Premier Doug Ford is vowing to slash the size of Toronto city council almost in half, a move that Mayor John Tory says is “not right,” “not fair” and ought to be the subject of a referendum.
Ford announced on Friday morning that his government will table legislation on Monday that will slash the number of councillors in Toronto from a planned 47 to 25 in time for the Oct. 22 election.
The premier also said that he would cancel planned regional chair elections in Peel, York, Niagara and Muskoka and revert to an appointment process that was in effect prior to 2016, effectively halting the campaigns of former PC party leader Patrick Brown in Peel Region and former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Del Duca in York Region.
The moves undoubtedly have the potential to plunge ongoing elections campaigns into chaos but Ford told reporters on Friday that “taxpayers will be happy to trade a bunch of politicians at city hall for millions of dollars” in savings.
Ford also brushed aside suggestions that he is unilaterally imposing the changes after not mentioning anything about reducing the size of municipal governments during the provincial election campaign.
“I consulted with thousands of people right across the city and every person I talked to said you have to reduce the size of government,” he said. “No one has ever said to me ‘Doug we need more politicians.’ In fact it is the opposite. People tell me that we have too many politicians making it hard to get things done and making it harder to get things built.”
Ford said that slashing the size of Toronto city council will save municipal taxpayers $25 million, however it is not known whether additional staffing costs related to larger wards could cut into those savings.


On Friday, the premier called Toronto council the “most dysfunctional political arena in the country” and said that it is his hope that it will function more fluidly with a reduced number of councillors.
He also repeatedly mentioned that Los Angeles, a city of nearly four million people, has only 15 city councilors. There are numerous other cities in North America though, with comparable populations to Toronto that have larger councils, including Chicago where there are 50 elected members. In Canada there is a significant range in terms of the size of city councils with 64 people sitting on Montreal’s city council but only 10 plus the mayor on Vancouver’s city council.
“We have 25 MP’s, 25 MPP’s and 25 school trustees. Why do we need 47 councillors?” Ford said.
Tory calls for referendum
Ford’s plans to slash the size of city council came just hours ahead of a 2 p.m. deadline for candidates to register for the upcoming election, though officials within his government say that deadline will be pushed back to Sept. 14.
Speaking with reporters at a hastily-called news conference on Friday morning, Mayor John Tory said he is “angry” over the manner in which the changes are being thrust upon the city.
Tory said he actually only found out about the changes after reading a report in the Toronto Star on Thursday night, though he did concede that Ford mentioned the idea during a meeting the pair had a few weeks back.
“I sort of dismissed it on the basis of saying well that is not something that could be done and the matter was dropped. I didn’t have the sense he was pursuing it,” Tory said. “This is not right, this is not fair, it is not respectful of the people and it is not a proper process to be followed when it comes to a major decision having to do with our democracy.”
Number of wards was subject of years-long review
The number of wards was supposed to increase from 44 to 47 in time for this year’s municipal election following a years-long boundary review process that included extensive public consultation.
As part of that review, a slimmed-down council of 25 members in which ward boundaries would mirror existing federal ridings was considered but ultimately dismissed.
A report from May, 2016 noted that “only a very small number of councillors and the public supported” that scenario. The report also said that the model would not meet the “test of effective representation going forward,” as the population of the 25 wards would vary from 96,614 to 135,298 by 2026.
On Friday, Tory said that while he is open to having “a discussion about the size of council,” he can’t support a process in which a “gigantic decision about the City of Toronto” is “rammed down our throats without a single second of public consultations.”
“They promised to be a government for the people, they campaigned on that every day and so I would say to the premier and his government, be true to your words. If you are truly a government for the people than let’s put this question to the people and let them decide,” he said.
Tory moved a motion at today’s meeting of city council asking the city clerk to hold a referendum on the prospect of reducing the size of city council to 25.
He said that he will also seek a legal opinion on whether the province is within its rights to unilaterally alter the size of city council.
“While I don’t question that the province has very broad authority to deal with the City of Toronto there are words in different statutes that may allow for us to assert very forcefully the notion that there is some degree of cooperation and consultation that is expected and required here,” he said.
Matlow calls plan ‘anti-democratic’
After the news of the cuts surfaced on Thursday night, Ward 22 St. Paul’s Coun. Josh Matlow called them “anti-democratic” and “reckless” while Ward 14 Parkdale Coun. Gord Perks accused Ford of “taking a wrecking ball to democracy.”
Liberal Member of Parliament Adam Vaughan, himself a former city councillor, also came out against the changes in an interview with CP24 on Friday morning, calling them among “the most idiotic things” he has ever seen proposed.
“You have 123 agencies board and commissions that have provincial laws and regulations that require a certain number of city councillors on their board of directors, from Toronto Hydro to the library, the police and the TTC. It is not as simple as just cutting 25 city councillors; there is myriad of legislation that is impacted by a transition like this and it has not been thought through to the point where it is just absolute chaos right now.”
Some councillors support move
While the reaction to the proposed changes has been largely negative among city councillors, a number of them have spoken out in favour of the move.
“I think that we waste a lot of time and money with the much larger council,” Ward 7 York West Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti told CP24 on Friday morning. “I think a smaller council will allow us to get to the really important issues a lot faster than we do now and deal with them. And I think there will be less politics at city hall.”
“The proposed system right now says we are going to pack downtown versus Scarborough and North York so I am absolutely thrilled with this,” Scarborough-Agincourt Coun. Jim Karygianis added. “If you can have 25 Members of Parliament, why can’t you have 25 councillors?”