• Born downtown Toronto and raised in East York and Scarborough
  • Son of Italian immigrants
  • The eldest of five children
  • Attended Upper Canada College, followed by McGill University and Princeton University in New Jersey
  • Has been married to his wife, Rhonnie, for 23 years, and has a 20 year-old son named Domenic-John

If elected mayor, Rossi said he plans on breathing new life into a "broken" city hall.

"I want to make sure that we get the city back on track again with a city hall that's as good as the city it's supposed to be leading," he said.

Touting an impressive business resume, Rossi said his first priority if elected mayor will be to fix the city's finances through a multi-year business plan.

"It will be the first in the city's history, to freeze hiring, move to more outsourcing, pay down debt, and focus on core services."

Throughout the years, Rossi has campaigned for several Toronto MPs, and managed John Tory's unsuccessful run for mayor in 2003. He used his fundraising skills in 2009, serving as new Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's national party director.

Rossi's business experiences have varied from senior executive positions at The Boston Consulting Group to the Toronto Star, Labatt, Advanced Material Resources and MGI Software.

Rossi says his toughest challenge came while president of MGI Software, which was headed for bankruptcy when he was recruited.

"It was losing $22 million a quarter, and several hundred employees were at risk," he said.

"I went in, put together a very hard-nosed plan… cut out wasteful spending, focused on key products, and got the company to profitability within a year, leading to hundreds of jobs being saved and money made for the investors."

In 2004 he was appointed CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, where he says he improved his fundraising skills and led a campaign to make heart defibrillators public.

Rossi has kayaked 490 kilometres from Toronto to Ottawa, cycled the 1,900- kilometres length of Yonge Street, and twice climbed the seven tallest towers in Toronto, all in order to raise funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Rossi's favourite part of Toronto is its environment.

"So many amazing neighborhoods in Toronto but the piece that I think sets us apart from any major city in the world is the amazing ravine and parks system we have," he said.

"No other city of our size has the extensive ravine system, which puts nature right in the middle of the city and I think that's something we need to maintain and celebrate."

Rossi's transit plan favours subway expansion. He has promised $4.5 billion over a decade to fund the expansion, by selling Toronto Hydro and the city's shares in Enwave, an energy provider partly owned by the city. According to Rossi, proceeds from the two would be enough to annually fund transit infrastructure.

-Tina Yazdani

Where Rossi stands on the Big 8 issues facing Toronto:

1. Transit City is an important and controversial part of Toronto. What are your thoughts on the proposed plan?

"We need more investment, not less in public transit, but the mayor's vision is not Transit City, it's ‘Streetcar City' and I want to make sure we have a balanced approach that includes subways. We've not demonstrated ability to manage large projects, which is why I've said we need to replace the board of the TTC and put a skills based private sector board in charge."

2. Bikes lanes have become a topic in the last few weeks. Do you plan on implementing them on Jarvis, University and the other locations?

"I'm an avid cyclist, have been all my life and I cycle at least ten months of the year, but I'm also a realist. I don't believe we should be extending bike lanes on major arterials like Jarvis and University when you have viable options on safer secondary streets nearby. But we definitely need an expanded, interconnected network of bike lanes on the safer secondary streets."

3. How do you feel about the idea of charging road tolls?

"Road tolls are the last solution we should be looking at because quite frankly City Hall isn't managing the current money they've been given well. So don't talk to me about another tax until you've shown me that you know how to manage the dollars wisely."

4. What "big idea" do you have that will be part of your platform?

"I've said if you're looking for money quickly to be able to invest in the important infrastructure that we need, then we should be trying to eliminate the debt and that would free up 450 million dollars every year. That would enable us to be a real partner with the province to build out a true Transit City and not just ‘Streetcar City.'"

5. How do you feel about the crime level in Toronto? Do you plan on addressing it?

"There's no question crime remains a problem, but let's not over blow it either. On virtually every measure, crime statistics are down for the city of Toronto and I want to salute Chief Blair and the officers that do such a great job day in and day out. That said there are communities where certain crimes are up and sadly these are also communities that are vulnerable, at risk, pressed for an economic standpoint. So much more work needs to be done there. We need more of a police presence, on a community policing bases in these neighbourhoods. "

6. How do you plan on bringing "new life" to the city? (ex: people, business, events, parades etc.)

"What I can promise is a mayor who is going to be a real catalyst and cheerleader for brining together the private sector the arts community and the other levels of government to help us continue to build out the great entertainment and culture that gives so much vibrancy to the city of Toronto."

7. How important is accountability while you are in office and how do you plan on monitoring this?

"I'm someone who has run businesses. I've run a family business, I've run private companies, I've run a privately traded company and I've run one of Canada's largest and I know about accountability. I know about balancing budgets and taking care of money and I believe that kind of experience is exactly what the city needs to bring the transparency, the accountability and the assurance that tax payers have that their money is being respected and that their getting value for their money."

8. What are your plans for the city's budget including property taxes?

"We have to do a far better job of running the City's money. We need to plan long term. We can't be planning a 9.2 billion dollar budget one year at a time. It needs to be transparent. People need to be confident about the numbers and tax payers want to know they're getting value for their money."