Next week city council will debate the terms of its own future.
Rookie city councillor for Beaches East-York Brad Bradford is putting forth a motion to implement term limits for not only his own position of councillor, but the seat of mayor as well.
“We have the same sort of faces often at City Hall and some people, they stay there a really long time,” Bradford told CTV News Toronto on Friday. “It’s about impact. It’s about coming in, doing good work and then making way for new leadership.”
Bradford’s predecessor Mary-Margaret McMahon left her position after eight years in office.
“I’m not the only person in this city who can do this job as councilor,” McMahon said. “There are plenty of other fantastic Torontonians who can do this job and do it well so why not give them a chance.”
The motion asks council to approve a report on the next steps towards the implication of term limits at City Hall, including a survey and extensive public consultation.
“City Hall should represent the diverse population of Toronto and candidates of all backgrounds should have an equal chance to serve their communities. This vision can be made a reality by reforming our governance system,” his motion reads. “With the changes forced on city council in the summer, now is an ideal opportunity to consider strengthening our governance system with term limits.”
Three of 25 sitting councilors were elected in the first amalgamated Toronto election in 1997. Four more were first voted into council in 2003.
Veteran Ward 4 city councillor Gord Perks, who was first elected in 2006, said that term limits are “a terrible idea.”
“The last thing a government should do is tell people who they are allowed to vote for,” Perks said.
Jim Karygiannis, the city councillor for Scarborough-Agincourt, also plans to express his disagreement on term limits, saying “if our constituents don’t want us they can kick us out.” Karygiannis was voted into council in 2014.
Bradford said that term limits shouldn’t impact the work being done at City Hall.
“Certainly you can get a lot of work done in eight years. You can get a ton of work done in 12 years. That would kind of be the two or three terms.”
The motion will be discussed at the next city council meeting, which is scheduled for Jan. 30.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Natalie Johnson