Premier Doug Ford’s abrupt move to slash the size of city council nearly in half remains controversial in some parts of the city but a new poll is suggesting that it may have the support of the majority of residents.
Dart Insight surveyed 669 adult Torontonians about their thoughts regarding the Ford government’s decision to reduce the number of municipal wards from a planned 47 to 25.
The survey found that 54 per cent of respondents find the change to be either very much acceptable (27 per cent) or somewhat acceptable (26 per cent) compared to the 46 per cent who oppose it.
Opposition to the move was the highest in the downtown core and Etobicoke where just 43 and 47 per cent of respondents said that they found it to be acceptable. Support was highest in Scarborough where 64 per cent of respondents said that they found it acceptable.
Interestingly, the survey also found that a slightly higher percentage of respondents believed that the the change will result in a “more effective” city council. About 58 per cent of them said that they felt that councillors will be more effective in getting things done under the 25-ward model than they would have been under the 47-ward model. That’s compared with the 42 per cent of respondents who said that they disagreed with that sentiment.
In arguing for the changes, Ford has previously called Toronto city council “the most dysfunctional political arena” in the country and has suggested that decisions can be made quicker with a slimmed down elected body.
Opponents of the move, however, have pointed out that with wards with populations of up to 120,000 residents will be deprived of proper representation at the municipal level.
The survey was conducted between Oct. 12 and 15 and is considered accurate to within 4.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
