Tory, other big-city mayors to meet in Chicago, discuss how to tackle world issues

John Tory will be joining other current and former mayors from around the world at the annual forum on Global Cities in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss how major urban centres can tackle world issues.  

According to a city of Toronto news release, the mayors will be joined by prime ministers, senior elected officials, CEOs and other leaders to solve "pressing global challenges such as protecting the environment, financing a global city and the role of cities as national governments become parochial."

The conference is getting underway less than a week after U.S President Donald Trump announced he was pulling his country out of the Paris accord on climate change, calling the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases "very unfair" to the United States.

Tory, along with big-city mayors in the United States and many world leaders, reacted to Trump's announcement by reaffirming their support for the Paris agreement.

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Trump has also pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade deal encompassing 12 Pacific Rim countries, including Canada. In addition, he's made it clear he wants the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico renegotiated. 

The mayor will also meet with his counterpart in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, to discuss how to deal with the U.S. federal budget cuts that directly impact the Great Lakes.

Emanuel is expected to personally take Tory on a site visit to Chicago's downtown Millennium Park and relay the lessons Chicago learned during its construction that Toronto can use while trying to turn the Rail Deck Park vision into reality.  

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According to the mayor's itinerary, one of Tory's main objectives will be to "position Toronto as a leader on the world stage for the environment and NAFTA next to other powerful and like-minded cities like Chicago."

Emanuel will also host a roundtable about how to finance a global city while Tory, in turn, will be sharing the challenges Toronto has faced when it comes to financing transit.

"This forum is an opportunity to put Toronto on the world stage next to powerful, global cities as they discuss how to solve challenges before urban cities," said Tory in the news release.