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Queen's Park Ontario

More Darkness in Ontario’s Democracy

In Canada, after an election first ministers write mandate letters to their cabinet colleagues, laying out deliverables their departments should achieve. Some governments make them public (Trudeau, McGuinty and Wynne in Ontario), but others don’t (Harper, Ford). A newly-elected government traditionally outlines its program in its platform and speech from the throne; mandate letters may be more specific. Even if they are not made public, they can provide direction to the bureaucracy. If made public, they can be used to hold the government accountable.

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FoNTRA FORUM to be held at Metro Hall on December 2nd, 2023

Chief Planner Gregg Lintern and his Directors and senior staff will provide an update on planning initiatives of interest. Attendees will be able to ask them your questions and make your comments and suggestions.

This event will be held in-person and will provide an opportunity for residents’ association members to interact with City Planning staff and fellow residents’ association members.

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FoNTRA forum

FoNTRA FORUM held this year in Virtual Setting

We were excited to co-host FoNTRA FORUM in partnership with City Planning staff. The event was well attended and extended beyond the planned time.

The event included various presentations by city staff followed by three Q&A sessions at several intervals. Here is the agenda…

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Ontario Legislature

How to contact your Toronto MPP

Recent proposed changes to housing policy have caused many city residents to reach out to their local provincial representative. A list of these representatives is available on the province of Ontario website.

The list provided above includes all the MPPs in the province and includes two addresses for each member. One address is the office in the legislative building and the other address is the constituency office.

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Hydrangeas

In Memoriam – Sheila Harrison Dunlop

Sheila Harrison Dunlop, Federation of North Toronto Residents Associations (FoNTRA) steering committee member, Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (FUN) director, and long-time board member and secretary of the South Armour Heights Residents’ Association (SAHRA), passed away in her 73rd year on August 25, 2022, after a short illness.

Sheila’s death leaves a big hole not only in the hearts of those who knew her, but also in the organizations for which she volunteered. FUN, FoNTRA and SAHRA will miss her greatly. A formal obituary follows and can be found online as well. We will keep you informed of further information as it becomes available.

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Toronto City Hall viewed from south showing towers and council chamber and public square

Do we need a strong Mayor or a City with increased powers?

Following a “leak”, Premier Doug Ford recently confirmed that the Mayors of the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa would be given “strong mayor” powers by his newly re-elected government. This announcement, coming “out of the blue” (there was no mention of this as a promise during the Premier’s recent election campaign) is little more than an idea until the necessary legislation is introduced into the Legislature. Until then we don’t know the details of the “strong mayor” proposal. 

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Committee of Adjustment Feedback

The City of Toronto is conducting a review of the Committee of Adjustment. Led by the City Planning Division, the objective of the review is to improve effective participation in the public hearing process. A third-party consultant, KPMG, was retained to carry out the work.

KPMG has already begun work on this project including two feedback sessions held on June 2nd and June 13th with residents’ associations invited to attend. We understand that about 30 residents’ associations participated in these sessions.

FoNTRA has completed some research work related to this subject and has created three reports…

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