Toronto Council meets today! *Seinfeld Voice* What’s the DEAL with the New Deal? Council will debate and vote on it — and Mayor Olivia Chow has declared it to be her Key Matter, so it’ll be considered first. Streaming live here. I’ll post happenings. www.youtube.com/watch?v=253O...
I’ve got a full rundown of the Council agenda in this week’s newsletter. Highlights include the Night Economy, some notable Auditor General reports, CafeTO, the Uber lawsuit, and whether it’s time to name something after that Rob Ford guy. toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/chw257
This is the first meeting in a long time where Council is at full strength, with 25 councillors plus the mayor. Speaker Nunziata welcomes Councillor Parthi Kandavel to the show.
Up first: after 40 years (!) at city hall, Chief Planner Gregg Lintern is retiring. Mayor Olivia Chow heads to the podium to pay tribute.
A standing ovation for the Chief Planner as he comes to the front, from members of council and the packed gallery. “It’s making me a bit nervous about who’s answering the phones!” Lintern jokes about the big crowd of planning staff in attendance.
“As time passes, you see the influences, you see the patterns, the changes, and the choices that have been made. You appreciate more and more that what we decide today will actually affect people we’ll never meet,” says Lintern, reflecting on his work and legacy.
“Dare I mention the car?” Lintern asks. He notes the “pervasive design and behaviour influence” of cars changed the city very quickly, but it’s taken a lot longer to try to figure out how to repair that damage and design for people first.
“I will now say ‘peace out’ before the chair calls me for delay of game, and let everyone get on with the business of this council,” concludes Lintern. He gets another long standing ovation. Gotta admit I did not expect the chief planner to end his remarks with “peace out.”
Councillor Holyday’s administrative inquiry about the updated costs of renaming Dundas Street is up now. Holyday moves to refer it to Executive Committee for debate. That FAILS 11-15. It gets received instead, so no action will be taken. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
After Councillor Holyday requests a recorded vote so he can vote against it, Council votes 25-1 to APPROVE installing new traffic lights at Birchmount Road and Chaldean Street in Scarborough.
Councillor Kandavel’s first-ever motion is a successful one. He moves to refer an item about a development application for 150 Clonmore Drive back to community council. It CARRIES via voice vote. As is custom, he gets some applause. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Thompson rises and says he believes the confidential report attached to the Uber lawsuit item on the agenda has been LEAKED. “This is an injustice to this body,” he says. He asks Nunziata how she will investigate the source of this leak. Nunziata says she’s on the case
Procedural duelling: Councillor Brad Bradford wants to debate Uber tomorrow morning. Mayor Olivia Chow wants to do it this afternoon. Bradford’s motion LOSES 3-20.
Two hours after the meeting started, Council has finally set its final agenda. 64 items have been held for debate. Up first: The New Deal. Council is being asked to “approve in principle” the terms of the deal stuck between Mayor Chow and Premier Ford. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Here are the major financial details, on both the operating and capital sides. A big chunk of funding — $600 million in operating funds, $758 million in capital — is still conditional on federal matching, so expect to hear lots of demands targeting Trudeau today.
Quick pause here to note that Council has approved the appointment of David Jollimore as the new Deputy City Manager for Corporate Services. He’s been heading up Fleet Services for the last couple of years.
Important to note Council is not actually voting to upload the Gardiner today. There will be a “due diligence” process next year to figure out how the upload will work. Province will pay costs in the interim, though, which will immediately free up funds for other capital projects
After a few questions about the New Deal, Council breaks for lunch. Back at 2 p.m. for more wheeling and dealing
And after a long lunch break, Council is BACK. Before returning to the New Deal, Matlow refers an item that would have authorized a construction closure affecting the Yonge bike lanes back to community council, so they can work on a better plan. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Vince Crisanti asks if some of the New Deal money for the TTC will go to hiring more police officers. City Manager Paul Johnson says there aren’t specific allocation requirements in the Term Sheet — the TTC will decide how to invest the money.
“If a city is kinda like a body, and its roads and rail lines are its arteries and veins, why would you give control of your arteries and veins to someone else?” wonders Perruzza. City Manager says Gardiner was such a big drag on capital budget that it makes sense to give it up.
Brief pause because Nunziata has an update on her investigation into the leaking of a confidential report on the Uber lawsuit agenda item. She rules council’s privilege has been breached. She urges councillors to read the Code of Conduct. She… takes no further action. Okay.
Back to the New Deal. Mayor Chow has a motion requesting the federal government “be a full partner in the New Deal.” She also moves that implementation of any “efficiency measures” first require council approval, and that the city keep negotiating for a better deal re: transit.
Chow says the first person she called when the New Deal was finalized was former mayor John Tory. “Because it was John Tory and the mayor before him, and it was all city councillors and previous mayors, that paved the way,” she says, calling deal “transformative.”
Councillor Dianne Saxe says, “as a lawyer, many parts of this deal give me serious concern. It’s like being asked to buy a car without knowing what the price is.” She highlights part of deal where city pledges to keep using Presto, which could come with higher commission fees.
Councillor Mike Colle suggests renaming the DVP as the DOP, the “Doug and Olivia Parkway” to commemorate this deal. He quickly clarifies that this is a joke. “I know it’s going to be all over Twitter. The word police are going to be after me again.”
Councillor Jamaal Myers, the TTC chair, notes with New Deal there are now funds to operate the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch LRTs. “We are looking forward to having both of them running. Hopefully sometime in the new year. If anyone knows, please tell me, because I’d love to know”
Councillor Anthony Perruzza says while he likes some aspects of the New Deal, he will be voting against uploading the Gardiner and DVP. He says these highways could be a “cash cow” for city hall if eventually tolled and also the land underneath them is worth billions.
“I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that it would be Doug Ford who put his hand up to help [Toronto] first, but it was,” notes Councillor Gord Perks. “But somehow the Government of Canada has yet to find their way into the conversation.”
“When are they gonna wake up? Yo, SLEEPY HEADS — Members of Parliament from the City of Toronto, wake up! Do your job!” says Councillor Perks, noting the request is simple: take responsibility for the people you represent.
“Today is your day. Listen to this Council. And ask yourself: how is it that Doug Ford is more committed to the well-being of Torontonians than you are?” concludes Perks, sending a message to Liberal MPs. “That was a mic drop,” notes Councillor Lily Cheng.
Answering questions from Councillor Myers, staff say deal with TMU is to rename Dundas Station after the university, as TMU Station. It’s not a “naming rights deal.” because the TTC’s current policy does not allow for naming rights deals. “It’s more of a partnership.” Uh, okay!
“This goes beyond money for me and for the Black community,” says Councillor Chris Moise, saying he’s been reading heartwarming emails in support of the Dundas renaming decision. “It has kept me whole, and I know that I’m doing the right thing by pushing this forward.”
Councillor Holyday has a motion. He wants to make it super clear that Council is rescinding the previous decision to rename Dundas Street and that no further work will happen on the renaming.
Holyday remains not happy about any of this. He says there is “very credible evidence” that council got it wrong with its opinion on Henry Dundas. He says this decision to rename the subway stations and Yonge-Dundas Square will damage confidence in government.
Council takes a break for dinner. Apparently there’s pizza. Strap in. Long night ahead and the later it gets, the more unhinged and absurdist city council gets. Back at 6:45 p.m.
Council is back and full of pizza and vigour. The nighttime stream is here, if you’d like to watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KacM...
Councillor Jamaal Myers, the TTC chair, moves to make sure the renaming of Dundas Station will have no impact on the TTC’s budget. “I don’t think it’s fair to ask riders to pay for something that doesn’t make a measurable difference in their daily commutes.”
Just posted: here’s the short-list of Yonge-Dundas Square renaming contenders. Finalists were John M. Tinsley Square, Chloe Cooley Square, Sankofa Square (chosen) and Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Square. Some previous contenders also listed. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis... (PDF)
Councillor Mike Colle moves to have the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee consider Dudley Laws and Charles Roach as honourees for any future honourary namings.
Mayor Olivia Chow is the final speaker on the Dundas renaming. She thanks the advisory committee for their work. She calls Henry Dundas’s actions on the slave trade “horrific” and says she’s glad this motion has “charted a path forward” to better names for public assets.
Councillor Holyday’s motion to make it super extra crystal clear that Council is rescinding its previous decision to rename Dundas Street —while still renaming Dundas Square, Dundas Station, Dundas West Station and Jane-Dundas Library — FAILS 5-16.
Councillor Myers’ motion to make sure the Dundas Station renaming comes at no cost to the TTC budget CARRIES 20-1.
Councillor Colle’s motion to consider naming some public assets after Dudley Laws and Charles Roach CARRIES 21-0.
Moving on, to more DRAMA. We’re told Councillor Perruzza, after being kicked out of the meeting earlier for unruly behaviour, still voted remotely on a few items, which is definitely not supposed to happen. Nunziata says the minutes will be corrected to not show those votes.
The meeting continues. On an item about Toronto Fire’s annual report for 2022, Councillor Stephen Holyday moves for a report on how the new Bloor Street bike extension has affected firefighter response times.
Currently, Toronto Fire emergency response travel times are higher in the inner suburbs than the downtown area, so I am not sure the data will support the idea that bike lanes are slowing down the fire trucks.
On the same item, Councillor Paula Fletcher moves for a report on ways to give TCHC residents a path to a career in fire fighting.
Councillor Jennifer McKelvie moves to extend the meting until 10 p.m. “If we’re not on good behaviour we could end up going later,” she warns. (They have to finish by 3:30 p.m. tomorrow for religious observance.) That CARRIES 15-6. And so we beat on.
On the same item, Councillor McKelvie offers a motion as an alternative to Holyday, requesting a report on tying the Congestion Management Plan to emergency service impacts.
Holyday’s motion for a report on whether the Bloor West bike lanes are slowing down fire trucks FAILS 6-15.
Fletcher’s motion for a report on helping TCHC residents become firefighters CARRIES 21-0.
McKelvie’s motion carries via show of hands, as does the Fire Services 2022 report item. Moving on.
Council adopts a series of recommendations for “Advancing Generational Transformation of Toronto's Housing System” on a 19-1 vote. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Pasternak attempts to speak about a budget report but he has two devices connected simultaneously to the meeting, creating a bizarre UFO-like echo effect on his microphone. Eventually, he’s able to move for a report on the city getting its share of the cannabis tax.
Councillor Shelley Carroll’s motion for an implementation plan report to Executive Committee in February on the new taxes/fees contemplated as part of the Long-Term Financial Plan CARRIES 19-2.
Up now: Councillor Cheng is making a last-ditch effort to make Cummer Station part of the Yonge North Subway extension. Tricky. Prov has said it won’t pay for it. City does not have the $70 million lying around needed to rough it in as a future addition. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Lily Cheng moves to send this letter to the provincial government letting them know that Toronto really really really really REALLY would like a Cummer Station on the Yonge North subway extension. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis... (PDF)
Cheng’s motion to send a letter reiterating once again that Toronto would really like provincial money to at least rough-in a Cummer Station on the Yonge North extension CARRIES 20-0.
Council decides to finally break for the night. Back tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. to attempt to speedrun through the 30 items left on the agenda.
Dawn of the final day. Six hours remain. Council is back, with 30 items left on the agenda. Day three stream is here. Against all odds, this thread will continue. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d1t...
We start with Councillor Lily Cheng congratulating her colleagues for participating in SecretSantaTO — the council gift draw. I wonder who had to buy for Holyday.
Up first: Council will consider package of recommendations to enhance the night economy. Changes include allowing nightclubs outside of the downtown core (with conditions), allowing bigger dance floors in bars & restaurants, and dropping limits on the number of arcade machines.
As expected, there’s a lot of pushback to these kind of changes from residents associations. CORRA has written to Council arguing the changes will create more “chaos”, with more arcades causing “addiction with students skipping school” to play games. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis... (PDF)
Not everyone is opposed. I enjoyed this letter from the Palmerston Residents’ Association, which concludes with an all-timer of a Hemingway quote. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis...
On the night economy, Councillor Amber Morley moves for a review of zoning regulations for nightclubs along Lake Shore West in her ward.
Councillor Lily Cheng moves to ensure there’s representation from the inner suburbs and from BIAs on the night economy working group.
For those asking, here are the current restrictions applying to arcades in Toronto. Building must be 215,000+ square feet, no exterior access, max of 36 machines, minimum spacing requirements, not near schools. A lot of rules! Under proposal, virtually all would be scrapped.
Councillor Brad Bradford moves to allow for more patios for restaurants & bars along Queen East and Kingston Road in his ward.
Councillor Kandavel moves for a review of zoning regulations for nightclubs in his ward, too. (You’ll note that basically whenever city-wide zoning changes are proposed, councillors start looking for ways to carve out exceptions for their wards.)
Councillor Mike Colle supports the changes to the night economy regulations. He hopes they will “get people off their couches and off their tablets — take a walk to the main street! Shop, eat, say ‘hello’ to people! And you shouldn’t have to roll up the sidewalks at 9 o’clock.”
Councillor Stephen Holyday moves to not allow nightclubs next to residentially-zoned areas.
Councillor Paula Fletcher points out that most commercial areas are next to residential, especially in the suburbs. “So you’re kind of limiting the suburban experience, because everything is next to residential?” Holday says he’s just being “practical” about noise concerns.
Councillor Alejandra Bravo moves for consideration of escalating fines for nightclubs and bars that are serial offenders, plus some changes to enforcement.
Councillor Carroll moves to amend Cheng’s motion, so instead of creating subgroups for each of the inner suburb areas, it instead just sticks with one group with representation from all areas of the city.
“Is there still an opportunity in this process for a degree of localization in how the bylaws are implemented, to reflect the unique character of different neighbourhoods?” asks Councillor Lily Cheng. “This isn’t about NIMBYism,” she adds.
Councillor Ainslie, the designated “night mayor” for Toronto, moves to allow nightclubs in basements too. Apparently that fixes a technical oversight in the report. He lauds staff for their hard work on these reports. “It’s really about an economy that works 24 hours a day.”
Councillor Carroll’s motion to NOT create subgroups for the inner suburbs to discuss Night Economy issues and instead just have one group with city-wide representation CARRIES 21-4.
Councillor Morley’s motion for a review of zoning regulations for nightclubs on Lake Shore West in her ward CARRIES 23-2.
Councillor Bradford’s motion to remove longstanding special restrictions on patios on Queen East and Kingston Road in his ward CARRIES 24-1.
Councillor Kandavel’s motion to review zoning regulations for nightclubs in Ward 20 CARRIES 23-2.
Councillor Holyday’s motion to not allow nightclubs next to residentially-zoned lots FAILS 6-19.
Councillor Ainslie’s motion to allow for nightclubs in basements of buildings CARRIES 23-2.
All other motions carry via show of hands. Zoning changes to allow for a more fun and less restrictive nighttime economy in Toronto — hopefully with more arcades — are ADOPTED 24-1.
After it got rejected at the Government Management Committee, Councillor Ainslie moves to award a contract for a consultant’s report on the economic impacts of rooming houses. It CARRIES 20-2. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Up now: should councillors be able to expense the cost of installation and monitoring for home security systems? Staff are recommending yes, citing an increase in threats to politicians. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Holyday moves to keep home security systems as an ineligible expense for members of Toronto city council. He says if councillors want to buy a home security system that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be expensed to the city.
Speaking in support of making home security systems an eligible office expense, Councillor Paula Fletcher says, “If we remember, during all the big issues around encampments, many councillors had people at their home, they had people at their doors — it was quite something.”
Councillor Mike Colle also favours the security system expense eligibility, pointing out that it wasn’t long ago that former councillor John Filion had shots fired at his house. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Councillor Nunziata says she doesn’t support the home security systems — “I just think this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen” — but if it’s going to be an eligible expense, it should be charged to their office budgets and not council’s general expense budget.
“Three words: Nancy’s Pelosi’s Husband,” says Councillor Shelley Carroll, also arguing in favour of making home security systems an eligible expense for city councillors. She says no one asked staff to bring this policy recommendation forward. It was driven by our modern reality.
Councillor Holyday’s motion to NOT allow councillors to expense the cost of home security systems FAILS 3-19.
Nunziata’s motion to require councillors to charge home security costs to their office budgets, instead of the general councillor expense budget, FAILS 5-17.
Toronto Council’s new expense policies, including the provision to pay for home security systems for members of council, are ADOPTED 21-1.
Council breaks for lunch. Short break today. They’ll be back at 1 p.m., with 15 items left on the agenda.
Back from lunch, Council votes 22-1 to APPROVE the Sunday, July 14, 2024 closure of the Gardiner & DVP for the Toronto Triathlon Festival. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Council APPROVES a new by-law requiring large buildings to report annual electricity and water use, as part of the City’s Net Zero strategy. Vote is 19-4. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Up now: should a football stadium at Centennial Park get named after former mayor Rob Ford? secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Amber Morley, reminding colleagues of all the talk of the importance of a proper process with the Dundas renaming stuff, moves to have staff first review renaming the stadium after Rob Ford, with a report back in Q4, instead of just going forward with the naming now.
Since we’re on the topic, here’s my short-and-sweet 2016 Metro News column about the appropriateness of paying tribute to a controversial mayor. Holds up pretty well, I think.
One of my remaining bugbears re: the Rob Ford tributes is people who say things like “He deeply loved this city.” I never saw much evidence he loved all of it.
Councillor Mike Colle says there’s no doubt Rob Ford had his challenges, but he highlights Ford’s record of constituency work and tenure as a youth football coach as reasons why it makes sense to rename the Centennial football stadium.
Councillors Saxe and Myers have both said they’ll support the Morley motion to review the renaming before doing it, while Holyday & Colle seem in favour of just going forward with the renaming today. This vote could get interesting.
Councillor Dianne Saxe says “Centennial” is a name that unites us, while “Rob Ford” is a name that “could not be more divisive.” She says if there’s no link between this renaming and the New Deal struck between mayor and Doug Ford, there should be no rush to do it.
Councillor Ainslie rises on a point of privilege and reports that Councillor Anthony Perruzza just made an “obscene gesture” directed at him. Nunziata asks for an apology. Perruzza says all he did was “turn to [Ainslie] with his arm stuck out.” But he apologizes anyway.
One of the major recurring themes from those supporting the immediate renaming — Burnside, Crisanti, Colle, Holyday — is to cite how often Rob Ford spent his own money to help people in the community.
Councillor Paul Ainslie reads a list of things named after mayors — Nathan Phillips Square, Lamport Stadium, David Crombie Park, Art Eggleton Park, Mel Lastman Square — to point out that it’s very common to name things after mayors, and this renaming is just another example.
Councillor Shelley Carroll calls the question on the Rob Ford renaming item. If this passes, they’ll skip remaining people in line to speak and proceed straight to the vote. Carroll’s motion CARRIES 18-4.
Councillor Amber Morley’s motion to conduct a review before naming the stadium after Rob Ford FAILS 5-18.
Motion to rename the football stadium in Centennial Park after former mayor Rob Ford CARRIES 17-6.
Up now: some changes to the City’s environmental bylaws. New rules would require businesses to ask first before providing customers with disposable cups and paper bags, and require them to accept reusable cups brought by customers. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Asked about enforcement, staff say the initial idea is that maybe a customer waiting in line would hear a business neglect to ask if a customer wanted a disposable cup, and then call 311 to report the business. Uh, good luck with that.
Some having trouble explaining this by-request thing for disposable cups. Holyday makes staff role-play with him, pretending to order a double double. “Would you like a cup with that?” staffer says. Holyday then repeats the exercise, this time pretending he only speaks Italian.
After so very many questions about cups, Councillor Jennifer McKelvie moves to scrap the requirement that businesses ask first before providing a disposable cup. Instead, there’d be a report on requiring businesses to post notice that they accept reusable cups.
Councillor Holyday moves to allow businesses to “use their discretion” about providing disposable cutlery and paper bags when the customer does not respond or is in unclear in their response. (Or only speaks Italian, presumably.)
Councillor Morley moves to scrap the mandatory fees for reusable bags recommended in the staff report for now, with a report back later.
Morley’s motion for a report on requiring businesses to charge a minimum amount for reusable bags CARRIES 19-3.
Councillor Holyday’s motion to allow businesses to use their discretion when it’s not clear whether the customer wants disposable cutlery or a paper bag CARRIES 21-3.
And the single-use environmental item as amended CARRIES 23-0, with some pretty significant changes re: cups and bags.
With eight items left and twenty minutes before they must adjourn, Councillor Anthony Perruzza appears to be waging a filibuster, requesting a recorded vote on everything he can and challenging Nunziata’s changes to the order paper. It all feels very silly
Council votes 17-4 to request an MZO for a rental development at 65 Rexdale Blvd. Communication attached to the item indicates Pearson Airport has some concerns. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Councillor Holyday’s motion to oppose a development on Jopling Ave in Councillor Morley’s ward FAILS 3-17. Holyday argued that his ward would see negative impacts from shadows cast by the development. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...
Council votes to defer two items to their next meeting in February: - Chris Moise’s motion to return to printing agenda materials for councillors who want them. - Nick Mantas’ motion to get reimbursed for travel expenses. (He’ll have to try it AGAIN.) That CARRIES 18-1.
Looks like we made it. See you in hell, December 2023 meeting of Toronto city council! Thanks so much for reading. If you’d like to say thanks, please consider a subscription to City Hall Watcher — my weekly newsletter about all this stuff. toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/subscribe