Jennifer Keesmat, Former Chief Planner of Toronto, Running for Mayor
"Jennifer Keesmaat, the city’s outspoken former chief planner, is running for mayor of Toronto, hoping to prevent John Tory from winning a second term in office," report David Rider and Jennifer Pagliaro.
Keesmaat regularly sparred with Mayor John Tory, perhaps most famously over the fate of the Gardiner Expressway, although both were diplomatic when Keesmaat left the chief planner position in August 2017. Keesmaat is considered a progressive challenger for the position, and has been an outspoken critic of the newly elected Ontario Premier Doug Ford. In the past, Keesmaat has been an outspoken supporter of pedestrians and has been accused of inciting a "war on cars."
Keesmaat also appeared at #54 on a crowd-sourced list of the "most influential urbanists" created by Planetizen in October 2017.
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