Restoring Majority Rule to City Council - by Councillor Alejandra Bravo, seconded by Councillor Amber Morley

The Public Gallery wrote no story on this item. What follows is the city’s own record of what happened to it, as filed: nothing on this page is summarised or scored by us.

The decision

2023-03-29 · Toronto City Council · adopted

As filed

City Council on March 29, 30 and 31, 2023, adopted the following: 1. City Council call on the new head of Council to publicly commit to never advocating for or implementing in practice fundamental changes to Toronto City Council operations or governance initiated by the Province of Ontario, without full prior support and consent of Toronto City Council and Torontonians.

The vote

Adopt Item · Carried, 19-4

For (19)Alejandra Bravo, Amber Morley, Anthony Perruzza, Ausma Malik, Chris Moise, Dianne Saxe, Frances Nunziata, Gord Perks, Jamaal Myers, Jaye Robinson, Jennifer McKelvie, Jon Burnside, Josh Matlow, Michael Thompson, Mike Colle, Paul Ainslie, Paula Fletcher, Shelley Carroll, Vincent Crisanti

Against (4)Brad Bradford, Gary Crawford, Nick Mantas, Stephen Holyday

Absent (2)James Pasternak, Lily Cheng

The whole record, all 25 members

Every name opens that member’s record.

On the agenda

As the city filed it

In 2022, the Province of Ontario introduced Bill 39, Better Municipal Governance Act . The Bill received Royal Assent on December 8, 2022. Bill 39 erodes the basic democratic principle of majority rule, by granting the heads of Council in Toronto and Ottawa the authority to approve City bylaws with only a third of Council's support. In December 2022, Toronto City Council reaffirmed its commitment to the principle of democracy on which our Procedures By-law is based, that "the majority of members have the right to decide" as per Section 2.2 of the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27 - Council Procedures, and requested that all future mayors not exercise any power that allows for motions to be passed with less than 50 percent +1 majority of Council members present ( Item 2023.CC2.3 ).

Show the rest of As the city filed it, 259 more characters as filed

It is critical that the incoming Mayor of Toronto upholds the principles of majority rule that Council has affirmed, and commits to ensuring that all Torontonians can have their voices heard at Council and their views represented in a fair democratic process.

Staff recommended

Councillor Alejandra Bravo, seconded by Councillor Amber Morley, recommends that: 1. City Council call on the new head of Council to publicly commit to never advocating for or implementing in practice fundamental changes to Toronto City Council operations or governance initiated by the Province of Ontario, without full prior support and consent of Toronto City Council and Torontonians.

On the record

The item as the City filed it

More from this meeting

The whole meeting