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Mark Towhey

Mark Towhey (born 1964) is a broadcaster, columnist, and former political aide.

From 2019 to 2020 he was editor-in-chief of Sun News, a group of five tabloid newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton owned by Postmedia Network.[1] He left Postmedia management (and the Suns) in 2020 but remains a freelance columnist with the Toronto Sun.[citation needed]

He was previously a Canadian management consultant, and political strategist[2][3] From 2013 until 2021, he hosted a 2-hour radio talk show, Sunday afternoons, on CFRB in Toronto.[3]

He was a key player in the election of the late Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto,[4] and Patrick Brown as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.[5][6] He is the author of Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable – How I tried to help the world’s most notorious mayor. [7] Towhey remains a frequent contributor and political analyst and roundtable panelist on CFRB and has also appeared on CTV, CP24, TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin and in Huffington Post, the National Post, the Toronto Star and other media outlets.

Personal life

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Towhey was born in Kamloops, British Columbia.[8] He briefly attended the University of Victoria until joining the Canadian Army as an officer, serving with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry for 13 years.[9]

In October 2015, Skyhorse Publishing published Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable[10][11] co-written by Towhey and Globe and Mail journalist Johanna Schneller.[12] The book was briefly a best seller in Canada.[13]

Towhey has two sons[14] and holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University and is a Certified Management Consultant.[15]

Towhey became known for his sense of humor on Twitter when he tweeted "Finished May issue of Toronto Life, now plan to spend rest of night just hanging out, being evil" after reading a Toronto Life cover story that contained an unflattering portrait of him.[16] Later, shortly after being fired on May 23, 2013 he retweeted a photo from a Toronto Sun photographer of him in his car leaving city hall, saying "Very happy now that I remembered to wash my car yesterday."[17] His chocolate macaroon recipe was featured in the Toronto Star a few months later.[18]

Career

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He left the military in 1996.[9] He was a spokesperson for Canada Trust[19] before starting his own crisis communication firm in 1998. His clients included the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, McCain Foods, the Government of Canada, Ontario, and the United Nations.[20] After returning to Canada from two years consulting in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the UN[21] and World Bank Group,[20] Towhey was hired by Toronto City Councillor Rob Ford to help on his mayoral campaign.[22]

When Ford was elected in October 2010, Towhey was appointed his Director of Strategy & Policy, a role in which he was widely referred to by city councillors as the mayor’s "Rasputin."[9][23] In August 2012, he was promoted to Chief of Staff[24][25][26][23][4] until he was fired by Ford on May 23, 2013[27] for reportedly telling Ford to go to rehab for his drug addiction.[28] When CFRB cancelled Ford’s Sunday afternoon radio program in November 2013,[29] they hired Towhey as his permanent replacement in that time slot.[30]

When Postmedia appointed Towhey as Editor-in-Chief of Sun News, Canadaland questioned his appointed due to his lack of journalism experience.[31] Mark Bonokoski, a veteran Sun writer, noted that Towhey complained his criticism of Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was "boring" and encouraged the columnist to do better.[32] He left the position in 2020, after almost a year, but continued as a columnist for the chain.

References

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  1. ^ "Mark Towhey named new head honcho of The Suns". Toronto Sun. 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
  2. ^ "The Blog". towhey.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b "iHeartRadio.ca NEWSTALK1010". iHeartRadio.ca. BellMedia CFRB NEWSTALK1010. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  4. ^ a b Gillis, Charlie (October 14, 2015). "Mark Towhey: The man behind Rob Ford". No. October 14, 2015. Maclean's Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  5. ^ Reevely, David. "Patrick Brown's path to victory". No. February 27, 2015. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  6. ^ "Mark Towhey joins Patrick Brown Leadership Campaign #ForTheWin". Canada News Wire. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  7. ^ Towhey, Mark (October 27, 2015). Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable. New York: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 360. ISBN 978-1634500425. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  8. ^ Hui, Ann (November 15, 2013). "With Towhey's exit, Ford lost a staffer who stood up to him". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  9. ^ a b c McDonald, Marci (May 15, 2012). "The weirdest mayoralty ever – the inside story of Rob Ford's city hall". Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  10. ^ "Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable". Skyhorse Publishing. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  11. ^ Towhey, Mark & Johanna Schneller (October 27, 2015). Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1634500425.
  12. ^ Bredin, Simon (October 28, 2015). "Four things we learned from Uncontrollable, Mark Towhey's book about Rob Ford". Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Independent Bestseller List, Canadian Non-Fiction Bestsellers" (PDF). MyStore. Retail Council of Canada. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  14. ^ Grant, Kelly (August 15, 2012). "Mayor Ford's policy guru is his new chief of staff". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  15. ^ Kretzel, Lasia (August 15, 2012). "Rob Ford's long-time strategist, Mark Towhey, promoted to chief of staff". National Post. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  16. ^ Wallace, Andrew (April 18, 2012). "Rob Ford's chief enforcer Mark Towhey admits to being evil". Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  17. ^ Reddick, Michelle (May 23, 2013). "Rob Ford fires Mark Towhey – his chief of staff and most trusted advisor". Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  18. ^ Henry, Michele (2013-12-10). "Mark Towhey's chocolate macaroons". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  19. ^ Hui, Ann. "With Towhey's exit, Ford lost a staffer who stood up to him". No. November 15, 2013. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Bio – Mark Towhey". The Blog. towhey.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  21. ^ Grant, Kelly (August 15, 2012). "Mayor Ford's policy guru is his new chief of staff". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  22. ^ Towhey, Mark & Johanna Schneller (October 27, 2015). Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 10. ISBN 978-1634500425.
  23. ^ a b Wallace, Andrew. "Rob Ford makes evil ideological genius Mark Towhey his new chief of staff". No. August 15, 2012. Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  24. ^ Grant, Kelly (August 15, 2012). "Mayor Ford's policy guru is his new chief of staff". No. August 15, 2012. Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  25. ^ "Mayor Rob Ford names new chief of staff". CBC News. August 15, 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  26. ^ Kretzel, Lasia (August 15, 2012). "Rob Ford's long-time strategist, Mark Towhey, promoted to chief of staff". National Post. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  27. ^ Reddick, Michelle (May 23, 2013). "Rob Ford fires Mark Towhey – his chief of staff and most trusted advisor". No. May 23, 2013. Toronto Life magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  28. ^ Alcoba, Natalie (May 23, 2013). "Rob Ford fired chief of staff after he told mayor to 'go away and get help for his problem': source". National Post. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  29. ^ Powell, Betsy (November 8, 2013). "Ford brothers' weekly show on Newstalk 1010 cancelled". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  30. ^ Towhey, Mark & Johanna Schneller (October 27, 2015). Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 297. ISBN 978-1634500425.
  31. ^ "Sun Hires Conservative Operative With No Journalism Experience As New Editor-in-Chief". www.canadalandshow.com. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  32. ^ "BONOKOSKI: When Scheer-bashing becomes boring, it's time to aim elsewhere". Toronto Sun. 2019-12-07. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
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