Toronto council votes not to object to Ford’s strong-mayor plan

City councillors are asking the province to consider giving the municipality more control over matters such as taxation and housing.

Thestar.com
July 22, 2022
Ben Spurr

Toronto council has decided not to oppose Premier Doug Ford’s plan to grant the city’s mayor additional powers. But members are asking the province to consider giving the municipality more control over issues like taxation and housing as part of the governance shakeup.

As the Star reported this week, Ford intends to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa veto power over council decisions that could only be overruled by a two-thirds majority vote.

Further details of the plan, news of which comes three months before the mayoral election and without formal consultation with the cities, have yet to be released.

The Ontario government can change how the province’s municipalities are governed and the city cannot stop it.

The council debate on the issue, which took place Thursday afternoon on the third day of a marathon meeting, was the first chance for the city’s elected body to take an official position.

After about 90 minutes of largely civil discussion, councillors roundly rejected a motion from Coun. Josh Matlow (Ward 12, Toronto-St. Paul’s) that recommended council register opposition to the strong-mayor plan.

Instead, they approved a motion asking the province to consult the city on changes to its governance, and to grant the municipality additional authority over areas it has long requested more autonomy over, including revenue-raising tools, cannabis- and liquor-licence approvals, planning and housing, and traffic safety measures.

The motion as a whole passed by a show of hands, but aspects of it were approved by an overwhelming vote of 23 to 2.

Mayor John Tory supported the motion, introduced by Coun. Jennifer McKelvie (Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park), one of his close allies.

It was notable that the mayor didn’t speak to the issue in the chamber, as he usually does during important debates.

McKelvie said that as the city can’t stop the province from instituting a strong-mayor system, council’s message to Ford’s government should be “if you’re going to do that, then there’s things that we need as well.

“There’s no point in having a strong-mayor system if we don’t have strong city powers,” she said.

Before the vote Matlow urged his colleagues to reject the strong-mayor plan, arguing that giving the mayor the ability to overrule the majority of the 26-member council would be undemocratic.

He also cited Tory’s predecessor as a cautionary tale about how a rogue mayor could abuse increased powers. Council famously voted to strip former mayor Rob Ford, the premier’s late brother, of some of his powers in 2013, following a string of headline-making scandals.

“How would we feel about a mayor who was smoking crack and under an active police investigation having those powers?” Matlow asked.

“Let us take a stand and allow Torontonians to determine what Toronto’s governance should be like!”

Other opponents of the strong-mayor plan took aim at the province’s stated goal of the proposal, which is to speed up progress on issues such as the housing crisis.

Under questioning from council members, city solicitor, Wendy Walberg, confirmed that the province, not the municipal government is responsible for many important housing policies, including setting timelines for planning applications, and overseeing the Ontario Land Tribunal, which decides appeals of matters relating to land use.

“It’s simply outrageous to say this will expedite building affordable housing,” said Coun. Paula Fletcher (Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth), who argued the province should be providing more housing funding to the city, instead of focusing on governance changes. Ultimately, she supported McKelvie’s compromise motion.

Other council members backed the strong-mayor idea. Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 16, Don Valley East) said the mayor already exercises significant power behind the scenes at city hall, and granting the position more statutory authority would make the system more transparent.

“It codifies in many ways what already exists. We all know that the mayor already controls most of the council agenda,” he said. “I think that transparency and that accountability is really important.”

In a statement Wednesday Tory signalled openness to granting the office of the mayor more powers, but pledged to work with council on city priorities no matter what.

During Thursday’s meeting council also:

• Approved a program to provide grants of up to $7,500 to homeowners in the flood-prone neighbourhood of Rockcliffe. After councillors expressed opposition to only giving payouts to one neighbourhood, Mayor Tory added a proviso that city staff later consider offering grants in other flood-affected areas.
• Directed Toronto emergency services to review how to reduce their response times to 911 calls, after an auditor general’s report found the 911 centre failed to meet its minimum standard almost every day of 2021, and is suffering a staff shortage.
• Passed new noise-control rules , including a rule that Torontonians are not allowed to use leaf-blowers and similar devices before 8 a.m., rather than 7 a.m., with exceptions for golf courses and parks.