Discussion: Reducing the Size of Toronto City Council
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Discussion: Reducing the Size of Toronto City Council
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Political and Legal Context of the Reduction in Toronto City Council Size
In his fight to reduce the size of Toronto's city council, Premier Doug Ford activated the nuclear option. Ford defied a court decision that declared it unconstitutional for him to minimize the proportion of council members from 47 to 25 in the midst of the municipal election by taking the extraordinary step of using the "notwithstanding" section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Pagliaro & Benzie, 2018). He argued that the City of Toronto could spare $25.5 million over four years if council seats were reduced. A Ford representative stated that the figure included the annual amount the city allocates to each council member, which is approximately $290,000 for every ward (Rjoseph1, 2018).
Critical Evaluation of Economic Justifications and Governance Implications
However, I am of the contrary opinion because, in practice, this action will not help Torontonians in the long run. It will serve as a distraction from other provincial and municipal preferences the city council could focus on. Reducing the City Council's size only accomplishes little in terms of saving the inhabitants money based on Toronto’s annual operating budget.
Historical Context of Municipal Amalgamation and Its Policy Implications
Additionally, Toronto is still battling the effects of its amalgamation in 1998. The provincial administration of the time believed that by combining local governments and concurrently cutting the proportion of elected representatives in each, economies of scale could be achieved, thereby saving taxpayers money. However, these advantages did not occur. Toronto's amalgamation led to a time of increased spending on vital services like garbage disposal, recreation and park services, and fire safety instead of producing efficiencies. It makes sense, and is even praiseworthy, that Premier Ford wished to increase the effectiveness of local government. Nevertheless, to accomplish this, there are better ideas than minimizing the size of the Toronto City Council, especially given that Toronto is still dealing with the effects of amalgamation.