Tory pledges to grow Toronto’s film industry by $1 billion if re-elected

Mayoral candidate John Tory is seen at a campaign announcement in Toronto on Sept. 8, 2022.

Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory plans to expand the city’s film industry by $1 billion and create thousands of new jobs if he’s re-elected for a third term this fall.

On Thursday, Tory celebrated the launch of the 47th Toronto International Film Festival by reiterating his support for the film and TV industry.

“I have taken it upon myself from day one to be a champion for this industry because I understood very clearly with the help of industry and union people who educated me on the crucial pivotal importance of this industry to the well being of our city and the people who lived here,” Tory said during a campaign announcement in Toronto on Thursday.

Tory says that if he is re-elected he is committed to growing the industry by an additional $1 billion and will provide 20,000 new workers with low barrier entry points to sustainable careers over the next four years.

He says that his targets will be met by focusing on four priority areas:

• Ensuring planned film production infrastructure growth comes to fruition
• Continuing to emphasize attracting and training new, diverse talent
• Harnessing sustainable innovation and technology to continue “greening” the industry
• Bolstering Torontonians’ pride in having a bustling, creative industry that reflects the global nature of the city”

“This is an immense opportunity for jobs that exist today, to keep those jobs which we have to do but also to go forward with some goals that I outline today to grow the number of jobs and to grow the industry and to grow our reputation because Hollywood North has never been more alive and has never been better,” Tory said.

Tory decided to make the announcement on the first day of TIFF to emphasize the importance of the festivals’ social, cultural and economic contributions to the city.

“A lot of the part we don't see is the TIFF industry segment where people are doing deals in some of those hotel rooms to have new productions happen here, to ink deals with each other to just do things in a growing business. And so there's just nothing but good news that comes out at TIFF and that's not to mention all the attention that is paid to Toronto globally in the news and on the media,” he said.

In Tory’s past two terms as mayor, he says that he has helped with the investment of over $2.5 billion in film in 2021, up from $1.23 billion when he took office in 2014 and up almost 14 per cent per cent from 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Tory is among 31 candidates running for mayor this year.

Toronto’s municipal election is set for Oct. 24.