Downsized council one year later, same old, same old

Torontosun.com
July 31, 2019
Sue-Ann Levy

Exactly one year ago Tuesday, the Doug Ford government introduced legislation to downsize Toronto council from 47 to 25 seats.

Despite all the sturm and drang in the weeks that followed, the sky has not fallen.

For weeks after the tabling of Bill 5 last August, entitled councillors and their provincial NDP compatriots filed legal challenges and threw temper tantrums.

On Sept. 19, the Ontario Appeal Court stayed Bill 5 and councillors went into full election mode, many of them fighting against council colleagues to keep their seats.

When the dust settled and the 25 emerged victorious, they wasted no time doubling their staff budgets and increasing their staff and travel budgets.

Yet in the past year, council has never stopped fighting Ford.

Council may have fewer members but as in the past, their self-interests and pet agendas have far outweighed any concern with doing what’s right.

The new councillors, for the most part, have quickly swallowed the Kool-Aid.

They’ve spent hours -- and exhausted repeated city resources -- revisiting the same transit projects and wringing their hands about the province’s plan to upload new subway construction, refusing to concede that they need provincial funding to get anything done.

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard the more vocal councillors -- Joe Cressy, Mike Layton, Kristyn Wong-Tam to name just three -- remind us that people will die (and the world will virtually will come to an end) if any cuts are made to the top-heavy, fiefdom-building board of health.

Even though Ford reversed this year’s retroactive cuts only, they behave as if the provincial Gravy Train will continue next year -- no doubt figuring if they stomp their feet loud enough the province will crumble again (I certainly hope not!)

If downsizing of their own numbers was supposed to send a strong message about the need for fiscal sanity, Mayor John Tory and his council certainly didn’t get it.

In the last year, they have spent with impunity on staff -- beefing up the bureaucracy with such ridiculous efforts as transformation offices (that haven’t transformed much) and a transit expansion office (even though the province is seeking to upload that file.)

Councillors didn’t see, or care, about the irony of leaving up to $400-million in savings on the table per year when they voted last month to continue with closed-shop tendering of major construction projects -- instead of opening up these projects, which typical cost as much as 35% more, to competitive bids.

Councillors want us to believe they are overrun with work and can’t properly get to meetings or study reports.

If that is the case, I would love to know what their seven and eight staffers are doing for them.

I would also love to know why so many of them had and have time to hold town halls and press conferences to fear-monger about provincial cuts.

Truth be told, many of them -- and there are a few exceptions -- never spent much time boning up on their meeting and council agendas before council was downsized.

Ontario government caps summer session and size of Toronto council
Many of them, believing they’re destined for far better things than solving boring garbage, pothole, road and other constituency problems, spend far too much time trying to socially engineer Toronto.

They never much paid attention to the agencies, boards and commissions at 44 councillors either.

I only have to point to Toronto Community Housing Corporation as an example.

Councillors were just as unresponsive to the concerns of those who pay their salaries before the downsizing.

Surely to goodness, they can’t be that busy either if they have time to meddle in local concerns as they did earlier this month with the Etobicoke couple who wanted to take down a sugar maple tree that was damaging their home.

Despite an impassioned speech from Cllr. Stephen Holyday, these terribly busy councillors -- who say they’re spread too thin -- voted two weeks ago to make the couple keep the offending tree.

Sad to say, downsizing hasn’t made them the slightest bit more efficient or effective.

Without term limits, the culture of council can’t and won’t change, whether there’s 47, 44 or 25 councillors.

COUNCIL DOWNSIZING -- A 2018 TIMELINE

July 27: On the last day of nominations for mayor and council, Premier Doug Ford announces he intends to downsize the number of seats from 47 to 25.

July 30: Bill 5 introduced for first reading in Legislature.

Aug. 14: Bill 5 is enacted

Aug. 20: Toronto council holds special meeting to discuss legal opinion on Bill 5. City solicitor Wendy Wahlberg indicates the city will have little chance winning a legal challenge. Council votes 27-15 to pursue challenge anyway.

Sept. 10: Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba strikes down Bill 5, contending the rules of the game can’t be changed in the middle of the game.

Sept. 11: Premier Doug Ford indicates plans to recall the Legislature to reintroduce Bill 5 as Bill 31 and to invoke the notwithstanding clause. He also schedules evening sessions to get new bill passed in time for October’s election.

Sept. 13: Province files for a stay of Justice Belobaba’s order.

Sept. 14: Nominations close for councillor and school board trustee seats/

Sept. 19: Appeal court stays Bill 5, allowing the October election to proceed with 25 council seats. Ford agrees not to invoke notwithstanding clause. Councillors proceed to duke it out with opponents for combined ward seats.

Oct. 22: Municipal election with 25 wards.

Dec. 5: One day after they’re sworn in, councillors vote to double their staff budgets and increase office budgets to $50,000 from $34,000.