Toronto City Council is the governing body of the

municipal government of Toronto The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the '' City of Toro ...

, Ontario. Meeting at

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened i ...

, it comprises 25 city councillors and the

mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

. The current term began on November 15, 2022.

Structure

The current decision-making framework and committee structure at the City of Toronto was established by the '' City of Toronto Act, 2006'' and came into force January 1, 2007. The decision-making process at the City of Toronto involves committees that report to City Council. Committees propose, review and debate policies and recommendations before their arrival at City Council for debate. Citizens and residents can only make deputations on policy at committees, citizens cannot make public presentations to City Council. The mayor is a member of all committees and is entitled to one vote. There are three types of committees at the City of Toronto: the Executive Committee, four other standing committees, and special committees of council.

Executive committee

The Executive Committee is an advisory body chaired by the mayor. The Executive Committee is composed of the mayor, deputy mayor, and the chairs of the four standing committees who are appointed by the mayor and three "at-large" members appointed by City Council. The role of the Executive Committee is to set the City of Toronto's priorities, manage financial planning and budgeting, labour relations, human resources, and the operation of City Council. The committee existed in the old City of Toronto beginning in 1969. Before that Toronto had a Board of Control, as did former cities North York and

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

. The Executive Committee makes recommendations to city council on: * strategic policy and priorities * governance policy and structure * financial planning and budgeting * fiscal policy (revenue and tax policies) * intergovernmental and international relations * Council operation * Human resources and labour relations

Other committees

Following the sudden decision by the provincial government to reduce the size of City Council in summer 2018, the committee structure is currently under review; what follows describes the structure up to December 1, 2018. There were eleven other committees that reported to Toronto City Council. The seven standing policy committees were: There are four other committees that report to Council: Source: City of Toronto

Community councils

All members of Toronto City Council serve on a community council. Community councils report to City Council but they also have final decision-making power on certain items, such as front yard parking and appointments to local boards and Business Improvement Areas. The city is divided into four community councils. Their meeting locations are as follows: *

and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

–

Etobicoke Civic Centre The Etobicoke Civic Centre in the Eatonville, Toronto, Eatonville neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, once housed the municipal government of the former City of Etobicoke. The building was built in 1958 by the firm Shore and Moffat to repl ...

* North York –

North York Civic Centre The North York Civic Centre is a municipal government building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1979 as the city hall of the former city of North York. It is located in North York City Centre. Designed by Adamson Associates Architects, t ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

–

Scarborough Civic Centre The Scarborough Civic Centre is a civic centre located in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama during the development of Scarborough City Centre and initially opened as the city hall ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

East York East York is a former administrative district and municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a semi-autonomous borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toron ...

–

2022–2026 City Council

The current council term began on November 15, 2022.

Present composition of Toronto City Council

Vacancies

Vacancies in a council seat may be filled in one of two ways, either by the holding of a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

or through direct appointment of an interim councillor chosen by the council in an internal vote. Normally the council is allowed to decide which process to follow in each individual case; however, if the vacancy occurs after March 31 in the year of a regularly scheduled municipal election, then the vacancy must be filled by direct appointment as provincial law prohibits the holding of a by-election in the final six months of a council term. The process often results in public debate, however. The by-election process is widely seen as more democratic, while the appointment process is seen as less expensive for the city to undertake. When the appointment process is followed, people who are interested in the appointment are asked to submit their names to the local community council for the area where the vacant seat is located; the community council then evaluates and interviews the applicants, and submits a recommendation to the full city council for a final vote. The full council can, however, reject the community council's recommendation and choose a different candidate instead; in 2013, for example, the city council passed over former member of Provincial Parliament (MPP)

Chris Stockwell Chris Stockwell (March 9, 1957 – February 10, 2018) was a Canadian politician from Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, and served as Speaker of the legislature and cabi ...

, the recommended candidate of the Etobicoke Community Council, in favour of

Peter Leon Peter Leon is a Canadian politician, who was appointed to Toronto City Council on October 10, 2013 to succeed Doug Holyday in Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre).Paul Ainslie Paul Ainslie ( ; born February 4, 1967) is a city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2006, he was appointed as an interim councillor in ward 41, and was then elected as the councillor for Ward 43 in Scarborough East. On October 22, 2018 ...

did so in 2006 by running for re-election in a different ward than the one where he had been appointed, and after the ward boundaries were adjusted in 2018, former ward 28 councillor Lucy Troisi ran in the new ward 13 against the former ward 27's elected incumbent

Kristyn Wong-Tam Kristyn Wong-Tam (born ) is a Canadian politician who has represented Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 2022 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP). They served on Toronto City Council from 2010 to 2022 ...

. Peter Leon considered registering as a candidate in the 2014 election following his appointment as an interim councillor in 2013, but ultimately did not do so. If a full byelection is pursued, however, then the winner of that by-election is ''not'' barred from running in the next regular municipal election. Three vacancies occurred during the 2010-14 council term.

Doug Holyday Douglas Charles Holyday (born 1942) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario before b ...

resigned from council in 2013 after winning election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a byelection, and was succeeded by Peter Leon.

Adam Vaughan Adam G. Vaughan (born July 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2014 until 2021. Vaughan represented the Toronto area riding of Spadina—Fort York as a member of the Liberal Party. He previously sat ...

resigned from council in 2014 to contest a federal byelection for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, and was succeeded by

Ceta Ramkhalawansingh Ceta Ramkhalawansingh is a Canadian civil servant and former politician, who was appointed on July 7, 2014 to represent Ward 20 (Trinity—Spadina) on Toronto City Council, following the resignation of Adam Vaughan."Former city official picked for council seat"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', July 7, 2014.

Peter Milczyn Peter Zygmunt Milczyn (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the west Toronto riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore. He was a member of cabi ...

resigned in 2014 after winning election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2014 election and was succeeded by James Maloney. Since amalgamation there are four instances that a councillor died while in office: *

Frank Faubert Frank J. Faubert (April 25, 1931 – June 20, 1999) was a Canadian provincial and municipal politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1987 to 1990, and was the final Mayor of Scarborough ...

- ward 16 councillor and former mayor of Scarborough died in 1999 (after about a year and a half into his council term). The seat was filled with by-election: filled by former Ward 43 councillor David Soknacki. *

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

- ward 2 councillor and former mayor of Toronto died in 2016, one year and three months into his council term. The seat was filled with by-election: won by Ford's nephew and former Ward 1 public school trustee Michael Ford. * Ron Moeser - ward 44 councillor and former Scarborough councillor died on April 18, 2017. The seat filled by an appointment with former city staffer Jim Hart. *

Pam McConnell Pamela Margaret McConnell (February 14, 1946 – July 7, 2017) was a municipal politician in Ontario, Canada. She served on Metro Toronto Council from 1994 to 1998, and on Toronto City Council from 1998 until her death in 2017. McConnell receive ...

- ward 28 councillor died on July 7, 2017, after being hospitalized for a health complication. The vacancy was filled by voting by members of council, who selected Lucy Troisi over rival Michael Creek.

Compensation

The Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 223 sets the salary of the mayor and city councillors and is annually adjusted to the

Consumer Price Index A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistica ...

(CPI). In 2022, the salary of a councillor is $120,502.20 and the salary of the mayor is $202,948.20.

Staff

City Clerk of Toronto

The city clerk is the senior administrative officer of the

. The city clerk is charged with building public trust and confidence in the city government. There are five divisions in the Clerk's office: * Corporate Information Management Services - Executive Director and Administrative Assistant, two analysts * Council and Support Services * Elections and Registry Services * Protocol Services * Secretariat City clerk staff are seated in the horseshoe shaped table located in front of the speaker's podium in the council chambers.

Sergeant-at-Arms

City Council has a sergeant-at-arms, who is present at each council and committee meeting as per Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27-50 to ensure order and safety of all members. In 2014 a second post was created to have two sergeants-at-arms present during council meetings. They are posted on the floor or near the entrances beside the speaker's desk.

History

Original ward system

Toronto was divided into a group of wards, each named after a Christian saint. In 1834, the city had five wards and the number of wards would expand to nine by 1891. While out of use for over a century, these ward names continue to appear in neighbourhood names and subway stations and, until the 1990s, provincial electoral districts. The old wards and their boundaries in their final form, used from 1871 to 1891, were: * St. Andrew's (named for Saint Andrew)- bounded by Dufferin, King, Queen, and Yonge Streets – St. Andrew's Church (Toronto) is located within the ward * St. David's (named for

Saint David Saint David ( cy, Dewi Sant; la, Davidus; ) was a Welsh bishop of Mynyw (now St Davids) during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail ab ...

) – bounded by Ontario, Don Mills Road (now Broadview Ave), Bloor and Queen * St. George's (named for

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

) – bounded by King, Yonge, Dufferin Streets and lakefront * St. Lawrence's (named for

Lawrence of Rome Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

) – bounded by Queen, Yonge, lakefront, McGee * St. Patrick's (named for

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

) – bounded by Bloor, Bathurst, Queen and College Streets (now part of Trinity-Spadina) – St. Patrick's Church is located within this ward * St. John's (either for

John the Apostle John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee a ...

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

) – bounded by Yonge, University, Bloor and Queen. The area would continue to be known as The Ward up to the mid-20th century. * St. Stephen's (named for

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

) – bounded by Bathurst, Bloor, Queen and Dufferin Streets * St. Thomas's (named for

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...

) – bounded by Jarvis, Ontario, Bloor, Queen Streets * St. James's (named for

James, son of Zebedee James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

) – bounded by Yonge, Jarvis, King and Bloor – Cathedral Church of St. James is located within the ward By 1891, there were 13 wards, with three aldermen elected per ward: St. Alban's, St. Andrew's, St. David's, St. George's, St. James's, St. John's, St. Lawrence's, St. Mark's, St. Matthew's, St. Patrick's, St. Paul's, St. Stephen's, and St. Thomas's."CLARKE IS STILL MAYOR: He Secures Another Lease of Office BUT HARDLY A VICTORY Ald. Macdonald Pulls Down the Old Majority", ''The Globe'' (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ont6 Jan 1891: 8. When Yorkville was annexed in 1883, it became St. Paul's Ward (named for Paul the Apostle or Saint Paul). When Riverdale was annexed in 1884, it became St. Matthew's Ward (named for

Matthew the Apostle Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

or Saint Matthew). Brockton was also annexed in 1884, and it became the ward of St. Mark's (named for

Mark the Evangelist Mark the Evangelist ( la, Marcus; grc-gre, Μᾶρκος, Mârkos; arc, ܡܪܩܘܣ, translit=Marqōs; Ge'ez: ማርቆስ; ), also known as Saint Mark, is the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Acco ...

or Saint Mark). When Parkdale was annexed in 1889, it became St. Alban's Ward (named for

Saint Alban Saint Alban (; la, Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs rec ...

Post-1891 ward structure

In June 1891, the city approved a re-organization to Council changing the number of wards to six; each ward was known by a number. Each ward elected four aldermen. Over the next three decades three new wards were added, one each in the north, east, and west, as new areas were annexed to the City of Toronto. In 1896, the Board of Control executive branch of Council was established to handle all daily council business and report to Council. Mayor

Robert John Fleming Robert John Fleming Jr. (January 13, 1907 – July 14, 1984) was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1962 to 1967. Biography Fleming was born at Fort Robinson in Nebraska on January 13, 1907 to Augusta and Robert John Fleming, an 1891 gradua ...

presided over the first Board of Control. Eventually, the numbers of aldermen was reduced to two aldermen per ward as the number of wards was increased. When a higher level of municipal government,

Metro Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

, was introduced in 1953, the alderman with the most votes of the two elected councillors from each ward was also a member of Metro Council. Until 1955 municipal elections were held annually, either on New Year's Day or on the first Monday in December. In 1955 council moved to two-year terms, and in 1982 three-year terms were introduced. Along with the other municipalities of Ontario, Toronto moved to a four-year municipal term in 2006. Starting in 1904 the Board of Control was elected directly. Until 1969 there was a four-person Board of Control in addition to city council. The board was elected at large across the city, and its members had considerably more power than the city councillors. In 1969, the Board of Control was abolished and the four controllers were replaced by four new councillors from two new wards. The ward map was rebalanced to give more equitable representation. In 1985, the system of electing Metro councillors was changed so that two separate ballots were held in each ward, one for the city the other for Metro. In the next election, a separate set of wards was established for Metro councillors. Each Metro ward consisted of two city wards, each electing only one councillor. With the amalgamation of the City of Toronto with the suburban municipalities of Metro in 1997, the councils of the six former cities were abolished. The new council for the "megacity" kept the ward map of Metro Toronto but doubled the number of councillors by adopting the system of electing two councillors from each ward.

had only one ward and was thus greatly underrepresented. Former East York mayor Michael Prue lobbied successfully for a third councillor to be elected from that ward, and this was implemented mid-term. This system was only used for the first megacity election. In 2000 a new ward map was devised based on the federal ridings (electoral districts) that covered Toronto. Each riding was split in half to create the current system of 44 wards.

List of ward changes 1909-1988

Toronto Municipal Wards for the 1910 civic election

* From 1892 until 1909 wards consisted of: **Ward 1 Riverdale **Ward 2 East Downtown and Rosedale **Ward 3 West Downtown and Summerhill **Ward 4 The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District **Ward 5 Trinity-Bellwoods **Ward 6 Davenport and Parkdale * 1910 Ward 7 West Toronto Junction added * 1919 Ward 8 East Toronto added * 1932 Ward 9 North Toronto added * 1969 wards: new ward names; Wards 10 and 11 added **Ward 1 Swansea and Bloor West Village - formerly Riverdale **Ward 2 Parkdale and Brockton - formerly East Downtown and Rosedale **Ward 3 Davenport and Corsa Italia - formerly West Downtown and Summerhill **Ward 4 Trinity-Bellwoods Little Italy - formerly The Annex, Kensington Market and Garment District **Ward 5 The Annex and Yorkville - formerly Trinity-Bellwoods **Ward 6 Financial District, University of Toronto - formerly Davenport and Parkdale **Ward 7 Regent Park and Riverdale - formerly West Toronto Junction **Ward 8 Riverdale - formerly East Toronto **Ward 9 The Beaches - formerly North Toronto **Ward 10 Rosedale and North Toronto **Ward 11 Forest Hill and North Toronto *1988 wards: wards renamed; Wards 12 to 16 added **Ward 1 Swansea and Bloor West Village **Ward 2 Parkdale **Ward 3 Brockton **Ward 4 Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy **Ward 5 Financial District and University of Toronto **Ward 6 Downtown East **Ward 7 Regent Park and Cabbagetown **Ward 8 Riverdale **Ward 9 East Danforth **Ward 10 The Beaches **Ward 11 The Junction **Ward 12 Davenport and Corsa Italia **Ward 13 The Annex and Yorkville **Ward 14 Forest Hill **Ward 15 Western North Toronto **Ward 16 Davisville and Lawrence Park *Changes for 2006–10 Council *Changes were made to the 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) Following the 2018 elections and the reduction in the size of Council, all committees are in the process of being restructured. ** Establishment of the

speaker of Toronto City Council The Speaker of Toronto City Council chairs meetings of Toronto City Council. With the written consent of the Mayor, the Speaker and a Deputy Speaker are elected by Toronto City Council from among its members. While municipal council meetings in O ...

and deputy speaker of Toronto City Council

Current ward names since 2000

The current ward names are based on the federal and provincial electoral districts, but some no longer shared the same name as those district names have changed since 2000.

Political history

When the City of Toronto was incorporated in 1834, a city council was created. It provided direct representation in the government of Toronto to the population. The

Town of York A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

had been governed by the then-province of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

, with electoral representation in the Upper Canada assembly. The first councils were elected yearly. Each of the five wards elected two aldermen and two common councillors by the votes of male householders. The first councils were dominated by two factions: the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in ...

and its loyalists; and the reformers under the leadership of

William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...

, Member of Parliament for York. Mackenzie won election to Council and was elected by Council as the city's first mayor, but was defeated in the next election, after proposing increased taxation. After the defeat of the

Upper Canada Rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (p ...

in 1837, the reformers were marginalized, as several were executed for treason, and others, such as Mackenzie, went into exile. For the next century, the Tories dominated Toronto municipal politics, as they did the other levels in "Tory Toronto". The Tories were associated with staunch Protestantism, shown through membership in the Orange Order, and support for the ''

Lord's Day Act Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, ...

'' of Ontario. In the 1930s, various forms of left-wing opposition arose to the Tory-dominated council. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was founded in 1932. The pro-labour social democratic party found support in various working-class areas of Toronto and several of its members were elected to city council. Unaffiliated anti-poverty activists like

May Birchard May Birchard (died July 30, 1968) was a municipal politician and poverty activist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Born in Toronto, she married F.J. Birchard, an agricultural scientist who was an expert on grain. During the First World War the family m ...

also were elected to Council in this era. An important faction in Toronto politics in the 1930s and 1940s were the communists. There was considerable communist support in the downtown areas covered by Ward 4 and Ward 5, especially in the heavily Jewish areas of

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

and the Garment District around

Spadina Avenue Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods. Spadina Avenue runs south ...

and further west along College and up to

Christie Pits Christie Pits (officially Willowvale Park until 1983) is a public recreational area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street, just west of the Toronto Transit Commission's Christie subway station. ...

including what is now

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...

. The peak of communist influence was in the 1946 election when leader Stewart Smith was elected to the Board of Control and three other communists won seats on city council. With the beginning of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and staunch opposition from the other political groups, the communist presence quickly disappeared. The last communist alderman lost his seat in 1950. The first part of the 20th century was the era of the newspaper

slates SLATES (Search, Links, Authorship, Tags, Extensions, Signalling) is an initialism that describes the business impacting capabilities, derived from the effective use of Web 2.0 technologies in and across enterprises. Origin of the term This acron ...

. Each of the daily newspapers would endorse a full slate of candidates for office. The two most influential were the right-wing ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...

'' and the more left-leaning ''

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

''. In the early parts of the century, the duelling papers ran the communications portion of the campaign of the candidates they supported, using

yellow journalism Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include e ...

to extol those they supported and denigrate those they opposed. The newspaper slates did not have a unified ideology: all the papers claimed to be seeking a balanced council, making sure that groups such as labour and Roman Catholics had representation on the council. Beyond these few exceptions, the slates of all the papers were largely made up of male, white, Conservative, Orangemen. Many candidates also appeared on the slates of several newspapers. With the exception of James Simpson, who became Toronto's first socialist mayor in 1935, the city's mayors were Tories in the first half of the 20th century. The character of Toronto politics began to change in the 1950s and 1960s as the Anglo Tory lock on power faded in the increasingly diverse city. In 1952, Orangeman

Allan Lamport Allan Austin Lamport, (April 4, 1903 – November 18, 1999) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from 1951 to 1954. Known as "Lampy", his most notable achievement was his opposition to Toronto's Blue laws which banned virtually any activ ...

became the first Liberal elected mayor in over 40 years. He resigned to become TTC chair and his administration was implicated in a municipal corruption scandal. In 1954, Leslie Saunders, another Orangeman became interim mayor. His staunch defence of Protestantism became an issue in the 1954 election. Nathan Phillips, a long-serving Jewish alderman, was elected mayor. He was a staunch Tory. His religion was an important issue in the election, in which his opponent proclaimed himself to be running as " Leslie Saunders, Protestant". The Orange Order influence dropped sharply. Only seven of 23 councillors elected that year were members of the Orange Order. Phillips was dubbed "Mayor of all the People" and governed in a non-partisan manner. During his term, Phillips enraged the Order by accepting funding from O'Keefe Brewing for the new O'Keefe Centre auditorium. In 1956, Phillips initiated the international architectural competition for a new City Hall. In 1966, former CCF Member of Provincial Parliament William Dennison was elected mayor. He was an Orangeman and the last member of the Orange Order to be a Toronto mayor. In the late 1960s and 1970s, a new division arose on city council between two groups that became known as the "Reformers" and the "Old Guard". Both groups crossed party lines and were divided by their approach to urban issues. The Reform faction arose in opposition to the urban renewal schemes that had been in favour in the previous decades. Two key battles were over the proposal for the

Spadina Expressway William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short Controlled-access highway, expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue, Eg ...

and the replacement of the

Trefann Court Trefann Court is a small neighbourhood in the eastern part of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north side of Queen Street between Parliament Street and River Street. It extends north only a short distance to Shuter St. His ...

neighbourhood with a housing project. The Reformers opposed the destruction of existing neighbourhoods and followed the urban theories of recent Toronto arrival

Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book '' The Death and Life of Great American Cities ...

. The Old Guard supported new highways and housing projects, in part because of their close ties to the development industry. The debate between the two groups became the central issue of the 1969 municipal election with mayoral candidate

Margaret Campbell Margaret Campbell (April 24, 1883 – June 27, 1939) was an American character actress in silent films. In her later years she was the secretary of the Baháʼí Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles. Career Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Campbel ...

running on an explicit reform platform. Campbell lost the mayoralty, but on City Council, six veteran members of the Old Guard were defeated. One example of the close ties was revealed in 1971; a conflict of interest case of alderman Ben Grys, who chaired the Buildings and Development Committee. His wife Gladys, bought properties in the

High Park High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...

area, then resold them to a developer. Grys then helped get rezoning for the area to allow developers to increase the number of units they could build, without disclosing his interest. Alderman

John Sewell John Sewell (born December 8, 1940) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 58th mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980. Background Born and raised in the Beach neighbourhood, in Toronto, Sewell attended Malvern Collegiate Institut ...

learned of the Grys purchases through a resident of the area. Grys launched a lawsuit against Sewell but it was dropped. Grys was defeated in 1972, the same election that Reformer

David Crombie David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a Canadian former academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Cons ...

was elected mayor. Crombie was mayor until 1978 and during his term, the city enacted a holding by-law to curb the development industry. In 1978, Crombie was succeeded by Sewell as mayor. In 1980, Liberal

Art Eggleton Arthur C. Eggleton (born September 29, 1943) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 59th and longest-serving mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991. He was elected to Parliament in 1993, running as a Liberal in York Centre and served a ...

was elected mayor. Eggleton was mayor until 1991. During his term, Council enacted a new official plan to control redevelopment within the city. Council approved the redevelopment of the railway lands south-west of downtown. Eggleton negotiated the agreement to administer

Toronto Island Airport Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is often referred to as Toronto Island Airport and was previously known as ''Port George VI Island Airport'' and ''Toronto ...

, allowing scheduled airlines, but disallowing jets. Social housing was built and environmental programs were introduced by the city during that period. In 1998 the Metro Toronto Council was merged with Toronto City Council. The amalgamation added the councillors from the other cities of Metro. The first mayor of the merged council was

Mel Lastman Melvin Douglas Lastman (March 9, 1933 – December 11, 2021) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as the third mayor of North York from 1973 to 1997 and 62nd mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. He was the first person to serve ...

, former mayor of North York. The council spent the term working on merging the departments of the various municipalities and working on funding for the increased services downloaded by the province. In 2003, David Miller became Toronto mayor. A new ''City of Toronto Act'' was enacted by the Province of Ontario and Council used the opportunity to introduce new tax measures to increase revenues for city services. A planned bridge to the Island Airport was cancelled. In 2010, Councillor

won the mayoralty on promises to cut taxes. During his term, Council cancelled the vehicle registration tax, the Toronto transit plan, made various department 'essential services' and out-sourced some garbage pickup services. Council removed some of Ford's mayoral powers following the disclosures of Ford's drug abuse, giving powers to the deputy mayor. Although Ford ran for re-election, ill-health forced him to drop out. The mayoralty was won by

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...

, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. In 2017, after a petition to Council under the ''City of Toronto Act'', Council initiated a process to revise its ward boundaries. The final result of the process was an increase to 47 seats. This was opposed in Court by several councillors, who ultimately failed in their challenge. In 2018, a newly elected Ontario government passed a bill, after the municipal election had started, to override the ward revisions and impose a 25-person council. This was overturned on September 10, 2018, after City Council and several private respondents challenged the law in

Ontario Superior Court The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

. The judge found that the Ontario government erred constitutionally in making the change during the election campaign, thus depriving voters and political candidates of their "freedom of expression" rights. After this decision, the provincial government decided to appeal the judge's decision, and prepared a new version of the bill that would invoke the

Notwithstanding clause Section 33 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (french: clause dérogatoire, links=no or ), sometimes referred to as the override power, and ...

to overrule the judge's decision. On September 19, 2018, a 3 court panel of the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

unanimously granted a stay on the lower court's ruling, thus setting the number of wards to 25, and removing the need to invoke the Notwithstanding clause. The decision was ultimately upheld by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

in ''

Toronto (City) v Ontario (Attorney General) ''Toronto (City) v Ontario (Attorney General)'', 2021 SCC 34, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on freedom of expression and unwritten constitutional principles. By a 5–4 majority, the court held that the Government of Ontari ...

''.

Political families

* William R. Allen - Metro Toronto's second chairman from 1962–1969, son of Robert A. Allen, an east-end Alderman and MPP in the 1930s * Michelle Holland - Formerly Michelle Berardinetti, Former Councillor for Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest, formerly married to

Lorenzo Berardinetti Lorenzo Berardinetti (born 21 October 1961) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest. Background Bera ...

, former Councillor and former MPP. * Christin Carmichael Greb - former city councillor, daughter of Toronto Member of Parliament John Carmichael. *

Josh Colle Josh Colle () is a Canadian politician. He was the councillor for Ward 15 on Toronto City Council for the years 2010-2018.Michael Colle Michael Colle ( "Cole"; born February 1, 1945) is a Canadian politician who has represented Ward 8 Eglinton—Lawrence on Toronto City Council since the 2018 election. Colle served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2018 and ...

Joe Cressy Joseph Cressy (born July 10, 1984) is a former Canadian politician and activist who served on the Toronto City Council from 2014 to 2022. Cressy represented Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York, and was the chair of the Toronto Board of Health. He resign ...

- current city councillor; son of former city councillors

Gordon Cressy Gordon Cressy (born 1943) is a former Canadian politician, who served on Toronto City Council from 1978 to 1982."Gordon Cressy fonds", City of Toronto Archives. Background Cressy was born in 1943 in Toronto, and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate ...

and

Joanne Campbell Joanne Campbell (8 February 1964 – 20 December 2002) was a British actress and drama therapist best known for playing Liz in the 1980s sitcom '' Me and My Girl'' and Josephine Baker on stage in ''This Is My Dream''.Hedley, Philip"Obituary: ...

* Mayor

Ralph Day Ralph Carrette Day (November 24, 1898 – May 21, 1976) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1938 to 1940. He was also an accomplished funeral director, owning his own funeral home. He also served as chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission in ...

's son married to the daughter of Mayor Allan A. Lamport *

– as former mayor and councillor; brother

Doug Ford, Jr. Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Cons ...

Premier of Ontario and former councillor; nephew Michael Ford who was the Councillor for Ward 2; Rob and Doug's father Doug Ford, Sr. was an Ontario MPP * Stephen Holyday - current city councillor for Ward 3, son of former Etobicoke alderman (1982-1985; 1988-1998), Metropolitan Toronto Councillor (1994-1997), Mayor of Etobicoke (1994-1998) and Toronto City Councillor for Ward 3 (1988-2000) and Ward 4 (2000-2013), and former

MPP MPP or M.P.P. may refer to: * Marginal physical product * Master of Public Policy, an academic degree * Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), Canada * Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape), South Africa * ''Merriweather Post Pavilio ...

* Brothers

William Holmes Howland William Holmes Howland (11 June 1844 – 12 December 1893) was Mayor of Toronto from 1886 to 1887. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada. Biography Prior to William Holmes Howland becoming Toronto's 25th mayor, he was a businessm ...

and

Oliver Aiken Howland Oliver Aiken Howland, (April 18, 1847 – March 9, 1905) was a Toronto lawyer and political figure. He represented Toronto South in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1894 to 1898 and was mayor of Toronto from 1901 to 1902. He was bo ...

both served as Mayor of Toronto and sons of former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and federal MP

William Pearce Howland Sir William Pearce Howland, (29 May 1811 – 1 January 1907) served as the second Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, from 1868 to 1873. He was one of the Fathers of Confederation. Biography Born in 1811 in Pawling, New York, William Howland wa ...

William Peyton Hubbard William Peyton Hubbard (January 27, 1842 – April 30, 1935), a Toronto alderman from 1894 to 1914, was a popular and influential politician, nicknamed Cicero for his oratory; he was one of the first politicians of African descent elected to offic ...

- former city alderman and father of Frederick Langdon Hubbard, who was Chair of the

Toronto Transportation Commission Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954. H ...

Mike Layton Michael Layton (born November 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician who served on Toronto City Council from 2010 until 2022. Layton most recently represented Ward 11 University—Rosedale. He was first elected in the 2010 municipal election in W ...

– current city councillor; son of former city councillor and federal MP

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...

(also federal NDP leader and Leader of the Official Opposition); stepmother

Olivia Chow Olivia Chow (; born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian retired politician who was a federal New Democratic Party (NDP) member of Parliament (MP) representing Trinity—Spadina from 2006 to 2014. Chow ran in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, placin ...

also served as councillor and federal MP * David Shiner – former city councillor; son of former North York borough alderman Esther Shiner *

William Summerville William Arthur Summerville (July 8, 1879 – November 19, 1958) was a municipal and provincial politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1937 to 1943 who represented ...

– former Toronto Ward 1 alderman; father of Ward 8 alderman, member of Board of Control and Mayor

Donald Dean Summerville Donald Dean Summerville (August 4, 1915 – November 19, 1963) was a Canadian politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Toronto from January 1963 until his death that same year. Early life and family Summerville was born in Toronto to Willi ...

; daughter-in-law (wife of Donald Dean) Alice Summerville was former Ward 8 alderman *

– former city councillor and now federal MP, son of former city councillor

Colin Vaughan Colin Vaughan (30 June 1931 – 1 January 2000) was an Australian-born Canadian television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was best known as the political specialist for the ...

* George Taylor Denison III - St. Patrick's Ward alderman 1865–1867, son of George Taylor Denison II, who was alderman for the same ward in the 1843-1853 and brother of federal MP Frederick Charles Denison

Homes of City Council

* 1834–1845: Assembly Hall at Market Square on 2nd floor, at Jarvis and King * 1845–1899: Council Chambers at New Market Building on 2nd floor, at Jarvis and Front – now used as gallery space (Market Gallery) * 1899–1965: Old City Hall – now used as court room * 1965–present:

All but Market Square continue to exist today.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * ;Notes

External links

Toronto City Council website
{{Toronto elections Municipal councils in Ontario Municipal government of Toronto 1998 establishments in Ontario