Giorgio Mammoliti tops list of missed votes at Toronto city council

Thestar.com
September 5, 2018
Jennifer Pagliaro

For the second year in a row, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti missed nearly half of all votes taken at Toronto city council.

Mammoliti was absent for 48.7 per cent of 1,048 votes taken in the chamber in 2018, a Star analysis of council’s voting record shows. And Michelle Holland again ranked near the top of the list for worst attendance. Missing 42.1 per cent of the votes, she came in second for worst attendance.

Giorgio Mammoliti was absent for 48.7 per cent of 1,048 votes taken at Toronto city council in 2018, a Star analysis of council’s voting record shows.

That was a slight improvement for both the suburban councillors over 2017’s attendance numbers, when Mammoliti (Ward 7 York West) missed 49.2 per cent of votes and Holland (Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest) missed 50.8 per cent, topping the list.

For the entire term --2014 to 2018 --Mammoliti and Holland ranked first and second of the most truant councillors, missing 43.1 per cent and 37 per cent respectively of 4,526 votes cast over 46 meetings.

Mammoliti, who represents Ward 7 (York West), told the Star that both of his parents have been “quite ill” this term. He also noted he is typically at public meetings in his community during the evening and has missed council for that reason. He refused to answer further questions.

The votes Mammoliti missed included ones on funding out of the cold programs for those experiencing homelessness, and on designating school zones as part of a Vision Zero pedestrian safety plan.

Holland told the Star in an interview that several deaths in her family this term made it difficult to attend all of the meetings, which typically last for a number of days one week of the month, and can stretch into the evenings after running all day.

“It’s been a really tough term in terms of my family,” she said, noting some evenings she was needed to care for an elderly, widowed family member.

Holland also said there’s a lot of “weight” on the portfolio given to her by Mayor John Tory when he appointed her as the city’s advocate for the innovation economy at the end of 2016.

“The votes that I missed had nothing to do with my ward,” she said. “It was more about downtown fence exemptions or downtown related items that weren’t of a broader citywide issue.”

Holland’s vote record for 2018 shows she missed votes about the Vision Zero community safety zones for schools, a policy on car-sharing services, adopting a new community council structure and future uses for Old City Hall, among others.

Councillor Justin Di Ciano, the only first-term councillor to make the top 10 list of worst attendees for both 2018 (42 per cent of votes missed) and for the whole term (24.3 per cent), said in an email he has come to realize council sessions are “nothing more than pure theatrics” and a “complete waste of time.”

“I always voted on the most important issues affecting our city,” Di Ciano said, noting work he did outside the council chamber on behalf of various boards and committees and his Ward 5 (Etobicoke Lakeshore) residents.

Councillor Stephen Holyday (Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre) was the best in class, missing no votes in 2018. Over four years, he missed only four votes, all of which he was obligated to be absent for after he declared an interest in the items they were about.

“You certainly plan around the meetings,” Holyday said of how he is always in the chamber for the hundreds of votes per meeting. “I pack my lunch or a snack with me. If you do need to take a bowel break, you try do to that when there’s a break in council.”

Holyday noted that it’s kind of become his “thing” not to miss votes. “It’s something I believe very strongly in, that the public expects us to be there to vote,” he said. “That’s the privilege that we’ve got as a councillor, that’s a duty.”

The median was Councillor Neethan Shan, who missed 12.6 per cent of the votes. Mayor John Tory ranked higher, missing 28.1 per cent of the votes. Tory missed 19.4 per cent of the votes all term, better than his predecessor Rob Ford, who missed 23 per cent.

The Star calculated council attendance by reviewing vote records maintained by the city clerk’s office. Every time a councillor is not in their seat to push a button to vote, they are marked as “absent.” The Star tallied all the absences for council meetings --the only meeting all council members are required to attend.

The votes recorded are not reflective of every single vote taken. There are some votes done by a quick show of hands and it is not recorded whether members are absent.