John Tory finally accepted an invitation to Ryerson and it was for a good cause.
The mayor-elect was a guest speaker at the launch of the Ryerson City Building Institute Wednesday and spoke about Ryerson’s important role in city building.
“Even if I wasn’t about to become mayor of this city, I would have been an enthusiastic supporter of this institute,” said Tory.
The institute aims to be a non-partisan centre that will address “critical urban issues” regarding city building.
Ryerson has done extensive city building since 2002 and plans to open the new Student Learning Centre next semester. A large part of these efforts has been President Sheldon Levy, who has played a large part in these efforts, spoke about Ryerson’s local contributions as well as the university’s global impact.
“City building is also the attention to the contribution we can make in the economy of our great city,” said Levy. “I’m proud to tell you that Ryerson was named number five in the world in university incubators and number two in North America.”
Anne Golden, co-chair of the Institute, said that Tory was the ideal person to inaugurate the building.
Tory, who had previously declined invitations to speak at Ryerson, also addressed growing youth unemployment and other student issues in his speech.
“Many of these (unemployed) young people were told that if you go to university you’ll be fine,” said Tory. “And of course, for them, it’s not fine.
The Ryerson City Building Institute is a new-non partisan centre focused on urban issues relevant to city regions nationally and globally.
Kabeer is a freelancer and former intern at Canadian Lawyer, a sports enthusiast and aims to be a jack of all trades one day. You can find him at the RAC or generally around Ryerson campus, his second home. Contact him for any stories you would like to be told.
Kabeer contributed to the Ryersonian in 2015.