Hard not to think Leary was wrong man for the job

When TTC CEO Rick Leary announced his surprise resignation on Thursday, he explained the timing as coming just as the new contract for TTC workers was ratified. He thought it was only appropriate, he said, to see the agency through the negotiations.

- EDWARD KEENAN

Despite Rick - Leary's claims of great - success during his tenure as CEO of the TTC, it's hard for many of us -riders to view his leadership that way, _writes Edward Keenan.

But many in Toronto will also think it was appropriate that his announcement came one day after the streetcar network was hobbled by a derailment (the second one in a month), and at the same meeting as the TTC sounded the alarm that subway Line 2 is in desperate condition.

He departs in the same conditions as he led: calmly discussing progress and pointing to successes as everything goes to hell.

I don’t know if there was something going on behind the scenes that pushed Leary out midway through a contract that made him the highest-paid civil servant working for Toronto’s government. There was an outstanding investigation into allegations of harassment and bullying in his management.

We don’t know the results or status of that investigation — it’s unclear now if we ever will. Leary says it was an unrelated personal decision. Board chair Jamaal Myers and Mayor Olivia Chow say they got along with him great.

Which is what you’d expect if this was a face-saving exit agreed upon to avoid an ugly fight. But also what you’d expect if things were basically fine and he just decided 10 years in one place was enough.

Maybe we’ll learn more, maybe we won’t.