Toronto City Council
Encyclopedia
The Toronto City Council is the governing body of the city of Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
.
Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.
For ease of electoral division, wards are based upon the city's provincial electoral districts
, with each district divided into two city wards. (The provincial boundaries were redistributed in 2007 along the lines of the new federal boundaries; as of the 2010 election, a similar adjustment which would increase the number of councillors from 44 to 45 or 46 has not been made, so the districts remain slightly uncoordinated.)
The city council has 45 members: 44 ward councillors plus the mayor. The city posts agendas for council and committee meetings.
The salary for the mayor was $167,769.94 for 2010. The salary for a city councillor was $99,619.52 for 2010.
There are three internal business committees:
The Executive Committee is composed of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, chairs of the seven standing committees and four other members appointed by City Council. Sub-committees of the executive committee include the:
Until 1955 municipal elections were held annually, either on New Year's Day or on the first Monday in December. In 1955 council moved to two-year terms, and in 1982 three-year terms were introduced. Along with the other municipalities of Ontario, Toronto moved to a four-year municipal term in 2006.
From 1904 until 1969 there was a four person Board of Control
in addition to city council. The Board was elected at large across the city, and its members had considerably more power than the city councillors. In 1969 the Board of Control was abolished and the four controllers were replaced by four new councillors from two new wards. The ward map was rebalanced to give more equitable representation.
In 1985 the system of electing Metro councillors was changed so that two separate ballots were held in each ward, one for the city the other for Metro. In the next election a separate set of wards was established for Metro councillors. Each Metro ward consisted of two city wards, each electing only one councillor.
With the amalgamation of the city of Toronto with the suburban municipalities of Metro in 1997, the councils of the six former cities were abolished. The new council for the "megacity" kept the ward map of Metro Toronto, but doubled the number of councillors by adopting the system of electing two councillors from each ward. East York
had only one ward and was thus greatly underrepresented. Former East York mayor Michael Prue
lobbied successfully for a third councillor to be elected from that ward, and this was implemented mid-term.
This system was only used for the first megacity election. In 2000 a new ward map was devised based on the federal ridings (electoral districts) that covered Toronto. Each riding was split in half to create the current system of 44 wards.
and reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie
. Mackenzie was elected as the city's first mayor, but after the defeat of the Upper Canada Rebellion
, the reformers were marginalized. For the next century the Tories dominated Toronto municipal politics, as they did the other levels in "Tory Toronto". The Tories were associated with staunch Protestantism, shown through membership in the Orange Order
, and support for the Lord's Day Act.
In the 1930s various forms of left wing opposition arose to the Tory dominated council. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF) was founded in 1932 and the pro-labour social democratic party found support in various working class areas of Toronto and several of its members were elected to city council. Unaffiliated anti-poverty activists like May Birchard
also were elected to council in this era. An important faction in Toronto politics in the 1930s and 1940s were the communists. There was considerable communist support in the downtown areas covered by Ward 4 and Ward 5, especially in the heavily Jewish areas of Kensington Market
and the Garment District around Spadina Avenue
and further west along College and up to Christie Pits
including what is now Little Italy
. The peak of communist influence was in the 1946 election
where leader Stewart Smith
was elected to the Board of Control and three other communists won seats on city council. With the beginning of the Cold War
and staunch opposition from the other political groups, the communist presence quickly disappeared. The last communist alderman lost his seat in 1950.
The first part of the 20th century was also the era of the newspaper slates
. Each of the daily newspapers would endorse a full slate of candidates for office. The two most influential were the right wing Toronto Telegram
and the more left leaning Toronto Daily Star. In the early parts of the century, the duelling papers ran the communications portion of the campaign of the candidates they supported, using yellow journalism
to extol those they supported and denigrate those they opposed. The newspaper slates did not have a unified ideology. Rather all the papers claimed to be seeking a balanced council, making sure that groups such as labour and Roman Catholics had representation on council. Beyond these few exceptions, the slates of all the papers were largely made up of male, white, Conservative, Orangemen. Many candidates also appeared on the slates of multiple newspapers. With the exception of James Simpson
, who became Toronto's first socialist mayor in 1935, the city's mayors were Tories in the first half of the 20th century.
The character of Toronto politics began to change in the 1950s and 1960s as the Anglo Tory lock on power faded in the increasingly diverse city. In 1952 Allan Lamport became the first Liberal elected mayor in over 40 years. In 1954 Nathan Phillips
, a long-serving Jewish alderman, was elected mayor, though he was himself a staunch Tory. His religion was an important issue in the election, in which his opponent proclaimed himself to be running as "Leslie Saunders, Protestant". In 1966 former CCF Member of Provincial Parliament William Dennison was elected mayor.
In the late 1960s and 1970s a new division arose on city council between two groups that became known as the "Reformers" and the "Old Guard". Both groups crossed party lines and were divided by their approach to urban issues. The Reform faction arose in opposition to the urban renewal schemes that had been in favour in the previous decades. The two key battles were over the proposal for the Spadina Expressway
and the replacement of the Trefann Court
neighbourhood with a housing project. The Reformers opposed the destruction of existing neighbourhoods and followed the urban theories of recent Toronto arrival Jane Jacobs
. The Old Guard supported new highways and housing projects, in part because of their close ties to the development industry. The debate between the two groups became the central issue of the 1969 municipal election
with mayoral candidate Margaret Campbell
running on an explicitly reform platform. Campbell lost the mayoralty, but on city council six veteran members of the Old Guard were defeated. In 1972 Reform leader David Crombie was elected mayor, and he was succeeded by one of the most radical reformers, John Sewell
.
The Reformers won the major battles and reshaped the development of the city, but they still faced significant opposition from the right as new issues became central. Developers and business owners objected to the curbs on development. The right also capitalized on concerns about law and order and taxes. The right wing returned to power in 1980 when Art Eggleton
was elected mayor and city council also shifted to the right that decade. The basic pattern of right wing and left wing factions has continued to the present. Since the 1990s the left has dominated as the Old City of Toronto shifted to the left, but amalgamation in 1997 added many suburban areas with more right-leaning voters. The left, composed of the New Democrats
and some left-leaning Liberals, is the largest faction at city hall. They are opposed by the right, which consists of Conservatives and right-wing Liberals.
is held in the affected ward as early as possible.
If a vacancy occurs after March 31 in the year of a municipal election, however, provincial law prohibits the holding of a by-election so close to a regular election — and accordingly city council solicits applications for a temporary appointment to the vacant seat. Normally, a condition of the application process is that the appointed interim councillor does not run as a candidate in the regular election, so that he or she does not gain an unfair incumbency
advantage. There have, nonetheless, been instances in which appointed interim councillors have tested the rule; most recently, Paul Ainslie
did so in 2006 by filing as a candidate in a different ward than the one where he had been appointed.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.
For ease of electoral division, wards are based upon the city's provincial electoral districts
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
, with each district divided into two city wards. (The provincial boundaries were redistributed in 2007 along the lines of the new federal boundaries; as of the 2010 election, a similar adjustment which would increase the number of councillors from 44 to 45 or 46 has not been made, so the districts remain slightly uncoordinated.)
The city council has 45 members: 44 ward councillors plus the mayor. The city posts agendas for council and committee meetings.
The salary for the mayor was $167,769.94 for 2010. The salary for a city councillor was $99,619.52 for 2010.
Committees
There are seven standing committees of council:- government management,
- public works and infrastructure,
- economic development,
- parks and the environment,
- community services and recreation,
- licensing and standards, and
- planning and growth management.
There are three internal business committees:
- audit,
- nominating and
- striking.
The Executive Committee is composed of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, chairs of the seven standing committees and four other members appointed by City Council. Sub-committees of the executive committee include the:
- budget committee,
- affordable housing committee and
- the employee and labour relations committee.
Community councils
In addition to the standing committees, all members of Toronto city council serve on a community council. The city is divided into four community councils, each of which makes recommendations on local matters to the full city council. Although they are named "councils" they are really geographic standing committees of council with no final authority. The four community councils, and their meeting locations, are as follows:- Etobicoke and YorkYork, OntarioYork is a dissolved municipality in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located northwest of Old Toronto, southwest of North York and east of Etobicoke, where it is bounded by the Humber River. Formerly a separate city, it was one of six municipalities that amalgamated in 1998 to form...
- Etobicoke Civic CentreEtobicoke Civic CentreThe Etobicoke Civic Centre in the Eatonville neighbourhood of Toronto, once housed the municipal government of the former City of Etobicoke. The building was built in 1958 to replace the single storey brick Township of Etobicoke Municipal Hall at 4096 Dundas Street... - North York - North York Civic CentreNorth York Civic CentreThe North York Civic Centre is a building that once served as the city hall for the former City of North York, Ontario, Canada.Designed by Adamson Associates Architects, the building is located on Yonge Street north of Sheppard Avenue, and features Mel Lastman Square along the Yonge Street frontage...
- ScarboroughScarborough, OntarioScarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
- Scarborough Civic CentreScarborough Civic CentreThe Scarborough Civic Centre, located in Toronto, Ontario, was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama for the then Borough of Scarborough. It was officially opened by then mayor Albert Campbell and Queen Elizabeth II in 1973... - Old Toronto and East YorkEast YorkEast York can refer to:*East York, Pennsylvania, United States*East York, Ontario, Canada...
- Toronto City HallToronto City HallThe City Hall of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is the home of the city's municipal government and one of its most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell and landscape architect Richard Strong, and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in 1965...
History
Original ward system
In 1848 Toronto was divided into a group of wards, each named after a Christian saint. While out of use for over a century, these ward names continue to appear in neighbourhood names and subway stations and, until the 1990s, provincial electoral districts. The old wards and their boundaries in their final form, used from 1871 to 1891, were:- St. Andrew's (named for Saint AndrewSaint AndrewSaint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
)- bounded by Dufferin, King, Queen, and Yonge Streets - St. Andrew's Church (Toronto)St. Andrew's Church (Toronto)St. Andrew's Church, 73 Simcoe Street, Toronto is a large and historic Romanesque Revival Presbyterian church in downtown Toronto, Canada.-History:...
is located within the ward - St. David's (named for Saint DavidSaint DavidSaint David was a Welsh Bishop during the 6th century; he was later regarded as a saint and as the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and a relatively large amount of information is known about his life. However, his birth date is still uncertain, as suggestions range from 462 to...
) - bounded by Ontario, Don Mills Road (now Broadview Ave), Bloor and Queen - St. George's (named for Saint GeorgeSaint GeorgeSaint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
) - bounded by King, Yonge, Dufferin Streets and lakefront - St. John's (either for John the ApostleJohn the ApostleJohn the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
or John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
) - bounded by Yonge, University, Bloor and Queen - St. Lawrence's (named for Lawrence of Rome) - bounded by Queen, Yonge, lakefront, McGee
- St. Patrick's (named for Saint PatrickSaint PatrickSaint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....
) - bounded by Yonge, Bathurst, Queen and College Streets (now part of Trinity-Spadina) - St. Patrick's ChurchSt. Patrick's Church (Toronto)St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on McCaul Street is the fifth oldest Roman Catholic church in Toronto. St. Patrick subway station nearby and the adjacent St. Patrick Street were named after the church. The parish was established in 1861 and had its own church in 1908. The Romanesque Church was...
is located within this ward - St. Stephen's (named for Saint StephenSaint StephenSaint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
) - bounded by Yonge, Bathurst, Queen and Dufferin Streets - St. Thomas's (named for Thomas the ApostleThomas the ApostleThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
) - bounded by Jarvis, Ontario, Bloor, Queen Streets - St. James's (named for James, son of Zebedee) - bounded by Yonge, Jarvis, King and Bloor - Cathedral Church of St. JamesCathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto, Canada is the home of the oldest congregation in the city. The parish was established in 1797. The Cathedral was begun in 1850 and completed in 1853, was at the time one of the largest buildings in the city...
is located within the ward
20th century structure
In the 1890s the city moved to a six ward system, with each ward known by a number. Over the next three decades three new wards were added, one each in the north, east, and west, as new areas were annexed to the city of Toronto. This basic ward map remained in place until 1969. Overtime it became considerably unbalanced with the downtown wards having far fewer voters than those on the outskirts. In each ward the two candidates who received the most votes were elected. When a higher level of municipal government, Metro Toronto, was introduced in 1953, to co-orindate services between the city of Toronto and its suburbs, this system was adapted so that the top vote getter of the two elected councillors from each ward was also a member of Metro Council.Until 1955 municipal elections were held annually, either on New Year's Day or on the first Monday in December. In 1955 council moved to two-year terms, and in 1982 three-year terms were introduced. Along with the other municipalities of Ontario, Toronto moved to a four-year municipal term in 2006.
From 1904 until 1969 there was a four person Board of Control
Toronto Board of Control
Toronto Board of Control was a part of the municipal government of Toronto, Canada from 1904 until its abolition in 1969 and served as the executive committee of Toronto City Council. It consisted of four councillors elected city wide and was presided over by the mayor. Each voter could vote for up...
in addition to city council. The Board was elected at large across the city, and its members had considerably more power than the city councillors. In 1969 the Board of Control was abolished and the four controllers were replaced by four new councillors from two new wards. The ward map was rebalanced to give more equitable representation.
In 1985 the system of electing Metro councillors was changed so that two separate ballots were held in each ward, one for the city the other for Metro. In the next election a separate set of wards was established for Metro councillors. Each Metro ward consisted of two city wards, each electing only one councillor.
With the amalgamation of the city of Toronto with the suburban municipalities of Metro in 1997, the councils of the six former cities were abolished. The new council for the "megacity" kept the ward map of Metro Toronto, but doubled the number of councillors by adopting the system of electing two councillors from each ward. East York
East York
East York can refer to:*East York, Pennsylvania, United States*East York, Ontario, Canada...
had only one ward and was thus greatly underrepresented. Former East York mayor Michael Prue
Michael Prue
Michael D. Prue is a Canadian politician, who represents the riding of Beaches—East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is the New Democratic Party critic for Finance, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Community and Social Services and the Management Board of Cabinet, and for issues...
lobbied successfully for a third councillor to be elected from that ward, and this was implemented mid-term.
This system was only used for the first megacity election. In 2000 a new ward map was devised based on the federal ridings (electoral districts) that covered Toronto. Each riding was split in half to create the current system of 44 wards.
Political history
Despite some attempts to bring political parties to Toronto municipal politics, organized parties have had limited influence. Over its history city council has thus been divided into unofficial factions. Upon the formation of the city, the first division was between the Tory Family CompactFamily Compact
Fully developed after the War of 1812, the Compact lasted until Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841. In Lower Canada, its equivalent was the Château Clique. The influence of the Family Compact on the government administration at different levels lasted to the 1880s...
and reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
. Mackenzie was elected as the city's first mayor, but after the defeat of the Upper Canada Rebellion
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
, the reformers were marginalized. For the next century the Tories dominated Toronto municipal politics, as they did the other levels in "Tory Toronto". The Tories were associated with staunch Protestantism, shown through membership in the Orange Order
Orange Order in Canada
The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation based predominantly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and has lodges in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, Togo, the U.S.A, etc..-History:...
, and support for the Lord's Day Act.
In the 1930s various forms of left wing opposition arose to the Tory dominated council. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF) was founded in 1932 and the pro-labour social democratic party found support in various working class areas of Toronto and several of its members were elected to city council. Unaffiliated anti-poverty activists like May Birchard
May Birchard
May Birchard was a municipal politician and poverty activist in Toronto, Canada. Born in Toronto she married F.J. Birchard, an agricultural scientist who was an expert on grain. During the First World War the family moved to Winnipeg...
also were elected to council in this era. An important faction in Toronto politics in the 1930s and 1940s were the communists. There was considerable communist support in the downtown areas covered by Ward 4 and Ward 5, especially in the heavily Jewish areas of Kensington Market
Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Robert Fulford wrote in 1999 that "Kensington...
and the Garment District around Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
and further west along College and up to Christie Pits
Christie Pits
Christie Pits Park, originally Willowvale Park, is a Toronto public recreational area located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street, just west from the TTC Christie subway station...
including what is now Little Italy
Little Italy, Toronto
Little Italy, sometimes referred to as College Street West, is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is well known for its numerous Italian Canadian restaurants and businesses. There is also a significant Latin American and Portuguese community in the area...
. The peak of communist influence was in the 1946 election
Toronto municipal election, 1946
Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Canada, on January 1, 1946. Incumbent Robert Hood Saunders was acclaimed as mayor.-Board of Control:One incumbent on the Board of Control lost, William J. Wadsworth. He was defeated by Alderman Bert McKellar...
where leader Stewart Smith
Stewart Smith (politician)
Stewart Smith was a long-time leading member of the Communist Party of Canada. He also served on Toronto City Council for a period in the 1930s and 1940s....
was elected to the Board of Control and three other communists won seats on city council. With the beginning of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and staunch opposition from the other political groups, the communist presence quickly disappeared. The last communist alderman lost his seat in 1950.
The first part of the 20th century was also the era of the newspaper slates
Slate (elections)
A slate is a group of candidates that run in multi-seat or multi-position elections on a common platform.The common platform may be because the candidates are all members of a political party, have the same or similar policies, or some other reason....
. Each of the daily newspapers would endorse a full slate of candidates for office. The two most influential were the right wing Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
and the more left leaning Toronto Daily Star. In the early parts of the century, the duelling papers ran the communications portion of the campaign of the candidates they supported, using yellow journalism
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
to extol those they supported and denigrate those they opposed. The newspaper slates did not have a unified ideology. Rather all the papers claimed to be seeking a balanced council, making sure that groups such as labour and Roman Catholics had representation on council. Beyond these few exceptions, the slates of all the papers were largely made up of male, white, Conservative, Orangemen. Many candidates also appeared on the slates of multiple newspapers. With the exception of James Simpson
James Simpson (politician)
James "Jimmy" Simpson was a Canadian trade unionist, printer, journalist and left wing politician in Toronto, Ontario...
, who became Toronto's first socialist mayor in 1935, the city's mayors were Tories in the first half of the 20th century.
The character of Toronto politics began to change in the 1950s and 1960s as the Anglo Tory lock on power faded in the increasingly diverse city. In 1952 Allan Lamport became the first Liberal elected mayor in over 40 years. In 1954 Nathan Phillips
Nathan Phillips (politician)
Nathan Phillips, KC was a Canadian politician and popular Mayor of Toronto, Ontario.-Early life:Born in Brockville, Ontario, the son of Jacob Phillips and Mary Rosenbloom, he was educated in public and high schools in Cornwall. In 1908, he articled with the Cornwall lawyer, Robert Smith, who later...
, a long-serving Jewish alderman, was elected mayor, though he was himself a staunch Tory. His religion was an important issue in the election, in which his opponent proclaimed himself to be running as "Leslie Saunders, Protestant". In 1966 former CCF Member of Provincial Parliament William Dennison was elected mayor.
In the late 1960s and 1970s a new division arose on city council between two groups that became known as the "Reformers" and the "Old Guard". Both groups crossed party lines and were divided by their approach to urban issues. The Reform faction arose in opposition to the urban renewal schemes that had been in favour in the previous decades. The two key battles were over the proposal for the Spadina Expressway
Spadina Expressway
The Spadina Expressway was a proposed north-south freeway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. It was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of freeways for Metropolitan Toronto. Its cancellation prompted the...
and the replacement of the Trefann Court
Trefann Court
Trefann Court is a small neighbourhood in the eastern part of downtown Toronto, Canada. It is located on the north side of Queen Street between Parliament Street and River Street. It extends north only a short distance to Shuter St. In the nineteenth century Trefann Court was considered a part of...
neighbourhood with a housing project. The Reformers opposed the destruction of existing neighbourhoods and followed the urban theories of recent Toronto arrival Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
. The Old Guard supported new highways and housing projects, in part because of their close ties to the development industry. The debate between the two groups became the central issue of the 1969 municipal election
Toronto municipal election, 1969
Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Canada, on December 1, 1969. Across Metro Toronto there were few surprising results, and city of Toronto incumbent mayor William Dennison was easily re-elected...
with mayoral candidate Margaret Campbell
Margaret Campbell (politician)
Margaret Campbell was a municipal and provincial politician from Toronto, Canada.-Background:Born Margaret Baird she was raised in Rosedale and attend Bishop Strachan School, University College and then Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar in 1937. She married American film maker and...
running on an explicitly reform platform. Campbell lost the mayoralty, but on city council six veteran members of the Old Guard were defeated. In 1972 Reform leader David Crombie was elected mayor, and he was succeeded by one of the most radical reformers, John Sewell
John Sewell
John Sewell, CM is a Canadian political activist and writer on municipal affairs; he was the mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1978 to 1980.-Background:...
.
The Reformers won the major battles and reshaped the development of the city, but they still faced significant opposition from the right as new issues became central. Developers and business owners objected to the curbs on development. The right also capitalized on concerns about law and order and taxes. The right wing returned to power in 1980 when Art Eggleton
Art Eggleton
Arthur "Art" C. Eggleton, PC is a former Canadian Cabinet minister and Mayor of Toronto, and is currently a Senator representing Ontario.-City council:...
was elected mayor and city council also shifted to the right that decade. The basic pattern of right wing and left wing factions has continued to the present. Since the 1990s the left has dominated as the Old City of Toronto shifted to the left, but amalgamation in 1997 added many suburban areas with more right-leaning voters. The left, composed of the New Democrats
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
and some left-leaning Liberals, is the largest faction at city hall. They are opposed by the right, which consists of Conservatives and right-wing Liberals.
Changes for 2006-2010 Council
Changes were made to the council in 2007:- Executive Committee consisting of two city councillors and the six heads of the city committees (Policy and Finance, Administration, Planning and Transportation, Economic Development and Parks, Works, Community Services)
- Speaker of Toronto City CouncilSpeaker of Toronto City CouncilThe Speaker of Toronto City Council and Deputy Speaker of Toronto City Council serve as the presiding officers at meetings of Toronto City Council, Canada, as of December 1, 2006. The two positions were recommended by the Council appointed a three-member volunteer advisory panel and their report...
and Deputy Speaker of Toronto City CouncilSpeaker of Toronto City CouncilThe Speaker of Toronto City Council and Deputy Speaker of Toronto City Council serve as the presiding officers at meetings of Toronto City Council, Canada, as of December 1, 2006. The two positions were recommended by the Council appointed a three-member volunteer advisory panel and their report...
Current city council
On October 25, 2010, a record number of women were elected to council, with 15 female councilors comprising one third of all council members.| Councilor | Ward | Community Council | Federal Electoral District | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor | ||||
| 1 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke North Etobicoke North Etobicoke North is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. It covers Rexdale, the northern part of Etobicoke, which is part of Toronto.... |
||
| 2 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke North Etobicoke North Etobicoke North is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. It covers Rexdale, the northern part of Etobicoke, which is part of Toronto.... |
||
| 3 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke Centre | Deputy Mayor, Striking Committee Chair | |
| 4 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke Centre | ||
| 5 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke—Lakeshore Etobicoke—Lakeshore Etobicoke—Lakeshore is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.... |
Planning and Growth Management Chair | |
| 6 | Etobicoke and York | Etobicoke—Lakeshore Etobicoke—Lakeshore Etobicoke—Lakeshore is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.... |
Etobicoke and York Community Council Chair | |
| 7 | Etobicoke and York | York West York West York West is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904 and since 1917.Its population was 110,384 in 2001... |
Community Development and Recreation chair | |
| 8 | North York | York West York West York West is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1904 and since 1917.Its population was 110,384 in 2001... |
||
| 9 | North York | York Centre York Centre York Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1917 and since 1953.... |
North York Community Council Chair | |
| 10 | North York | York Centre York Centre York Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1917 and since 1953.... |
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| 11 | Etobicoke and York | York South—Weston York South—Weston York South—Weston is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.-Electoral district:It is in the west-end of Toronto. The riding has a largely working class and immigrant population... |
Speaker | |
| 12 | Etobicoke and York | York South—Weston York South—Weston York South—Weston is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.-Electoral district:It is in the west-end of Toronto. The riding has a largely working class and immigrant population... |
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| 13 | Central Toronto and East York | Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.Peggy Nash of the New Democratic Party was elected the Member of Parliament for the riding on May 2, 2011.... |
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| 14 | Central Toronto and East York | Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.Peggy Nash of the New Democratic Party was elected the Member of Parliament for the riding on May 2, 2011.... |
Central Toronto and East York Community Council Chair | |
| 15 | North York | Eglinton—Lawrence Eglinton—Lawrence Eglinton—Lawrence is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999.... |
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| 16 | North York | Eglinton—Lawrence Eglinton—Lawrence Eglinton—Lawrence is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999.... |
TTC Chair | |
| 17 | Central Toronto and East York | Davenport Davenport (electoral district) Davenport is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. Its population in 2001 was 111,705.-Geography:... |
Licensing and Standards chair | |
| 18 | Central Toronto and East York | Davenport Davenport (electoral district) Davenport is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. Its population in 2001 was 111,705.-Geography:... |
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| 19 | Central Toronto and East York | Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.It generally encompasses the western portion of Downtown Toronto. In the 2001 Canadian census, the riding had 106,094 people, of whom 74,409 were eligible to... |
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| 20 | Central Toronto and East York | Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.It generally encompasses the western portion of Downtown Toronto. In the 2001 Canadian census, the riding had 106,094 people, of whom 74,409 were eligible to... |
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| 21 | Central Toronto and East York | St. Paul's | ||
| 22 | Central Toronto and East York | St. Paul's | ||
| 23 | North York | Willowdale Willowdale (electoral district) Willowdale is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.The riding was created in 1976 from part of Eglinton.... |
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| 24 | North York | Willowdale Willowdale (electoral district) Willowdale is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.The riding was created in 1976 from part of Eglinton.... |
Executive At-Large Member | |
| 25 | North York | Don Valley West Don Valley West Don Valley West is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. Its population in 2001 was 115,539.... |
Executive At-Large Member | |
| 26 | North York | Don Valley West Don Valley West Don Valley West is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. Its population in 2001 was 115,539.... |
Deputy Speaker | |
| 27 | Central Toronto and East York | Toronto Centre—Rosedale | ||
| 28 | Central Toronto and East York | Toronto Centre—Rosedale | ||
| 29 | Central Toronto and East York | Toronto—Danforth Toronto—Danforth Toronto—Danforth is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. It lies to the east of Downtown Toronto.... |
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| 30 | Central Toronto and East York | Toronto—Danforth Toronto—Danforth Toronto—Danforth is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. It lies to the east of Downtown Toronto.... |
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| 31 | Central Toronto and East York | Beaches—East York Beaches—East York Beaches—East York is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.... |
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| 32 | Central Toronto and East York | Beaches—East York Beaches—East York Beaches—East York is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.... |
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| 33 | North York | Don Valley East Don Valley East Don Valley East is a federal electoral district in Canada that covers the northeast section of the North York part of Toronto. The federal riding was created in 1976 from parts of Willowdale, York East, York North, and York—Scarborough ridings.... |
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| 34 | North York | Don Valley East Don Valley East Don Valley East is a federal electoral district in Canada that covers the northeast section of the North York part of Toronto. The federal riding was created in 1976 from parts of Willowdale, York East, York North, and York—Scarborough ridings.... |
Public Works Chair | |
| 35 | Scarborough | Scarborough Southwest Scarborough Southwest Scarborough Southwest is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons.On Toronto City Council, the southeast portion is represented by Gary Crawford. The northwest section is represented by Michelle Berardinetti.-Geography:It covers the... |
Executive At-Large Member | |
| 36 | Scarborough | Scarborough Southwest Scarborough Southwest Scarborough Southwest is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons.On Toronto City Council, the southeast portion is represented by Gary Crawford. The northwest section is represented by Michelle Berardinetti.-Geography:It covers the... |
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| 37 | Scarborough | Scarborough Centre | Economic Development Chair | |
| 38 | Scarborough | Scarborough Centre | ||
| 39 | Scarborough | Scarborough—Agincourt Scarborough—Agincourt Scarborough—Agincourt is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.It covers the northwest of the Scarborough part of Toronto... |
Budget Chief; Executive At-Large Member | |
| 40 | Scarborough | Scarborough—Agincourt Scarborough—Agincourt Scarborough—Agincourt is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.It covers the northwest of the Scarborough part of Toronto... |
Parks and Environment Chair | |
| 41 | Scarborough | Scarborough—Rouge River Scarborough—Rouge River Scarborough—Rouge River is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.... |
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| 42 | Scarborough | Scarborough—Rouge River Scarborough—Rouge River Scarborough—Rouge River is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.... |
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| 43 | Scarborough | Scarborough East Scarborough East Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 2003, and was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to 2007, and on Toronto City Council.... |
Government Management Chair, Scarborough Community Council Chair, Toronto Public Library Board Chair, Toronto Zoo Vice-Chair | |
| 44 | Scarborough | Scarborough East Scarborough East Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 2003, and was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to 2007, and on Toronto City Council.... |
Vacancies
Normally, if a vacancy occurs in a council seat, a by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
is held in the affected ward as early as possible.
If a vacancy occurs after March 31 in the year of a municipal election, however, provincial law prohibits the holding of a by-election so close to a regular election — and accordingly city council solicits applications for a temporary appointment to the vacant seat. Normally, a condition of the application process is that the appointed interim councillor does not run as a candidate in the regular election, so that he or she does not gain an unfair incumbency
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
advantage. There have, nonetheless, been instances in which appointed interim councillors have tested the rule; most recently, Paul Ainslie
Paul Ainslie
Paul Ainslie is a city councillor in Toronto, Canada. Initially appointed as an interim councillor in ward 41, he now serves as a regular councillor for Ward 43 Scarborough East....
did so in 2006 by filing as a candidate in a different ward than the one where he had been appointed.
Political families
- Mike LaytonMike LaytonMichael Layton is a Canadian politician, who was elected to Toronto City Council in the 2010 city council election to succeed Joe Pantalone in Ward 19.-Background:...
- current city councillor; son of former city councillors Jack LaytonJack LaytonJohn Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
and Olivia ChowOlivia ChowOlivia Chow is a Canadian New Democratic Party Member of Parliament and former city councillor in Toronto. She won the Trinity—Spadina riding for the New Democratic Party on January 23, 2006, becoming a member of the Canadian House of Commons. Most recently, she was re-elected in her riding for...
(step mother) - Rob FordRob FordRobert Bruce "Rob" Ford is the 64th and current Mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to city council in the 2000 Toronto municipal election, and was re-elected to his council seat in 2003 and again in 2006...
- current mayor and former city councillor; brother Doug Ford, Jr.Doug Ford, Jr.Doug Ford, Jr. is a Toronto City Councillor for Ward Two in the federal electoral district of Etobicoke North in Toronto, Canada. On October 25, 2010, Ford was first elected to Toronto City Council succeeding his brother, Rob Ford, who was elected mayor of Toronto in the same election...
is current city councillor - David ShinerDavid Shiner (politician)David Shiner is a city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He represents ward 24, one of the two wards in Willowdale.-Background:He is the son of the late Esther Shiner, who served on the borough and later city council of the City of North York as alderman, and later as a member of the Board of...
- current city councillor; son of former North York borough alderman Esther ShinerEsther ShinerEsther Shiner was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She served on the North York city council from 1973 until her death, and was also a member of the Metropolitan Toronto council. She served as North York's Deputy Mayor in the 1980s.-Early life and career:Shiner's parents were... - Adam VaughanAdam VaughanAdam Vaughan is a councillor representing Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina in Toronto, Canada. For about 20 years, Vaughan worked as a political journalist and activist, most recently as the Political Specialist at Citytv/CP24. Before that, for ten years, he reported for CBLT in Toronto as a municipal...
- current city councillor; son of former city councillor Colin VaughanColin VaughanColin Vaughan was a television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the Canadian city of Toronto. He was best known as the political specialist for the Toronto television station Citytv from 1977 until his death... - William SummervilleWilliam SummervilleWilliam Arthur Summerville was a municipal and provincial politician in Toronto, Canada.Summerville was born in Bruce County and moved with his family to Toronto at age three. His first career was as a musician. He played cornet for the 48th Highlanders and toured North America with different...
- Toronto city alderman; father of city alderman and mayor Donald Dean SummervilleDonald Dean SummervilleDonald Dean Summerville was an east-end municipal politician in Toronto, Canada, and served as Mayor of Toronto, briefly, until his death.Summerville was born in Toronto to William Summerville and Alberta White...
; daughter-in-law (wife of Donald Dean) Alice Summerville was a city alderman - Josh ColleJosh ColleJosh Colle is a Canadian politician, who was elected to Toronto City Council in the 2010 city council election to succeed Howard Moscoe in Ward 15....
- current city councillor; son of former Metro Toronto Councillor, City of York Councillor, and MPP Michael Colle