3 newly-elected city councillors oppose bill that would allow Tory to pass bylaws without a majority

Toronto mayor John Tory, speaks alongside Ontario Premier Doug Ford during a joint press conference inside Queen’s Park in Toronto, Monday, June 27, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

At least three newly-elected Toronto city councillors and one incumbent have publicly voiced their opposition to legislation tabled by the provincial government yesterday that would give mayor John Tory the ability to pass bylaws with the support of only a minority of council.

Bill 39 gives the government of Ontario the power to appoint regional heads of council for certain municipalities, while also allowing the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa—the two municipalities that received strong mayor powers this month—to propose and amend bylaws related to provincial priorities and enable council to pass them with a vote of more than one-third of its members.

This means Tory would not need a majority vote to push his agenda forward. 

If council wants to override the mayor’s decision, it needs more than two-thirds of council to agree.

Both Tory and the province say these powers will be used to ensure more housing can be built quickly.

Newly-elected councillors Ausma Malik, Alejandra Bravo and Jamaal Myers all released statements in opposition to the bill following its introduction on Wednesday.

In each of the statements, the councillors either called on Tory to “reconsider” or “rescind” his request for the new power.

“I applaud the provincial government’s focus on desperately needed housing for Ontarians… That being said, we cannot trade away our local democracy for the sake of convenience,” Myers said in a statement.

“Toronto is in a housing crisis and I strongly support using all reasonable tools to end it. However, allowing for the passage of by-laws with the vote of only nine members of council is not the way to do it.”

Malik said in a statement that she believes the legislation isn’t about housing, but rather is a “clear attack on local democracy.” 

TORY HAS PUSHED FOR ENHANCED POWERS

Tory released a statement of his own yesterday after the legislation was tabled.

In it, he said he supports the changes to mayoral power and added that he “raised this change with the province to make sure we can get more housing built as quickly as possible.”

Tory said he supports the use of strong mayor powers “only when they are necessary to move forward housing and other key priorities.”

In a statement released by Bravo, she said these proposed changes to mayoral power should have been brought up before last month’s municipal election, not after.

“The time to propose and debate a change like this was before the election. The people of Toronto were not informed and have not been heard in this fundamental change to how we are governed in this city,” Bravo said.

Long-time city councillor Josh Matlow also released a statement in opposition to the bill. He called one of the province’s stated reasons for the legislation – to enable changes to zoning laws around transit stations – “demonstrably absurd.”

“First, city council already approved moving forward with increased densities around Major Transit Station Areas to conform to provincial direction earlier this year,” Matlow said in the statement.

“Second, the province already has complete authority to change Toronto’s zoning however it wishes through the Planning Act. If Doug Ford wants to build housing, he can do so without Bill 39.”

The provincial government maintains that the bill was introduced to reduce red-tape and ensure the municipalities with the largest populations in the province can get housing built quickly.

“The proposed changes support our bold and transformative plan to get 1.5 million homes built in the next 10 years,” Housing Minister Steve Clark said while introducing the bill.

Tory’s office said in a statement that despite the new powers granted to him, his leadership style will not change.

Toronto Mayor John Tory (right) sits with Councillor Josh Matlow in the Council Chamber at Toronto City Hall, on Thursday September 13, 2018 as council sits to discuss the Ontario Government's introduction of legislation to reduce the size of Toronto City Council . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

“His leadership style and his overall approach to city council won't change,” the statement read.

“He will continue to work with city council to get things done for the people of Toronto.”

With files from CTV News Toronto's Katherine DeClerq.