City Hall Watcher

Council capped off the 2022-2026 term last week, completing their monster of a July meeting agenda in just two days. It had the potential to be a real mega-disaster of a meeting, but councillors — eager to close the book on this term and put their focus on the election — were relatively well-behaved and generally in agree…

Buckle your darn seatbelt and hold on for dear life. Toronto Council is set to meet this week for the final time of the 2022-2026 term. The agenda is a monstrosity — 396 items up for consideration, including 83 member motions. And that number will only grow as councillors scramble during the meeting to get motions passed before they turn their attention…

Welcome! Things are looking less post-apocalyptic this week, which is an improvement. I’d rather live in the pre-apocalypse, I think. Because it’s summer, this week I am kicking back and letting some others do the work. Damien Moule has taken a look at Toronto’s famously slow streetcar system and why several supposed “silver bullet” fixes have generally missed the target.

Hey there! I’m back in Toronto today after spending a couple of weeks in scenic Digby, Nova Scotia, so I’ve sure got some catching up to do. To start, let’s take a look at the mayoral race. The electoral landscape is a real land of contrasts at the moment. On one side, you’ve got the incumbent, Mayor Olivia Chow, who has signed up but hasn’t really star…

That’s the total number of agenda matters up for consideration this week as Community Councils for Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke York and Toronto & East York get together for the final time this term. Most agendas this term have been much shorter but with the end of the term looming, they are trying to cram a who…

Summer has landed. Hope you’re enjoying it. I liked that thing where Canada kicked a ball into the net. That was fun. Let’s do more of that. Less exciting, but still eventful, was last week’s meeting of Toronto Council. It ended up being a relatively tidy affair, wrapping up at a reasonable hour on the second day. Enjoy the feeling — I suspect the next m…

Hey there. No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks. It’s the last week of school. But at City Hall, the pencils, books and, especially, dirty looks will continue, as Council is set to meet for their June meeting — and their summer break is still a long way away. This week, it’s the PENULTIMATE meeting of the term. We’ll see debates …

Hey there! The World Cup has kicked off and, so far, the City seems to be handling things pretty well. I would have liked to see Team Canada score at least one more goal, but that’s not really a matter for the municipal government. Anyway, while the soccer action continues, today I’ve brought you a story from frequent contributor Damien Moule about another kind of action: hot housing action.

It’s a big week for keeping score. Not only will you get to watch the goals as they’re kicked into nets at the World Cup, I’ve also brought you a new update to the COUNCIL SCORECARD. They’re equally exciting! The Scorecard, if you’re not familiar, tracks every member of Toronto Council and measures how often they vote with Mayor Olivia Chow on significa…

The months keep coming and they don’t stop coming. Welcome to June. To mark the occasion, I’ve brought you a new LOBBYIST WATCH. It’s got notes about elevating waterfront transit, the Weston-funded push to redesign Queen’s Park North, and a potential red flag on the affordable modular housing file. Plus: the TTC Board’s got a big agenda, with a focus on s…