This is why some say the Rogers building is Toronto's new City Hall

It's no secret that Toronto's newly-re-elected mayor, John Tory, has strong ties to omnipresent media conglomerate Rogers Communications Inc.

The seasoned politician is the son of a former Rogers executive, and Tory himself served as president and CEO of Rogers Media from 1995 to 1999, still holding a seat on the advisory committee of the Rogers family trust, a role which still earns the mayor $100K per year.

His ties with Rogers have generated controversy in the past, including a probe by the city's Integrity Commissioner earlier in 2022 investigating conflicts of interest during Tory's newly-extended mayoralty.

Tory and Rogers' web of overlapping interests has fostered a new meme on social media, anointing the corporation's Postmodern/Sauron-esque Toronto headquarters on the aptly-named Ted Rogers Way as the new unofficial seat of the municipal government.

The meme was a direct response to another viral tweet from a New York Times editor that simply acknowledged the existence of Toronto's giant turkey-shaped Robarts Library on American Thanksgiving. That same thread included a photo of another strange Toronto landmark in the Rogers HQ.

Mirroring the viral tweet's caption stating, "this is a real building in toronto," author and columnist Shawn Micallef fired back with a quote tweet of the looming castle and its ominous red Rogers signage, jokingly captioning it as "Toronto City Hall."

Pictured: Toronto City Hall https://t.co/wFVtiS0dxo

— Maltese Petard ( Official Parody) 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@shawnmicallef) November 25, 2022

Micallef tells blogTO that while the meme "basically speaks for itself," he added that it highlights "The absurdity that the mayor takes $100k from Rogers, more than most Torontonians make, and the establishment sees nothing wrong with it."

"Though as city services decline and degrade, it's almost like a Rogers-level of customer service."

Outspoken Ward 12 Toronto—St. Paul's Councillor Josh Matlow piggybacked on the meme with an almost identical version, but this time around, the meme garnered hundreds of retweets and roughly 2,000 likes as of writing.

Sadly accurate. I hope we can turn this around and fast. It's always about big money for investors, corporations and the ultra rich. Tory doesn't seem to respect the identities of anyone else.

— M!chelle Nagel (@1and3sevenths) December 1, 2022

When pressed for further comment on his jab at the Mayor, Matlow told blogTO, "All I can say is that I should've also posted 'Strong Mayor of Toronto's office' with a picture of Queen's Park."

Damn. Shots fired.