Thread by @g_meslin

1. The 25 ward option was examined as part of the City's Ward Boundary Review process (drawthelines.ca).

https://twitter.com/robertbenzie/status/1022647951015993344

2. After the original recommendations (47 wards), Exec Ctee asked the consultants to provide additional info, leading to this final report.

3. 'additional info' included "whether and how Toronto's ward boundaries could be consistent with the 25 federal and provincial ridings".

4. This was the map that the ward boundary review team considered - 26 wards, adding one downtown, in the interest of voter parity.

5. Even with the additional ward, these were the findings:
- does not achieve voter parity
- 'capacity to represent' reduced significantly

6. A fuller discussion of the 25 (26) ward option, from the same report:

7. From the boundary review background report, population & ward size of Canada's 10 largest municipalities.

8. Average population per councillor for the 10 cities ranges from 35,000 to 78,000.

In a 25-ward Toronto, that would be about 110,000.

9. But the City is a 'creature of the province'. Is there any alternative if @fordnation wants to trade voter parity for a cup of coffee?

@fordnation @evdelen 10. Well, the Supreme Court has taken an interest in such matters before, and the principles informing the 47 wards draw on their decisions.

@fordnation @evdelen 11. The ward boundary review deferred to 'effective representation' and 'voter parity', as elaborated upon previously by the Supreme Court.

@fordnation @evdelen 12. In the background report, kicking off the process, the ward boundary review team referenced The Carter Case (1991).

@fordnation 13. And in their final report, the consultants laid out, at length, the components of effective representation informing the recommendation.

@fordnation 14. For the full discussion on the components of effective representation, start at page 11 of this report:
static1.squarespace.com/static/53bc091…

@fordnation 15. Supreme Court precedents, as well as OMB appeals and examples from other cities can be found in this report:
static1.squarespace.com/static/53bc091…

@fordnation 16. What does this all mean? I'm not a lawyer, but I'd guess that there will be challenges, whether City-led or citizen-led.

@fordnation 17. PS - I love you @TorontoStar, but these polls reduce complex, important issues to simplistic choices, and are terrible.

@fordnation @TorontoStar 18. And @JohnTory / @TorontosMayor, if you governed with integrity you would be defending the outcomes of two years of study & consultation.

@fordnation @TorontoStar @JohnTory @TorontosMayor 19. Your proposed 'referendum', @JohnTory, is a coward's play to get to an outcome that an honest process wouldn't deliver.