Public Input on City Council’s Governance System

10th floor, West Tower
City Hall 100 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2

Attention: Nancy Martins

RE: GV1.2 Public Input on City Council’s Governance System for 26 Members

Dear Chair Stephen Holyday and Members, Special Committee on Governance,

This is to express FoNTRA’s strong support for the Proposal on Governance Changes and the work of the Special Committee (Proposal), submitted by the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (GV.New.GV1.2.1).

The provincially imposed changes to reduce the size of council has resulted in an increase in ward size, and in the councillor to resident ratio. We agree with Councillor Holyday that the governance issues facing the City of Toronto and its residents include:

“How the reduction in the size of Council has impacted, or may impact, the City’s governance; and Suggestions for changes to the City’s governance structure, including modernizing governance, following the reduction in the size of Council.”

The aforementioned Proposal includes the following key parts:

1. Recommendations on the work of the Special Committee on Governance

• Brain-storming session
  • Grouping Ideas and Filtering
  • Development of Options
  • Public Forums
  • Revisions and Recommendations

2. Considerations for the operation of the Special Committee:

• Public engagement:
  • Outreach
  • Testing Councillor opinion:

• Devising changed roles for the public
  • Community Boards
  • Community/Residents Associations

We are pleased that the City has agreed to continue to oppose in the courts the untimely provincially directed change, however in the meantime we believe that the City needs to proactively address the remedial measures that are required to ensure that the City of Toronto continues to be a place where residents are respected and empowered as partners in governance.

We recommend that the Proposal on Governance Changes and the work of the Special Committee be adopted as the template for the work of the Special Committee.

---

cc: Mayor Tory and Members of Council
Chris Murray, City Manager
Susan Dexter, Harbord Village Residents Association