Toronto City Council Totally Explained

Everything about The Toronto City Council totally explained

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 (or 'riding') divided into two city wards. (The provincial boundaries will be redistributed in 2007 along the lines of the new federal boundaries; it's 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 46.)
   The city council currently comprises 45 members: 44 ward councillors plus the mayor. The city posts agendas

for council and committee meetings.

Executive

There are six standing committees of council (policy and finance, administration, works, economic development and parks, community services and planning and transportation) 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 policy and finance committee include the budget advisory 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're named "councils" they're 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:

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 Council and Deputy Speaker of Toronto City Council

Criticisms

Toronto City council has been criticized by papers such as the Globe and Mail, right-wing think-tanks and even some of the councilors. Councilor 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 councilors criticized city council for having "no spending control".
Shortly after the 2006 municipal election, councilor 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". This statement caused a mild stir, although no formal apologies were requested.
In August 2007 during a budget meeting, Ward 22 Councilor Michael Walker suggested that Council retract a nine percent pay raise it had given itself in January. After being ruled "Out of order" fellow Councilor 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

A list of old wards in the former city of Toronto in the 19th century:

St. Andrew's - bounded by Dufferin, King, Queen, 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, Jarvis, Bloor and Queen

St. Lawrence's - bounded by Queen, Yonge, lakefront, McGee

St. Patrick's - bounded by Bloor, Bathurst, Queen and College Streets

St. Stephen's - bounded by Bloor, 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 Further Information

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