Rick Leary is back in Toronto’s transit world – but as a lobbyist.
Leary was registered this month to lobby the TTC on behalf of Pattison Outdoor Advertising, the city’s registry shows. Pattinson handles ads people see in subway stations and on and inside transit vehicles, as well as things like billboards.
Leary confirmed the news, but was unable to comment further by Wednesday afternoon.
Leary resigned as the TTC’s chief executive on Aug. 30, 2024, after a decade with the transit agency. His registration as a lobbyist falls just outside a required one-year cooling-off period for former senior officials with the municipal government.
Leary’s departure came after a long, messy clash with TTC board chair Jamaal Myers, the city councillor for Scarborough North ward.
TheToronto Sun, citing multiple sources, has previously reported thatMyers sought information about Learyin conversations with senior TTC staff and was chastised privately by transit leaders for his efforts to undermine the CEO.
An email obtained by theToronto Sun’s Brian Lilley showed Myers threatened to vote against a large purchase of parts unless demands – which appeared to align with the goals of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 – were met.
Mayor Olivia Chow, who has been a close ally of Myers,denied in October 2023that she had sought a change of leadership at the TTC.
Leary stayed on at the transit commission for nearly a year after that. An internal review into complaints about Leary had reportedly been in the works before his exit.
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The matter was ultimately the subject of an integrity complaint.
In areport published in July, city hall’s integrity commissioner Paul Muldoon found Myers provided confidential information to two unauthorized people, at least one of them apparently tied to Chow’s office. That information was related to thespecial TTC meeting in October 2023that saw Myers and Toronto-St. Paul’s Councillor Josh Matlow vote to oust Leary.
Muldoon did not recommend Myers be reprimanded, as he found he had acted in good faith.
Late in Leary’s tenure, an online petition called for him to be removed from atop the TTC.
The petition alleged transit service had deteriorated to an unacceptable degree. Learyin a statementcountered that “unfounded allegations” had been made by the petition’s organizer.
— With Toronto Sun files.
