{"id":177409,"date":"2018-08-18T03:29:52","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T07:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=177409"},"modified":"2018-08-18T03:29:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T07:29:52","slug":"toronto-must-convey-dissatisfaction-ontario-move-cut-council-tory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/18\/toronto-must-convey-dissatisfaction-ontario-move-cut-council-tory\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto must convey dissatisfaction over Ontario move to cut council: Tory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cThere are a number of people who are unhappy,\u201d he said. (File Photo<\/a> By Bruce Reeve\/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto’s mayor says the city must convey its \u201cstrong dissatisfaction\u201d over the Ontario government’s move to slash the size of municipal council when local politicians and staff hold a meeting next week to discuss a potential court challenge to the province’s decision.<\/p>\n

John\u00a0Tory\u00a0said Friday that Premier Doug Ford’s abrupt decision to cut the number of Toronto city councillors from 47 to 25 ahead of a fall municipal election must be opposed in some way.<\/p>\n

Ford’s legislation on the matter has passed, but councillors are meeting Monday with the city’s legal team to discuss Toronto’s options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no opportunity, even at the legislature, for public input,\u201d\u00a0Tory\u00a0said in an interview. \u201cI think when it comes to a decision of this magnitude, affecting the City of Toronto and it’s people, that that was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council must convey \u201cstrong dissatisfaction in particular with the process that was followed here,\u201d\u00a0Tory\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The mayor acknowledged that the constitution shows the province has clear jurisdiction over cities and towns, but said Monday’s meeting with the city’s legal team is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a number of people who are unhappy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe owe it to the people of Toronto to examine the legal options and to decide on something that is prudent in their interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Progressive Conservative government’s legislation \u2014 known as Bill 5 \u2014 aligns Toronto’s ward map with federal ridings, while extending the nomination period for council candidates until Sept. 14. The city’s election is set for Oct. 22.<\/p>\n

Ford, himself a former council member, revealed his plan just weeks ago, saying it would help council make decisions and deliver services \u201cmore efficiently and effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation also cancels planned elections for the head of council position in the regional municipalities of Muskoka, Peel, York and Niagara outside Toronto. Instead, the head of council in each region will be appointed.<\/p>\n

Toronto’s legal team has filed a confidential report with advice to council on a potential court challenge but has recommended the document be kept secret because it discusses potential litigation. Its contents are expected to be debated behind closed doors on Monday.<\/p>\n

When asked about the special session, Ford said council can do what it wishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can talk about Bill 5 all they want,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cAt the end of the day, we made a decision to make government run more efficiently here in the city of Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Ford wrote\u00a0Tory\u00a0a letter urging him and city council to use the special session to discuss a recent provincial commitment of $25 million to help Toronto police to fight guns and gangs. Ford has asked Toronto to match to funding.<\/p>\n

Tory\u00a0said the city has already committed to match the funding for 2018 and has said that if re-elected this fall, he will introduce a motion to see the commitment continued next year.<\/p>\n

Tory\u00a0added that despite the conflict between the city and the province, he can continue to work with the Ford administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are too many other files that are too important to people, like transit, like housing, like community safety,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I will also not hesitate to speak up on behalf of the people of Toronto when that’s required.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto’s mayor says the city must convey its \u201cstrong dissatisfaction\u201d over the Ontario government’s move to slash the size of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":177410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-shawn-jeffords","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}