Toronto City Council

The inaugural meeting of the newly elected Toronto City Council in January 1911.
Council chambers in 2008.

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 was redistributed in 2007 along the lines of the new federal boundaries; it is unclear whether the city wards will also be shifted along these lines for the 2010 election, an adjustment which would increase the number of councillors from 44 to 45 or 46.)

The city council currently comprises 45 members: 44 ward councillors plus the mayor. The city posts agendas for council and committee meetings.

The salary for the mayor is $163,040 as of 2008. The salary for a city councillor is $96,805 as of 2008.

Contents

Executive

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) whom make up the executive body at city hall. In addition there are three other internal business committees: audit, nominating and striking. Sub-committees of the executive committee include the budget advisory 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. These are denoted in the chart below as a letter next to the councillor's ward number:

Changes for 2006-2010 Council

A few changes are coming to the new council in 2007:

Criticisms

 This article or section may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. (March 2008)

Toronto City council has been criticized by papers such as the Globe and Mail, right-wing think-tanks and even some of the councillors. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong was a strong advocate against the 2007 municipal tax hikes. Proposals called for a hike of $500 million. Minnan-Wong and several other right-leaning councillors criticized city council for having "no spending control".citation needed

Shortly after the 2006 municipal election, councillor Kyle Rae made a statement on television, saying : "People in the suburbs are simply going to have to wake up and understand that they're destroying the environment".citation needed This statement caused a mild stir, although no formal apologies were requested.

In August 2007 during a budget meeting, Ward 22 Councillor Michael Walker suggested that Council retract a nine percent pay raise it had given itself in January. After being ruled "Out of order" fellow Councillor Kyle Rae called Walker "A loser" for making the suggestion and accused reporters interviewing him of being "lazy" and "suckers" for covering the call for a pay cut. Rae's choice of words drew criticism from the Globe & Mail as well as several Torontonians.

Current councillors

Councillor Ward Provincial Electoral District Notes
David Miller mayor policy and finance committee chair; member of the Toronto Police Services Board
Paul Ainslie 43 S Scarborough—Rouge River former executive assistant to councillor David Soknacki
Brian Ashton 36 S Scarborough Southwest Planning and Growth Management chair
Maria Augimeri 9 N York Centre Chair of North York Community Council
Sandra Bussin 32 T Beaches—East York Speaker; former deputy mayor
Shelley Carroll 33 N Don Valley East Budget Chief and at large
Raymond Cho 42 S Scarborough—Rouge River vice-chair of Scarborough Community Council; former Metro Toronto councillor
Janet Davis 31 T Beaches—East York Chair of Toronto-East York Community Council
Glenn De Baeremaeker 38 S Scarborough Centre Public Works and Infrastructure chair
Michael Del Grande 39 S Scarborough—Agincourt former member of the Audit Committee and the Works Committee
Frank Di Giorgio 12 E York South—Weston member of the Toronto Police Services Board
Mike Feldman 10 N York Centre former deputy mayor
John Filion 23 N Willowdale Toronto Centre for the Arts committee chair
Paula Fletcher 30 T Toronto—Danforth Parks and Environment chair
Rob Ford 2 E Etobicoke North
Adam Giambrone 18 T Davenport TTC chair; former cycling committee chair
Mark Grimes 6 E Etobicoke—Lakeshore
Suzan Hall 1 E Etobicoke North vice-chair of Etobicoke-York Community Council; Etobicoke York community council chair
Adrian Heaps 35 S Scarborough Southwest
Doug Holyday 3 E Etobicoke Centre former Mayor of Etobicoke
Cliff Jenkins 25 N Don Valley West
Norm Kelly 40 S Scarborough—Agincourt chair of Scarborough Community Council and chair At large; former MPP
Chin Lee 41 S Scarborough—Rouge River
Gloria Lindsay Luby 4 E Etobicoke Centre Deputy-Speaker and General Government chair; former Economic Development and Parks Chair
Giorgio Mammoliti 7 E York West Affordable Housing chair
Pam McConnell 28 T Toronto Centre—Rosedale chair At large and member of the Toronto Police Services Board; former police services board chair
Joe Mihevc 21 T St. Paul's Community Development and Recreation chair
Peter Milczyn 5 E Etobicoke—Lakeshore
Denzil Minnan-Wong 34 N Don Valley East
Howard Moscoe 15 N Eglinton—Lawrence Licensing and Standards Committee; former Toronto Transit Commission chair
Ron Moeser 44 S Scarborough East former chair of the Scarborough Community Council; former member of the waterfront committee (City of Scarborough)
Frances Nunziata 11 E York South—Weston Chair of Etobicoke-York Community Council; former Mayor of the City of York
Case Ootes 29 T Toronto—Danforth former Deputy Mayor
Cesar Palacio 17 E Davenport former executive assistant to councillor Betty Disero
Joe Pantalone 19 T Trinity—Spadina deputy mayor
John Parker 26 N Don Valley West former works committee chair
Gord Perks 14 T Parkdale—High Park
Anthony Perruzza 8 N York West vice-chair of North York Community Council; former MPP, North York councillor and Metro Toronto Separate School Board Trustee
Kyle Rae 27 T Toronto Centre—Rosedale Economic Development chair; former Toronto East York community council chair
Bill Saundercook 13 E Parkdale—High Park former City of York alderman, former Chairs of the York Community Council and Works Committee; member of the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee and Toronto Transit Commissioner
David Shiner 24 N Willowdale former Budget chief
Karen Stintz 16 N Eglinton—Lawrence
Michael Thompson 37 S Scarborough Centre Scarborough community council chair
Adam Vaughan 20 T Trinity—Spadina Vice-chair of Toronto-East York Community Council
Michael Walker 22 T St. Paul's former administration committee chair

Vacancies

If a vacancy occurs within the final year before the next municipal election, city council solicits applications for a temporary appointment to the vacant seat. Otherwise, a regular byelection is held in the affected ward.

Old ward system

During the 19th century 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. A map of the wards can be found here. The old wards and their boundaries from 1871 to 1891 were:

  • St. Andrew's - bounded by Dufferin, King, Queen, and Yonge Streets
  • St. David's - bounded by Ontario, Don Mills Road (now Broadview Ave), Bloor and Queen
  • St. George's - bounded by King, Yonge, Dufferin Streets and lakefront
  • St. John's - bounded by Yonge, University, Bloor and Queen
  • St. Lawrence's - bounded by Queen, Yonge, lakefront, McGee
  • St. Patrick's - bounded by Yonge, Bathurst, Queen and College Streets
  • St. Stephen's - bounded by Yonge, Bathurst, Queen and Dufferin Streets
  • St. Thomas's - bounded by Jarvis, Ontario, Bloor, Queen Streets
  • St. James's - bounded by Yonge, Jarvis, King and Bloor
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Flag of Toronto Government and politics of Toronto

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