Toronto Mayor John Tory is paid $ 100,000 annually for his work advising on the Rogers Family Trust, according to the Toronto Star, a role that has been causing a stir lately in Canada’s largest city, as the Rogers family is in the midst of an argument.
A single system of governance is the source of family conflict. The company has two types of boards: a board similar to that of most companies and a family trust, created by company founder Ted Rogers. John Tory was a close friend of the late founder, who asked him, before his death, to join the trust, says Robert Brehl, co-author of Ted Rogers’ autobiography.
The mayor of Toronto himself served as CEO of Rogers’ cable division between 1999 and 2003 and a member of the company’s board of directors until his election as mayor in 2014.
Ted Rogers’ only son, Edward, wears two hats: that of chairman of the family trust and that of chairman of the board of directors. It was in his last role that he sought to replace the company’s CEO, Joe Natale, with CFO, Anthony Staffieri, in October, according to the Globe and Mail.
His interest in changing the composition of the board, however, was contrary to the wishes of his mother, Loretta, and that of his sisters Melinda and Martha, also members of the board of directors. On October 21, the board ousted Edward from his post as president. But the next day, he used his duties as chairman of the trust to appoint new members of the board of directors; on October 24, the new board appointed him again as chairman of the board.
Family members challenged the membership, but on November 5, a British Columbia court ruled in favor of Edward Rogers. Certain elements of the family clan, including Martha Rogers, still want him to step down as chairman of the trust.
However, a majority of the members of the trust will have to approve his departure. Toronto mayor John Tory is one of them. His role in the company is now open and places him in an apparent conflict of interest situation, according to some observers.
Ubiquitous in Toronto
Rogers is present in a multitude of spheres in Toronto. For example, the company is one of the co-owners of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, a conglomerate that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA Raptors. Edward Rogers sits on the conglomerate’s board of directors. Following the Raptors Championship in 2019, the City of Toronto helped organize the team’s parade.
The mayor of Toronto has withdrawn from talks in relation to Rogers at city hall on several occasions since his election. In January 2016, the Integrity Commissioner cleared John Tory after a city resident filed a complaint against the mayor under the code of conduct for members of city council in a Rogers-related case. “Unfortunately, he devotes time to his role at Rogers, rather than his post as mayor, but despite everything, he has not broken a law,” says Andrew Sancton, a retired professor at Western University, specializing in politics. municipal.
But the native Montreal professor, like the president and CEO of the Institute on governance, François Dauphin, concedes that there could be an appearance of conflict of interest in the eyes of the population.
“You cannot have a high position in the trust and in the City, and represent the best interests of both at the same time”, underlines the expert in governance Richard Leblanc to the network Global. “It is not to his advantage politically”, thinks Andrew Sancton.
His role at Rogers, note however Andrew Sancton and François Dauphin, is undemanding. “Some people think he spends a third of his time at Rogers, but it’s not a job,” says Andrew Sancton.
Moral obligation
It was in the offices of the renowned firm Torys LLP, founded in 1941 by John Stewart Donald Tory – grandfather of the mayor of Toronto – that the board of directors of Rogers ousted Edward Rogers from his post of president on the 21st October, according to Globe and Mail. The ties between the two families – among the most influential in Ontario – are numerous.
“When Ted Rogers was studying law, the mayor’s grandfather offered Ted an internship in law at his law firm,” describes Robert Brehl, who co-authored the autobiography Relentless: The True Story of the Man Behind Rogers Communications, published in 2008. “The mayor’s uncle, Jim Tory, supervised the internship,” he adds. John Tory’s father also served on Rogers’ board of directors.
In a letter published in November 2014, a month after his mayoral election, in which he confirmed his departure from the Rogers board of directors, John Tory was clear about his intentions. “I promised Ted Rogers that I would stay on the trust for as long as possible, and given this moral obligation to my friend, I don’t plan on resigning,” it read.