, but we had to know what the longtime Progressive Conservative backroomer-turned-politician thinks about a certain leadership race. — Rep by pop: It's not lost on the mayor that every time Toronto is on the receiving end of federal funding for cities, his hometown breaks the graph because it's so much bigger than everywhere else. "People will think I'm sort of boasting about that. I'm not. I'm just stating a fact," he says, fully aware that most of the country doesn't like hearing that. Tory is quick to mention solid working relationships with Cabinet ministers who hail from within city limits, including AHMED HUSSEN on housing, MARCI IEN at gender equality and MARCO MENDICINO at public safety. Having Freeland as finance minister with a Summerhill address helps, too. So does a caucus of 25 Liberal MPs, one for every single riding in the city. — Budget priorities: But just because Tory gets a lot doesn't mean he doesn’t want more. He's got a long list for Ottawa's consideration, and a loud microphone down the hall. "I have a platform, and they know that. I think they know I'd rather not use it," he says. "I don't say that in any kind of a threatening way, because it's not in my nature." What's on Toronto's wish list? The transit system faced a nearly C$600-million budget shortfall in the last year thanks to reduced ridership. The city also deferred capital spending to cover hugely expanded shelter costs for the homeless population — and needs federal help there, too. Tory also wants more money for affordable housing programs, and singled out the Rapid Housing Initiative, which created 2,800 affordable units in Ontario alone, as something worth renewing. (The Liberal-NDP accord includes a one-year renewal of that program.) — More priorities: Climate-related infrastructure and retrofits. Electric vehicles. Mental health and addiction support. Improved productivity. Support for immigrants. — About that Liberal-NDP deal: Playbook sat down with Tory a few hours after Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU and NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH announced their blockbuster cooperation pact. Did that news make waves at city hall? The short answer: no. The slightly longer answer: "I don't look at it as a big deal. It will provide a degree of stability. And that's good. But otherwise, to me, it's politics." — Tory on Tories: The mayor's long interest in Conservative circles traces to the aftermath of the race to replace JOHN DIEFENBAKER in the 1960s. Tory recalls the nasty spats between Diefenbaker's successor, ROBERT STANFIELD, and rivals like JACK HORNER who undermined party unity. Tory's resume of politicking includes stints as former Ontario premier BILL DAVIS's principal secretary, co-campaign manager of the PCs' disastrous 1993 election, and then his own run in provincial politics as PC leader. That adds up to a lot of leadership contests. "I never liked leadership conventions when I was a partisan, because it had people in the same family fighting with each other and they inevitably got carried away in the things they said about each other," he told POLITICO. But it doesn't have to get to a dark place. "If they can contain themselves in terms of how they criticize each other, I think it actually could be quite a healthy and much necessary discussion about the soul of the party," he said. "What is the soul of that party? I don't think it knows." THE MET GALA — Well, sort of. Ottawa's hottest event of the post-mandate era didn't scream avant-garde fashion, but SARAH CHOWN’s Metropolitain was jammed late into Wednesday night with a Hill crowd desperate for a night out with everyone they haven't seen without a mask since the world shut down two years ago. Just about every GR firm within a stone's throw of the Met sponsored the welcome-back bash, which doubled as a fundraiser for staff who lost untold hours thanks to Covid lockdowns and trucker protests that kept the doors locked and patrons away. — Joke of the night: "We'll all be sick in four days." — Who was there: This is a partial list of spotteds. Listen, it was packed in there and it's been a couple of years and Playbook was born in the Zoom era. — The Cabinet: Government House Leader PABLO RODRIGUEZ, Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA, Treasury Board President MONA FORTIER. — MPs: Liberals YASIR NAQVI, ALI EHSASSI and JAMES MALONEY. Tory DAVE EPP was in the house. So was former parliamentarian LEONA ALLESLEV. — The lobbyists: Um, so many. So many. Let's start with organizer-in-chief JOHN DELACOURT from Hill+Knowlton. Playbook also caught up with H+K's ERIC DILLANE, who so happens to have created the firm's "H+Killers" moniker for successive virtual trivia nights, and new recruit ANDY SINGH. Other conversations: Navigator's MATT TRIEMSTRA, Rubicon's RYAN SPERO, The Park Group's TINA PARK, Sussex Strategy's INGRID RAVARY KONOPKA and LIAM DALY, Proof's GREG MACEACHERN and CHRIS MCCLUSKEY, and BlueSky's JANICE NICHOLSON. We also spotted Sandstone Group's KEVIN BOSCH but couldn't squeeze past the crowd. More convos: MICHELE CADARIO, LESLIE SWARTMAN and NICK MASCIANTONIO. — The journalists: The Star's STEPHANIE LEVITZ and SUSAN DELACOURT, CBC's DAVID THURTON, The National Post's RYAN TUMULTY and ANJA KARADEGLIJA, CTV's GLEN MCGREGOR and JOYCE NAPIER, photojournalist DAVE CHAN, and the Western Standard's RACHEL EMMANUEL. Plus, iPolitics VP LAURA PENNELL . Were you at the Met and rudely snubbed from this list? Did we forget a big shot whose presence was game-changing? Shame us by emailing us.
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