Council votes to oppose bill that would cut number of Toronto councillors

Toronto city council has voted to oppose a controversial bill that would eliminate almost half of city councillors.

Mayor John Tory said he “strongly supports” examining and pursuing all legal options that could prevent Premier Doug Ford from slashing the size of council in the middle of a municipal election campaign.

“I have said clearly that you don’t change the rules in the middle of an election,” he said in a statement issued after the council vote on Monday evening. “That’s why I believe the municipal election should proceed as is.”

“While I’ve never been opposed to discussing changes to Toronto’s governance, I believe it is important to consult with the people about any proposed change.”

Ford tabled legislation on Monday that will see the number of councillors in Toronto reduced from the planned 47 to 25 ahead of the Oct. 22 election.

City council also voted on Monday to request a referendum from the provincial government regarding the number of wards and boundaries before going forward with legislation.

“Change of this magnitude should always happen with a degree of consultation that allows the public to be heard and I believe a referendum will ensure that oppourtunity,” Tory said.

Tory said he only learned that the premier seriously intended to go forward with reducing the size of council when he spoke to Ford hours after a story about the plan was published in The Toronto Star on Thursday night.

Ford claims the move will save municipal taxpayers $25 million over four years and told reporters that “taxpayers will be happy to trade a bunch of politicians at city hall for millions of dollars” in savings.

Councillors expressed shock and frustration over the premier’s decision to make such drastic changes without consultation just months before the municipal election.

With the current 44 wards in the city, the average population in each is 60,958. With 25 wards, that number would increase to more than 110,000.

Ward 22 Coun. Josh Matlow called the plan “anti-democratic” and “reckless” while Coun. Gord Perks said Ford is “taking a wrecking ball to democracy.”

A handful of councillors supported Ford’s plan, including David Shiner, Michael Thompson, and Cesar Palacio, who are all members of the mayor’s executive committee.

Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, who was one of seven councillors who spoke in support of Doug Ford’s plan at a news conference at Queen’s Park today, said the councillors fighting the change “just want to keep their job.”

“When it comes to gut instinct, Mel Lastman could come into a room and determine what the public might want just with his gut instinct. I’m going to say this really clearly- Doug Ford has the same instinct. Doug Ford has that ability to know what the public want,” Mammoliti said.

“He has got the feel for this whole province and he’s got the feel for the majority of Torontonians that want this thing done now.”

In a heated exchange between Ford and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath at Queen's Park on Monday, Horwath accused the premier of "abusing his power."

"The premier’s secret plot cooked up in a backroom, hidden from the people of Ontario for the entire election campaign doesn’t just fit the very definition of a hidden agenda, it is also petty and mean-spirited and it is the vendetta of a man who doesn’t want to lead,” Horwath said. “Instead he wants to bully his way through."

Ford contends that after speaking to Ontarians and voters in the city of Toronto, he believes he has a mandate to make the change at city hall.

"I talked to tens of thousands of people across this province. I talked to thousands of people in Toronto and every single person I spoke to in Toronto said city hall is dysfunctional," Ford said.

"We don’t believe in bigger government, we don’t believe in more politicians, more bureaucracy. We are going to make sure the City of Toronto finally runs more efficiently."

Speaking to reporters following question period on Monday, Horwath said it appears Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and mayoral candidate, is trying to "settle some political scores."

"It seems to me that he couldn’t get elected as mayor of Toronto and now he wants to be the de facto mayor of Toronto in his corner office here at Queen’s Park," Horwath said. "He’s is trying to consolidate that power for himself so that he can dictate what happens in Toronto."