March 27th, 2023 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: Freedom Ford-style (Feb. 2023)
Doug Ford abandoned us. That’s what a 200-page decision reviewing Ottawa’s invocation of the Emergencies Act says. Written by Commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau and published by the Public Order Emergency Commission, this report points the finger for last year’s Freedom Convoy riots squarely at the premier, whose failure to act, it says, led to some members of the public feeling emboldened.
Rouleau also laments that both Ford and Sylvia Jones, the former Ontario solicitor general, refused to participate in the commission’s review citing their “parliamentary privilege.” These two have a lot to answer for, and they clearly did their best to avoid any opportunity to face questions under oath about their conduct at the time of the Freedom Convoy protest.
The commissioner pulls no punches in his commentary on Ford and his government for inaction during the protest and for refusing to testify at the inquiry held last fall.
“Given that the city and its police services were clearly overwhelmed, it was incumbent on the province to become visibly, publicly and wholeheartedly engaged from the outset,” Rouleau wrote. “I find the Province of Ontario’s reluctance to become fully engaged in such efforts directed at resolving the situation troubling.”
Had Jones attended the inquiry, she would have no doubt been asked about her claim during the protest that Ontario had sent 1500 OPP officers to the scene. The mayor of Ottawa said while under oath that 35 officers was more accurate. According to the report, even Thomas Carrique, OPP commissioner, and Mario Di Tommaso, deputy solicitor general, characterized Jones’s comments “as unhelpful and unwise.”
The report reveals tensions between the federal and provincial governments during the protest. Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s staff recalled an interaction with the solicitor general where he urged the Ontario government to come up with a plan to do its job since policing is a provincial responsibility. Jones’s response according to the staffer: “I don’t take edicts from you, you’re not my f—king boss.” Like Doug Ford, Jones apparently felt that dealing with the Freedom Convoy was her job not to do.
The commission concluded that the federal cabinet received “credible and compelling information supporting a reasonable belief that the definition of a threat to the security of Canada was met,” and that “the bigger picture reveals that the situation was unsafe and chaotic.”
Di Tommaso, to his credit, did testify, and his contribution included comments that Ontario should create protocols around compelling a municipal police force to accept a unified and integrated command model with national standards for policing a major event. That approach was needed here, because the Ottawa Police Service was overwhelmed but unwilling to cede control of the situation to others. The report endorses Di Tommaso’s recommendations.
In his conclusions, Justice Rouleau states that “the ‘Freedom Convoy’ was a singular moment in history, in which simmering, political, and economic grievances were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, shaped by a complex online landscape rife with misinformation and disinformation, and unleashed in a torrent of political protest and social unrest.”
Rouleau astutely observes that the Freedom Convoy was more than a movement of people protesting in Ottawa about vaccine mandates largely created by provincial governments. These were not just ignorant individuals in need of a civics lesson. It runs deeper than that; Doug Ford recognizes that these are his people and his brand of populism. They hate the government and they are angry, but they are not sure about what; they just want to tear it down.
What is clear is that Doug Ford turned his back on residents of Ottawa in their hour of need. By his inaction, Doug Ford forced the federal government to needlessly bring down a heavy hammer upon our democratic freedoms.
March 27th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Bike lanes made permanent, more warming centres open (Feb. 2023)
Budget process reveals Toronto’s financial house not in order
By Dianne Saxe
The first month of the new year has been an eventful one at city hall. I am pleased to report that two crucial issues have successfully moved forward.
Councillors on the infrastructure and environment committee unanimously supported my requests to make permanent the Yonge Street bike lanes from Bloor to Davisville, while doing everything practicable to increase safety for nearby residents. This includes preventing illegal and dangerous behaviour by reckless drivers, like driving on sidewalks.
While community opinion about the bike lanes remains mixed, two-thirds of deputants passionately supported the bike lanes, as did extensive expert evidence.
The medical officer of health explained the substantial health benefits of complete streets.
Paramedic and fire services confirmed that the bike lanes do not interfere with their ability to provide emergency services. TTC confirmed that the bike lanes do not interfere with their shuttle buses.
Bike lanes are good for local businesses while decreasing crashes and the cost of getting around. Other evidence showed that there has been no disproportionate increase in traffic in the area compared to the city as a whole.
Another key achievement was doubling the number of downtown warming centre spaces for the most vulnerable during cold weather alerts.
In mere weeks, we pulled off Toronto’s fourth warming centre at the Cecil Street Community Centre, where I sit on the board. It opened for the first night on Jan. 30.
Congratulations and deepest thanks to the staff and board members of Cecil Street, and to city staff at shelter, support & housing administration.
This month was also dominated by the city budget, the first under the “strong mayor” powers imposed by Doug Ford. Thank you to everyone who has written in about this, or deputed to the budget committee.
The city is in very deep financial trouble, and the consequences are becoming obvious.
The provincial government has downloaded unmanageably expensive responsibilities onto the city, while hamstringing our ability to raise funds, and immiserating the most vulnerable with inadequate housing, mental health, and addiction support.
Toronto hasn’t done enough either to keep its financial house in order.
Keeping property tax increases below the rate of inflation for 13 years has starved the city of essential funds for daily operations and repairs, much less preparing for the future.
Bottom line: the city cannot operate effectively without more funds. We must loudly and consistently demand that the province give us significant revenue-generation tools, such as road tolls and a share of income taxes. I plan to keep this demand front and centre whenever council sits.
In the meantime, I am working with my colleagues to have the city adopt parking levies, which could raise hundreds of millions of dollars to reverse TTC cuts and improve service, while helping with climate goals.
This campaign has gained so much momentum that I hope to see parking levies introduced as early as next year.
The first step, a thorough study by city staff, should begin shortly.
For more updates, please sign up for our newsletter at DianneSaxe.ca.
Dianne Saxe is city councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.
March 27th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Toronto’s budget built on a false premise (Feb. 2023)
Where is Ford in Toronto’s time of need?
By Jessica Bell
The first official Toronto budget under the new strong mayor reign has revealed an unpleasant truth. This is a fantasy budget built on a house of cards. Even with a seven per cent planned property tax hike, the federal and provincial governments need to hand over $1.4 billion to the city for the budget to balance in 2023. And even if they say yes to Toronto’s official funding request, the city will still cut services.
You and I will be paying more for less. Off-peak TTC bus and subway service is facing big cuts, and adult fares are going up. Road maintenance and road safety programs are being cut. Recreation fees are going up. The city’s official climate action plan is underfunded and falls well short of our bold climate targets.
This is not the time for austerity. Our city is falling into disrepair. Commuting times are getting longer. Our parks and sidewalks are dirty and neglected. The high cost of food has driven more and more people into chronic hunger. Housing prices and rent are at record levels of unaffordability. Our city’s escalating mental health, opioid, and homelessness crises are a moral shame.
This is not a new problem. The mayor has failed to maintain and upgrade services and infrastructure throughout his eight-year reign. You’re not imagining things when you notice there’s more garbage on the street or the roads have more potholes than usual. That said, the woes of our city are also very clearly the responsibility of the Ford government who is not only underfunding municipalities and our needs, but sabotaging municipalities’ efforts to fund services as well.
I’m talking about Bill 23, which freezes, eliminates, and reduces the development fees Toronto can collect from new homes to partially pay for city infrastructure, from parks to affordable housing.
In University-Rosedale, about 80 per cent of residents live in buildings of five storeys or more, and that percentage is on the rise. Since more of us are living in apartments with no access to a backyard, it is doubly important for governments to invest in not just essential infrastructure, like transit and sewerage, but the community centers, parks, libraries, and free open spaces needed for urban residents to play, enjoy themselves, learn, and appreciate their city and neighborhood.
I support reducing and waiving development fees for permanently affordable housing, co-ops, non-market housing and to build housing for those in need.
I see no good value in giving a tax cut to developers and downloading even more infrastructure costs onto residents. Developers have a responsibility to contribute their fair share to our city.
This is a province-wide problem. Facing massive shortfalls in development fee revenue, municipalities across southern Ontario are considering cuts to services and big property tax increases ranging from five to 100 per cent. This is a Ford tax.
We are returning to the provincial legislature on Feb. 21. We expect a housing bill, a health care bill to privatize surgery delivery, and the next annual budget.
As your MPP, my goal is to organize with you to increase funding for municipalities, mental health, health care, education, housing, and public transit—all the things that make our city great.
We are not alone, Toronto. Municipalities across Ontario are furious with the funding cuts, and it’s having an effect.
Already the minister for Municipal Housing and Affairs has signaled their intention to help municipalities with the loss of funding as a result of Bill 23. We’ll have to hold their feet to the fire to get them to deliver.
Jessica Bell is the MPP for University-Rosedale and the Official Opposition’s Housing Critic. She can be reached at jbell@ndp.on.ca 416-535-7206.
March 27th, 2023 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: Our trees are in crisis (Feb. 2023)
ARA to resurvey all the trees in the Annex
By Terri Chu
There’s a lot to love about the Annex: cultural vibrancy, a wide variety of local independent businesses, walkability and trees.
Can you imagine this place without the big, beautiful maples? The streets would feel empty and dystopian.
No one wants to imagine this future, but with the latest Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) tree survey and its preliminary results, it has become all too clear that we can no longer afford to take local trees for granted.
This 400 year old oak tree off Spadina Avenue is one of the oldest trees in the city. GLEANER FILE PHOTO/COURTESY MICHAEL LOW
The ARA just completed the first tranche of the 10-year resurvey of its trees.
Thanks to two students from the University of Toronto’s forestry program, the trees were redone. The students did a fantastic job.
The results were less so. It is in fact, devastating.
In 2011, there were 2139 trees on Bathurst, Albany, and Howland streets. Of those trees, only 1603 of them still exist.
With a full 25 per cent of the trees missing, it’s fair to say we are in a crisis situation.
We are down over one in four trees and we can’t even blame this on construction. There hasn’t been very much development in this area over the last four years other than the Bianca; however, that was previously the Wing’s factory and there were not many trees lost to construction.
Many local trees are now nearing the end of life, however, many more are finding it hard to survive under very stressful conditions.
Pollution in the area is high, and tree roots are often covered with asphalt.
Trees are so important for a liveable community.
Researchers have found that residents who live in heavily treed areas have lower instances of heart attacks and other heart health risks.
Trees absorb excess rainwater and reduce the chances of flooding.
Trees also provide evaporative cooling (in addition to shade.) This means in the urban heat island that is this concrete jungle, trees help keep us cool—a critical function as climate change ravages our cities.
Instead of protecting the liveability of this city, the leadership has been making it worse. Trees are little more than an afterthought in planning and development. Mayor Tory has given priority to cars at the expense of all else.
For a song, a car owner can get highly subsidized parking and leave their vehicles all over the city cheaply.
Meanwhile, a family of four pays over $20 to use public transit two ways. No wonder families are choosing cars over transit.
Every unnecessary vehicle trip is another pointless stress on our tree canopy, a stress on our lungs, and congestion in this city.
Study after study has shown economic upticks when car space is given over to people, yet our old school leadership can’t get their minds out of the 70s and are actively holding us back.
There’s absolutely no reason why it should cost more to use public transit than it does to park a car. Our subsidies are going the wrong way to the detriment of all of us.
We need to take a hard look and ask ourselves why we want to put more congestion on our streets, more nitrous oxide in our air, and more sulphuric oxide in our children’s lungs.
If this isn’t the kind of city we want, we need to ask ourselves why we let corporate-led municipal leadership create these policy failures for us.
We absolutely cannot afford to lose our urban forest. The city promised that it would increase the urban canopy to 40 per cent by 2050; instead, we see a drop in canopy coverage of around 22 per cent.
We need the city to step up its efforts and keep its commitment. Residents cannot be left to do this alone. Some homeowners already spend thousands a year to maintain trees and not every neighbourhood is lucky enough to afford this.
Without the data that the ARA and other similar organizations collect, it will be nearly impossible to hold the city to account and have any hope of forcing the city to live up to its commitments to protect and enhance our tree canopy.
The ARA is raising money to hire this summer’s forestry students to continue this work.
If you can, please be generous. We have a $15,000 goal to get two students working this summer.
To make a donation go to theara.org.
Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy and distinguish environmental truths from myths.
March 27th, 2023 · Comments Off on FROM THE ARCHIVES (Feb. 2023)
BEFORE: 527 Bloor St. in 1928. (COURTESY TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY, THE BALDWIN COLLECTION)NOW: 527 Bloor St. 95 years later. (NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS)
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on ON THE COVER: New mural in the Annex (Jan. 2023)
BIA sponsors art on frequently tagged space
Local artist Talie Shalmon stands proud with her new City of the Future mural. COURTESY MELANIE RAMSAY/BLOOR ANNEX BIA
By Hailey Alexander
In the mural, City of the Future, the city is held lovingly by a blue hand. It is rich with green space and flowers bloom above it. This image, gracing the brick wall at 378 Bloor St. W., is the latest touch of artistic flare to hit the Annex and was designed by local artist Talie Shalmon. The mural was installed on Nov. 30.
“This concept expresses the idea that we, as a community, are responsible for building and shaping our community and have the power to grow it in positive ways,” wrote Shalmon in her mural proposal, adding that, being “holders” of the city, it is society’s joint responsibility to keep things beautiful. Accordingly, Shalmon has used bright colours to reflect the creativity, vibrancy, and values of the Annex. It includes an array of local landmarks like the Hot Docs Cinema and Trinity-St. Paul’s Church. “It presents an optimistic view of the future and emphasizes the importance of our connection to nature,” Shalmon says. She hopes that her mural will “catch the eyes of passersby,” and bring both joy and inspiration to their day.
Shalmon drew inspiration from her desire to make the city more human-centred, inclusive, and sustainable. Being a longtime resident of the Annex, she expresses her familiarity with the community and says she is honoured to contribute her artwork to the area in which she was raised. Shalmon describes her vision for the future as “a city that is built for growing community, fostering creativity, and that is affordable and livable for everyone who wishes to reside here.” Alongside those values, Shalmon cares deeply about the environment and encourages efforts to protect it. With these two themes in mind she produced a cheerful work of art that adds life to a formerly under-utilized alleyway.
Melanie Ramsay, project coordinator of the Bloor-Annex BIA, says she is proud of this new addition to the community. The BIA seeks grant support every year from the City of Toronto’s Outdoor Mural and Street Art Grant to develop a new piece. “We found it has a positive effect on reducing the amount of graffiti on the main street,” says Ramsay about the annual contribution of art to the neighbourhoods walls. The wall where this latest mural was painted, on the side of Vietnam Lovely Noodle, was the “most graffitied wall in the Annex” as of 2021.
2022’s street art project called for “a lot of problem-solving” around the materials used.
The team worked with a new application known as vinyl mural printing in order to overcome logistical issues they faced when getting paint on the wall. As Ramsay describes, Shalmon painted her mural by hand before digitizing it, then the team printed her design on vinyl and heat-bonded it to the wall which helped the vinyl take on the building’s brick texture.
Shalmon says that this method of mural creation did not allow for her to interact with the public as much as traditional mural paint would, so she is keen to hear feedback from the community.
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: Women’s shinny takes off at Christie Pits (Jan. 2023)
Popularity has grown immensely
Last month’s cover of the Gleaner featured organized women’s hockey from the 1890s at the University of Toronto. Today, women are continuing the tradition pictured here in Christie Pits. FOX OLIVER/GLEANER NEWS
By Fox Oliver
Bring your sticks! Women’s shinny is back this winter at Sid Smith Ice Rink and more than 20 other public rinks around the city.
Christie Pits’ Sid Smith Rink, built in 1978, opened along with most of Toronto’s other public ice rinks on Nov. 26. The time slots for free skating and shinny include games specifically for women and transgender folk (aged 18 or older) on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m to 12 p.m. and on Monday nights from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Liz Dewdney, an advocate for women’s shinny on Toronto’s rinks, says she remembers when she first started playing shinny nine years ago. At the time, she says, there were three rinks in the area near Christie Pits that held weekly women’s shinny games. They all hosted games on the same night of the week, creating a situation where the number of players at any given game tended to be low.
Nine years later, Dewdney says the number of players attending these games has grown immensely, and so has the number of rinks that support these games. Women increasingly start playing hockey at younger ages, so these games are showing a greater diversity of age and skill level on the ice.
This community is open to shinny players of all skill levels and is welcoming to beginner and intermediate players.
Dewdney runs the Facebook group Toronto Women and Trans Shinny which facilitates player communication and the coordination of games. This group encourages people of a variety of genders, including those who identify as nonbinary, to participate.
Mackenzie Saliani, a staff member at Sid Smith, says he has also noticed a change in the popularity of the women’s shinny sessions and a very positive response from the players.
“In 2018, there were a maximum of 10 players [attending a shinny game] at once. Now, I see 30 to 40 people on some days,” says Saliani.
Dewdney says the marketing for these shinny games isn’t deliberate enough when welcoming transgender people. “The banner [above the rink] is good for letting people know that the shinny games are happening, but could be more inclusive,” she says.
A full schedule of activities at local rinks is the City of Toronto’s website.
Now that the winter has kicked off, the shinny games in Christie Pits are bustling, and the community is looking for more players. Why don’t you join them?
Comments Off on NEWS: Women’s shinny takes off at Christie Pits (Jan. 2023)Tags:Annex · News
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on NEWS: Awards recognize volunteers (Jan. 2023)
MPP Bell lauds community achievers in University-Rosedale
Personal support workers from the St George Care Community worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to ensure quality care for each of their residents. These PSWs were some of the real heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic and stand beside MPP Jessica Bell (at right). COURTESY MPP JESSICA BELL’S OFFICE
By Fox Oliver
Cecil Community Centre hosted nearly 80 guests on Nov. 22 to honour community advocates who make the University-Rosedale riding a better place to live. MPP Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale) lead the award dinner for the first time since 2019 alongside Norm Di Pasquale, an outgoing TCDSB trustee, and offered awards to many individuals and groups including a movie planner, a lawyer, and a cycling advocate.
Emily Reid, founder of the Toronto Outdoor Picture Show (TOPS), was one of the winners. Reid founded TOPS 12 years ago with the goal of creating “a unique experience within the city to appreciate cinema.” TOPS’s most well-known program is the Christie Pits Film Festival, an event where movies are screened on a large outdoor screen in the park. This event has seen attendance of up to 2000 people in a single night.
In response to receiving the award, Reid said she was “truly honoured and touched to be included with other important members of the community, such as health care and cycling safety workers.” Operating a charitable organization that runs only through grants and pay-what-you-can donations can be a difficult task, she said, but receiving this award was “refreshing,” and has motivated her to keep doing what she’s been doing for the enjoyment of those around her.
The health care workers from the St. George Care Community (225 St. George St.) were recognized for being COVID-19 heroes. The Avenue Road Food Bank was recognized for community leadership. Their mission isn’t just about “helping with food, but helping people get a leg up to feed themselves.”
The Kensington Market Community Land Trust was recognized for housing advocacy. The Chinatown Business Improvement Area was recognized for community leadership, including their work to keep small businesses alive during the pandemic by installing surveillance cameras for community safety. Helen Lee was awarded for being a seniors’ advocate, and the Palmerston Green Committee and its members for being environmental advocates. Samantha Van Clieaf advocated for safe streets, and Ada Chan for legal justice. The Toronto Community for Better Child Care was recognized for being an education advocate and community members were thanked for their work that is “essential in achieving $10 per day child care.” Cycle Toronto was recognized for being an advocate for safe streets, and Liz Zuz for newcomer inclusion.
The last attendee to receive an award was Sally McLean. She gave some simple advice from her time spent volunteering while in retirement: “Pick a place you wish to spend time and work there.” With these words of wisdom, she has enjoyed working in her community at the organization Sistering. Her work proves there is no age limit to helping those in need.
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on FOCUS: Bloor Street BIA parkettes win prestigious design award
Architectural association praises conversion of asphalt lots to “dynamic green public amenities”
Major Street parkette with artist Daniela Rocha’s mural in the background. COURTESY DTAH
By Hailey Alexander
The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) has presented the designer of Bloor-Annex Business Improvement Area (BIA) parkettes with a National Award of Excellence. The landscape architectural firm DTAH designed these public spaces at Robert Street, Major Street, Brunswick Avenue, and Howland Avenue.
CSLA states that their awards of excellence honour distinctive design, ground-breaking research, sustainable landscape management, and more.
DTAH earned the Small-Scale Public Landscapes Award of Excellence thanks to DTAH’s James Roche, landscape architect hired by the Bloor-Annex BIA. CSLA states in their assessment that Roche’s designs “highlight what makes the Bloor-Annex such a unique space in the city,” adding that these spaces provide space for contemplation and “rest in Toronto’s bustling downtown.”
Over several years, Roche developed design concepts with the BIA and the City of Toronto, then worked through the construction with contractors. Between the residential north side and south side of Bloor, there is an urban corridor showcasing a “dynamic and multicultural stretch of the city,” as he put it.
This project, says DTAH, has converted overlooked and disused city-owned land into “dynamic green public amenities.”
These parkettes complement the Bloor-Annex area while respecting community needs and supporting sustainability. Colourful murals erected by the BIA now cover formerly barren walls, and unique wooden decking replaces old asphalt lots. Developers salvaged wooden beams from the demolition of a nearby landmark, Honest Ed’s, to create custom wooden benches. Local artist Robert Cram utilized quarry cut-offs to design special granite seating. All these features involve ecological creativity.
The Bloor-Annex BIA’s parkettes also brought 43 new trees to Bloor with pollinator gardens blooming through all three seasons. In addition to the beauty it brings, this fresh greenery provides habitats for Toronto’s birds, bees, and butterflies. Neighbourhood pets are no stranger to these green spaces, either.
Brian Burchell, of the Bloor-Annex BIA (and publisher of this newspaper), who alongside a board of management, led the 2019 Bloor Street revitalization project. He says he is extremely proud of the positive response their work has received.
“It’s a completely unique use of public space within our commercial mandate,” says Burchell. “We were going for a village feel, making welcome public space.”
This project was funded by the Bloor-Annex BIA and the City of Toronto’s economic development and culture division. Business and property owners within the city-mandated BIA boundaries contributed a large portion of the funds to create these functional spaces while the city’s planning division provided additional contributions.
A friendly university student was happy to share her thoughts when asked for her opinion. “This area is peaceful and nice even though it’s near the centre of the city,” said Yorbanka. “It’s busier further downtown, so I like it here.” Whenever she finds time, she says, she sits by one of the parkettes, accompanied by her music and a book.
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: We care Mr. Tory (Jan. 2023)
In 2018, and during our last municipal election, Doug Ford’s Conservatives slashed the size of city council in half to 26. This created outsized wards that are too big to manage and a population that feels disconnected from elected representatives. Burned out councillors are also a symptom, and we’ve seen a few—Joe Cressy and Mike Layton, for example, just walked away. Voter turnout is down to 30 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots, and the province under Doug Ford continues to further erode the power and relevance of local government in Ontario.
Most recently, with Bill 3 and Bill 39, the province handed some mayors super powers to veto council decisions and enact new bylaws with the support of just eight sitting councillors (a minority of the council). The fact that the mayor, acting with just one third of councillors, has the power to overrule the majority of the elected representatives makes a mockery of our democracy. City Solicitor Wendy Walberg told councillors recently that she knows of no other democracy in the world with a similar minority-rule provision.
In a representative democracy, we elect people to advocate for our interests and neighbourhoods, and to maintain our sense of community. When their authority is eroded, without debate or consultation, our power is eroded too. We have had two recent elections, one provincial and one municipal, and neither Mr. Ford nor Mr. Tory mentioned the plans they had up their sleeves.
When the provincial government announced its plan to confer “strong mayor” powers on Toronto and Ottawa, it handed Tory veto power over some housing legislation which city council could overrule with enough votes. Ottawa’s mayor said he did not need the powers and would refuse to use them. Our mayor quietly went to Queen’s Park and asked for more. He did not consult his colleagues on council whose power he sought for himself. He did not tell the public. Neither did Mr. Ford. Politics can make unlikely bedfellows.
It’s a rather unfamiliar look for our mayor, who for eight years, appeared to be a reasonable consensus builder: Mr. Moderation. Something has changed. He still says he will seek consensus and would like not to use his “big stick.” But the whole dynamic had changed: a police officer may not have to unholster their firearm, but the fact that they could, changes the interaction; the threat it could be used is always there. He is already using those powers, even while not invoking them.
Tory seems shocked at the uproar over this unbridled grab for power at the expense of a majority of city councillors. He says, “nobody cares.” All five of Toronto’s former living mayors have come out in opposition to the change. City council voted to ask the province to repeal the bill. Councillors clearly care, but Tory dismissed this as nothing but “political theatre.” Some new councillors spoke eloquently during the debate. Ausma Malik said the “fundamentally undemocratic new power flies in the face of what so many of [us] came here to do.”
Lily Cheng said it is “easier, perhaps faster, to impose your will on people than to listen and lead by winning people with your vision,” but “democracy is messy, because we as people are messy. It forces us to debate, to wrestle and sometimes compromise. This keeps us humble.”
There are no checks on the power the province has bequeathed to the mayor. Tory says he plans to retire in four years, and if so, he may never have to face the electorate again. The “strong mayor” powers are billed as a response to the housing crisis, but unlike measures already in place, such as our pandemic response, there’s no end date or plan to limit the scope of its application. The housing crisis is a Trojan horse within which the power grab enters the arena. According to Ford, this is a model for municipalities across Ontario. It’s of little comfort that Tory says he will use his power sparingly; that may be true, but what about the next mayor, or the one after that? Laws should be evaluated on how they may be used, not on how elected officials tell us they will use them.
This one-third rule is glaringly undemocratic – and needs to be repealed.
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: His villainy was his lack of transparency (Jan. 2023)
Our just “trust me” mayor has betrayed democracy
By Sue Dexter
“What I can’t support is change being rammed down our throats without a single second of public consultation.” John Tory after the province slashes council in half, 2018.
“Trust me.” John Tory on receiving unprecedented minority rule powers, after no public consultation, 2022.
In politics, “trust me” might be the ballot question. In a democracy, it is a request that should not need to be made.
In the past six months, the mayor of Toronto has abandoned the centuries-old foundation of constitutional democracy: majority rule which is 50 per cent, plus one.
In the process of strengthening his office to “deal with housing,” Tory has talked himself into becoming the province’s guy on council. Councillors can still debate and vote, they can express the wishes of residents, but the mayor can kill any matter he judges to be in the provincial interest with one-third plus one minority and the stroke of his pen.
What happened to him? What has happened to us?
The ‘Emergency’
Act one: Mid-election 2018, Premier Ford announces he is cutting council in half, from 48 councillors to 24. The mayor says the move was a complete surprise—the only notice he had was a 50-second musing in a long-forgotten meeting.
A feisty Tory came out fighting: “It is my job to stand up for the people of Toronto, all the people of Toronto, whether they voted for me or not. And I firmly believe that one of my fundamental responsibilities is to protect the democracy which binds our society together. The bedrock of that democracy is fair process, that the people always have an opportunity to be heard by their government.”
Buried in the mayor’s reaction was something that would later appear prophetic: “Like many people in the city I believe we need a discussion about the role of the mayor, as well as a discussion about the size of council and other issues including term limits.”
The mayor expressed frustrations in an interview with the Toronto Star’s David Rider: “I think people right now, they think that I have the authority to do a whole lot of things, and in fact, I have authority to do very little.”
Clearly changes to his office were on the mayor’s shopping list as early as 2018, but in the years that followed, the need for consultation on changing that role or engaging the public in discussion was lost.
Act two: the hidden agenda
On July 21, 2022, an astounded council reacts to a Toronto Star report that the newly-elected provincial government was planning to give additional powers to the Toronto mayor.
Councillors Matlow and Perks wished to have council reject the change in governance until after consultations had taken place. Councillor McKelvie persuaded council that it was better to request that the province simply hold back on its plans, while adding items to be included in negotiations on the change. McKelvie said, “We saw what happened in 2018. We took that all the way to the Supreme Court and we lost….If he (Ford) wants to do this and we are not able to stop it, then let’s…be consulted.”
Although he himself had had governance changes on his wish list for at least four years, Mayor Tory said nothing in that debate.
The civic election that followed was characterized by rope-a-dope photo-op campaign by the mayor. He reluctantly agreed to appear in two all-candidate debates. On August 10, with council disbanded for the election, the province brought forward Bill 3, which gave the mayor a veto, but retained a two-thirds override from council. When asked, the mayor said he supported strong mayor powers. He provided no detail, but gave assurances the additional powers would not change the way he conducted business at city hall.
Clearly, he was not satisfied; the province had not gone far enough. Unbeknownst to anyone, during the campaign he had gone to Queen’s Park to request additional unprecedented powers for his office. The public would not know the extent of it until after the new council was elected.
Act three: the policy blitzkrieg
Increasingly, through a string of bills, the activist Ford government has involved itself first in details and then wholesale change of governance, with no consultation or public input. Measured debate has little chance to survive against such a chaotic backdrop.
Bill 103: On the day after the civic election, the province announced major changes to a wide range of existing policies including heritage, green standards, and fees for infrastructure upgrades necessitated by development. The bill threatens the city’s rental replacement bylaw which protects tenants from eviction by allowing their right of return.
But that was not the end of it.
“Trust me.”
Three weeks later, the province made public one last bombshell: Bill 39. This minority-rule legislation, with no time or application limits, allows the mayor to declare a victory even if two-thirds of council vote against him “if the head of council is of the opinion that a bylaw could potentially advance a prescribed provincial priority.” Tory has become the in-house provincial watchdog.
Sometime during the election, at a photo-op in a parking lot, the mayor disclosed that he himself had asked for the unprecedented power. Now that there was a fuss, he promised only to use it “if necessary” to get housing done.
To explain the mayor’s embrace of extraordinary powers, the blogosphere points to his frustrations in July 2021 when he withdrew his plan to extend rooming house licensing and regulation to the suburbs, rather than test it with a vote. But that may only be part of the story: remember the video from four years ago, at a time of crisis, when Tory went on the record wanting changes to the mayor’s powers.
Despite his earlier devotion to consultation, he has provided no details about how his thinking evolved, how the office will be changed, or how the request arose. What quid pro quos might there have been? Was he promised money for the budget shortfall, or is that no one’s business but his? Should his thinking not have been disclosed to voters? The John Tory of 2018 would have trusted the electorate with the decision.
In the weeks since becoming the strong mayor, he has come down with his own avalanche of changes to planning, zoning, and housing, and he has also diminished the role of council. He has:
appointed a city manager without seeking council approval
formed a striking committee which unilaterally shortened the time for public consultation on the budget from 30-14 days
refused to support the call of a majority of councillors to hold a special meeting so the representatives of the electors of Toronto could express an opinion on the minority powers legislation before it was enacted by the province into law
brought back, as his first item of business, the rooming house legislation with only the dates changed
There are pivotal votes ahead, which cannot be suppressed, on a number of policy initiatives by the province.
Where will Tory be on the conversion of Ontario Place into a giant spa with a parking lot for 11,000 cars? Where will he sit on the Metrolinx plan to destroy historic gardens at Osgoode Hall? Is there any issue on which the “trust me” mayor will lead the opposition to a provincial scheme or is he now hobbled by the deal he struck to ensure council does not pass any legislation that goes against provincial interests? It is true he brought the motion to council against the passage of Bill 23, but his was a constrained voice and hardly a description for leadership—the kind of leadership he gave four years ago in the fight against the cuts to council.
How will the rest of council respond to their reduced capacity? Will they bother to oppose knowing the mayor now holds a whip hand? And, probably most importantly, how will the residents of the city respond if their voice is seen to carry no weight? Will the number of people voting in elections fall even further?
Dec. 15, 2022: City council had its first discussion of minority powers. It voted 17-8 on a Councillor Morley motion to ask the Ford government to repeal the minority powers act. It voted 14-11 on a Councillor Matlow motion that asked Tory not to exercise any power less than a 50 per cent plus one majority. It voted 25-5 on a Councillor Bravo motion upholding majority rule on council.
Mayor Tory voted against all three motions. As a strong mayor, he could veto any of the motions.
Let the games begin.
Sue Dexter is a member of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association.
January 24th, 2023 · Comments Off on FORUM: Turbulent time to take a seat (Jan. 2023)
Governance, climate, and road safety goals emerge as priorities
By Dianne Saxe
Thank you all for selecting me as your city councillor. I would like to thank the Gleaner for inviting me to regularly update residents on what is happening in Ward 11 and at city council.
The city government has only about nine per cent of the power and resources of the provincial and federal governments. What we do have is the largest and most visible impact on people’s daily lives. The task of being your councillor is endlessly challenging and fascinating, and I am grateful for the opportunity.
Since commencing the new term on Nov. 15, the mayor and council have been hard at work coping with the onslaught of provincial changes to our city. Bills 3, 109, 23, and 39 have all created major upheavals and damage. In many cases, the full consequences are not yet known.
On Nov. 24, council voted unanimously to oppose Bill 23 which will cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars a year and reduce our ability to protect liveability, affordability, and sustainability. In December, most councillors also voted to oppose Bill 39, the minority-rule, strong mayor powers that were not disclosed during the election campaign. Unfortunately, I was one of only nine councillors who voted to refer Bill 39 to executive committee; only that way would members of the public have had a chance to be heard about this massive change to our municipal government.
Despite this blizzard of changes, we made real progress on Dec. 14, the first council meeting where new business was permitted. After many years of failed efforts, this council passed a bylaw to authorize and regulate rooming houses across the entire city. This should lead to a significant increase in the availability of lower cost, single-room-occupancy dwellings across Toronto and compliance with fire codes, building codes, and similar tenant protections. This significant response to the housing crisis is long overdue.
In another important vote, council directed staff to prepare a plan for significant intensification of housing across the city. I successfully amended this motion to include climate goals and other zoning changes that will promote 15-minute neighborhoods. These were key pieces of my campaign platform, and I am proud to see progress on them so soon.
I have also been able to accelerate progress on road safety, especially for walkers and cyclists. For example:
City staff have begun updating the 311 app to make it more user-friendly for walkers and cyclists.
Vision Zero improvements to several intersections are now scheduled for this summer. Others are already in place; for example, the intersection at Davenport and Dupont now includes a bike light and advance light for pedestrians.
I have had multiple communications with Transportation about improving winter maintenance of bike lanes. Some improvements have occurred, for example, around Queens Park.
The TTC has agreed to my request that they preserve bike lanes across the Bloor-Yonge intersection while they construct their new subway platform.
My first stand-alone member’s motion directed Transportation staff to report in March on how to improve cyclists’ safety when passing the many construction sites along the Bloor bike lanes.
I am looking forward to sitting on the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Project Green, and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund board of directors. I am also pleased to chair the city’s Francophone Liaison Committee.
The new strong mayor powers will mean significant changes to this year’s budget process. These changes include a more dominant role for the mayor, and less time for public input. The mayor will propose his budget on Jan. 10, and it must be approved no later than Feb. 14. I encourage everyone interested to submit comments in writing (by Jan. 18) or in person on Jan. 17. Please reach out to my office for any assistance.
December is a time of celebration and service for many. As a long-time volunteer in University-Rosedale, I would like to thank the organizations that hosted me last month, including Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields (and the wonderful Reverend Maggie), the Avenue Road Food Bank (Church of the Messiah), St. Peter’s Church’s Out of the Cold, the Fort York Food Bank, and the Scott Mission.
With the whirlwind of provincial bills, plus some technical difficulties, we had a slow start answering some constituent emails. Please accept my apologies if we have been late in getting back to you, and please get back in touch at councillor_saxe@toronto.ca. My constituency staff are looking forward to assisting you. Sign up for updates or submit a comment at www.diannesaxe.ca. Our new website will be launched in January with a calendar, development updates, and contact information.
Best wishes for the new year!
Dianne Saxe is city councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.
Comments Off on FORUM: Turbulent time to take a seat (Jan. 2023)Tags:Annex · Opinion
