Mayor John Tory? Meet Mayor Boris Johnson

LONDON, U.K.—“Last time I went to Toronto, for some reason I was kept away from the mayor.”

This, from London’s mop-haired, bike-riding Mayor Boris Johnson who recently, after getting into a daytime altercation, told a local cab driver to “f--- off and die.”

“He seemed to be a good guy,” Johnson continued about former mayor Rob Ford, alluding to the now-infamous crack scandal. Johnson was meeting with Mayor John Tory for the first time just outside the British parliament building Portcullis House on Thursday, Oct. 22.

“He seemed a guy after my own heart.”

A chuckling Tory cut in to correct the record on the goodness of Ford and likeness to Johnson: “No sir. No, no, no.”

“OK, cut that bit,” Johnson joked to the cameras.

In an impromptu scrum with civic leaders, where reporters were encouraged by the London mayor’s staff to shout questions, Johnson called Toronto a “fantastic” city.

“I doubt very much, mayor, that we can teach you anything. We will try to learn from Toronto about greener living and how to make your city more attractive,” Johnson said.

Tory explained he had just spent the entire day touring sites for the future Crossrail line, a massive London project scheduled to open in 2018. Toronto’s mayor briefly explained how he believes it compares to his own plans for what he calls SmartTrack — a regional line that would stretch from Mississauga through Union Station to Markham.

“And you need that in Toronto?” Johnson asked. “Do you need something as big as Crossrail?”

Tory pointed to a regional population of six million people and problems of heavy congestion on the existing subway system. City staff have not yet reported on what the potential ridership of SmartTrack might be.

“We need to do something quite urgently,” Tory said.

On the topic of Uber — the mobile phone-based app that connects passengers to licenced taxis and unlicensed cars for hire — Johnson and Tory found some common ground.

“I’ve said we can’t put the genie back in the bottle and I saw you said you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” Tory said.

Johnson: “That’s exactly what I said, or the genie back in the toothpaste.”

Johnson, who’s also a Tory member of Parliament, seemed fixated on the topic of Bixi ride-sharing bikes, which he raised unprompted and which he said London “nicked” from Toronto (a reporter cut in to tell him that Bixi is based out of Montreal; Hogtown’s service is Bike Share Toronto).

If Johnson visited, Tory promised to name one of the bicycles a “Boris bike” — the colloquial name for London’s sharing service.

Johnson, a Conservative, also had some thoughts on the federal Liberals sweeping Canada in the election earlier this week.

“I’m delighted . . . I think it would be wrong of me to blight anybody’s career in politics by offering my support or endorsement. It’s great news that Canada has a new government.”