Exit Interview: Gord Perks
Politics, progress and what comes next for Ward 4
Gord Perks has been a fixture in Ward 4 for nearly two decades, but that run is coming to an end.
The longtime Parkdale–High Park councillor has announced he won’t seek re-election—closing out a tenure that has made him one of the more prominent progressive voices at city hall. First elected in 2006, he has played a key role on issues ranging from housing and development to transit and environmental policy, most recently serving as chair of the city’s planning and housing committee.
His departure comes at a time of growing pressure on several local issues, including traffic safety along Parkside Drive, housing affordability and the challenges of managing growth in one of Toronto’s most diverse and rapidly changing wards.
It also sets the stage for a wide-open and closely watched race to replace him.
In the interview below, Perks reflects on why he’s stepping away, how the role of councillor has changed, and what comes next for Ward 4.
Q: You’ve represented Ward 4 for nearly 20 years. Why step away now?
Perks: I’ve been thinking about it for frankly, 3 or 4 years. And it just felt like now was the time. There’s some parts of the job that have been getting harder and harder, because of forces outside my control, and I just decided, no, time to step away and find something else to do.
Q: What do you mean by forces outside your control? Are you referring to the provincial government?
Perks: Yes. What I love about the job is working with folks in the community on issues of local concern—designing a playground, making streets safer, working on sculpting a development application. And because the size of the wards got doubled, and also the committee work and the number of committees you had to sit on got doubled as well, it just got impossible to do that same level of community involvement and collaboration that drew me to the work in the first place. (This is a reference to Doug Ford’s surprise decision to cut Toronto city council from 47 to 25 wards in 2018—midway through an election—effectively doubling the number of constituents for each councillor).
Q: Do you think other councillors feel the same way?
Perks: Oh, everyone. Everyone finds that the relationship between the elected official and the person they represent is thinner now than it used to be.
Q: Can you give a concrete example of how that change has affected your work?
Perks: Well, I mean, one way to put it is, you know, I used to have weeks where I’d do four community meetings a week, and you can’t do eight. And the result is that certain kinds of work, I just had to kind of let city staff do the work with the community or have my assistants take people’s calls. And I became less of a participant in the community and more of an administrator down in City Hall. That’s not interesting to me.
Q: You won a competitive race in 2022. Has the political landscape in Ward 4 shifted since then?
Perks: Not really. One of the things that makes municipal politics more interesting is that you have these wide open races instead of having the three main parties and everyone knows how they’re going to vote. So it’s always been very dynamic. I’ve had good years and bad years depending on how many people are running against me and how many of them are well funded. I think that the fundamental things we’re all struggling with—affordability, access to services, the fact that we need more investment in public transit—these are the same kinds of issues that have been around forever. They may be a bit more intense now, but the fundamental challenges the city faces are the same.
Q: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Perks: I wish that circumstances had allowed us to get around to building social housing on that scale 15 years ago instead of doing it now. I’ve always thought that was the right path out, and only really got to do that work in a meaningful way in the last three years. I think the city really suffered that we didn’t get there faster.
We lost 30 or 40 years, stopped dead. We got so busy accomodating investors in our housing system that we’ve lost the plot.
Q: What’s your advice to residents who are frustrated about the lack of progress on Parkside Drive safety?
Perks: Start today, through every social connection you have, to organize to get rid of the Conservative government. They have made it illegal for us to make any meaningful modifications on Parkside Drive.
Q: What advice would you give your successor?
Perks: Well, first of all, campaign on who you really are and what you really want to do. Don’t pander, because you only get permission to do the work that you promised to do. And second, when you set up your office and your team, make communications with your constituency the number one priority. On an average day, I get about 500 emails, and you need good systems to make sure that people are getting responded to within 24 hours—maybe not with a solution, but at least an acknowledgement and a plan for how you’re going to get a solution. Find ways to be present in what is a very big and complex ward with very distinct neighbourhoods, and learn the people in your ward and get to know them.
Q: Do you see anyone as a strong potential successor?
Perks: There have been a couple of people who signed up already. I’m going to leave it for people to establish themselves before I weigh in. If anyone asks me for an endorsement, I’ll say, let’s let it breathe for a while. But I know the people in Parkdale–High Park, I know their standards for what an elected official has to do, and they will find somebody to represent them.
The race to succeed Perks is already underway, with four candidates stepping forward: former Ontario Liberal candidate Nadia Guerrera, housing advocate Diana Chan McNally, Adam Pham and Vanessa Raponi.
As part of my election coverage, I’ll be interviewing each candidate to dig into their priorities, platforms and vision for Ward 4 ahead of the 2026 municipal vote.
If there are questions or issues you’d like to see covered, please leave a comment or contact me at jody@roncyrecord.com.