Five former Toronto mayors call on Tory to 'soundly' reject strong mayor legislation

Five of Toronto’s former mayors are calling on the city’s current one to rescind his support for new legislation that would allow him to pass some bylaws with support from only a minority of city council.

The Better Municipal Governance Act would among other things give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the power to pass local bylaws on issues “within a provincial interest” with only a third of city council’s support.

Bill 39 was tabled at Queen’s Park on Nov. 16.

In their letter, which was emailed to Mayor John Tory’s office Sunday evening, Art Eggleton, David Crombie, Barbara Hall, David Miller, and John Sewell call the bill “undemocratic” and demand the continuation of the system of “majority rule.”

“We are appalled at this attack on one of the essential tenets of our local democracy and a fundamental democratic mechanism: majority rule. We are fearful of the real substantive risks this change would pose for our City,” they wrote.

The letter’s authors went on to say that just months into its new mandate the Ford government is “revealing its real agenda for our future,” which they said is “disturbing” and “alarming in the extreme” as voters are not being consulted on these changes.

The Ford government did announce new legislation to give so-called “stronger mayor” powers to the chief magistrates in Ottawa and Toronto prior to the recent municipal elections. However, it did not indicate that it was considering further legislation to allow those mayors to pass some bylaws with only minority support at council.

In their letter, Eggleton, Crombie, Hall, Miller, and Sewell encouraged Tory to “soundly” reject Bill 39, noting that the “integrity and wellbeing” of the province is on the line.

But Tory has previously said that he supports the changes to mayoral power and, in fact, “raised this change with the province” as part of a commitment to getting more housing built “as quickly as possible.”

“The Mayor was clear throughout the election that he supports a 'strong mayor' system and he was also clear that his leadership style and overall approach to City Council won't change - he will continue to work with City Council to get things done for the people of Toronto,” Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat told CP24.com on Monday. “We raised this change with the Province to make sure we can get more housing built as quickly as possible, to avoid NIMBYism, and to help make sure this new system works as efficiently as possible.”

Newly-elected Toronto councillors Ausma Malik, Alejandra Bravo, and Jamaal Myers as well as long-time municipal rep Josh Matlow have also released statements opposing Bill 39.

All four councillors said they appreciate that there is a desperate need for housing to get built in a timely way in Ontario, but a bill that compromises the democratic process is not the way to do it.

Tory, in response, said he’d use the enhanced powers “only when they are necessary to move forward housing and other key priorities.”