Toronto Elects Charter City Majority
Eight councillors who supported the Charter City Project in our election survey. Dianne Saxe, Jamaal Myers, Ausma Malik, Josh Matlow, Alejandra Bravo, Paula Fletcher, Chris Moise and Shelley Carroll.
Five councillors who have voted consistently in favour of exploring the Charter City concept: (clockwise from top) Mike Colle, Paul Ainslie, Anthony Peruzza, Jaye Robinson, Brad Bradford (centre)
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Toronto voters have elected a narrow majority of Charter City supporters to Toronto city council. Of the 25 councillors who will serve for the next four years, eight expressly voiced their support for the Charter City project in our election survey. Alejandra Bravo • Davenport • Ward 9 Ausma Malik • Spadina Fort York • Ward 10 Dianne Saxe • University Rosedale • Ward 11 Josh Matlow • St Paul’s • Ward 12 Chris Moise • Toronto Centre • Ward 13 Paula Fletcher • Toronto Danforth • Ward 14 Shelley Carroll • Don Valley North • Ward 17 Jamaal Myers • Scarborough North • Ward 23 Five other councillors have consistently voted to support the Charter City concept through motions presented by Councillor Matlow in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Anthony Peruzza • Humber River Black Creek • Ward 7 Paul Ainslie • Scarborough Guildwood • Ward 24 Mike Colle • Eglinton Lawrence • Ward 8 Brad Bradford • Beaches East York • Ward 19 Jaye Robinson • Don Valley West • Ward 15 We know there is widespread, underlying support for empowering Toronto and Ontario’s big cities. But we also know it’s not a top-of-mind issue for many in these times of rampant inflation, an affordable housing crisis, deterioration of city infrastructure and staggering economic inequality among Toronto residents. We think giving cities clear, protected authority and resources is a prerequisite to successfully addressing many of these issues and many others. We also know that there is complete antipathy at the provincial level toward the idea of empowering cities. Our current provincial government prefers to govern municipalities by fiat from Queen’s Park. Its new so-called “strong mayor” law will allow—and perhaps require-- mayors to veto democratic council decisions the province doesn’t like. So putting Toronto in charge of its own destiny and giving it the resources it needs to succeed is a long-term project. We hope the councillors who have expressed support for our project will step up and help us lead the way. |
The Four Pillars of the Charter City Project
- Toronto city council should have greater authority over purely local decisions and greater flexibility to act without provincial permission.
- Toronto needs access to a wider range of city-controlled revenue sources, to reduce dependence on other levels of government.
- Toronto should have a City Charter that outlines city authority and protects it from provincial override.
- A City Charter should be constitutionally protected through a single-province (Section 34) amendment to the Canadian Constitution.
chartercitytoronto@gmail.com
