Thread by @GraphicMatt

Toronto Council meets today! Mayor John Tory has made Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan his first key matter, so it’ll be up first. A ModernTO report on repurposing eight city-owned properties will go second.

Streaming here. I’ll bring the tweets.

If you’re looking for a rundown of Council agenda highlights, as luck would have it I provided just such a thing in this week’s issue of @CityHallWatcher. graphicmatt.substack.com/p/chw169?s=w

An added bit of intrigue with this meeting is that it’s the first we’ll see under the new “hybrid model” where councillors can attend virtually or actually show up to the chamber. Here’s a look at the Council Chamber.

The media and the general public also have the option of watching this meeting from the chamber. I’m opting to still cover the whole thing via stream because I got an unvaccinated three-month-old kid hanging around my house. He’s ruined everything in the nicest way.

Mayor John Tory has a few remarks off the top, saying it’s important to remember that the “pandemic is not over” and reminding people to wear masks. He’s happy to have people big in the chamber, but says prudence and caution are important.

Tory congratulates some Toronto Olympians who won medals in Beijing. Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey and Claire Thompson are here from Canada’s gold-medal-winning women’s hockey team to say hey.

Counting 12 members of Council (of 26) who are opting to at least start the meeting remotely. The Deputy Mayor remains in his blurry endless void.

After some housekeeping, Council adopts 54 of 121 items without debate. 67 items left on the agenda, including 32 member motions.

They’ll start now on a debate over the Reconciliation Action Plan. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

The Young Creek Drum Group is here to start off the debate on the reconciliation plan.

“This document is the beginning of a plan,” says Mayor Tory of the reconciliation report. He says going forward it’ll be important that Toronto’s Indigenous people run the process and Council and City Hall respond to their direction.

It’s hard to cover debates like this one on the reconciliation plan because it’s all very long-term aspirational. The only guarantee is the city is spending about $3 million on reconciliation action this year. Future spending will be subject to the regular budget process.

You don’t often get this kind of metaphoric prose in city reports. “This Plan can also be thought of as a beautiful Métis canoe, large and sometimes difficult to paddle through turbulent waters, but with all paddlers working together, it gets to its destination.”

Vote to adopt Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan CARRIES 26-0. No amendments.

Up now: ModernTO, the city’s ongoing plan to make better use of city-owned properties. This report deals with eight properties recommended for re-use. Five short-term, three long-term. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

The ModernTO item carries quickly, 23-0, with a confidential amendment from Councillor Ana Bailao added for a bit of spice. Rolling right along, Council will do a bit of housekeeping and then break for lunch.

And that’ll do it for now. Back at 2 p.m, where the first item up for consideration will be the acquisition of 214-230 Sherbourne Street — a move pushed for by anti-poverty groups. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

In a new report to Council, the TTC has provided data showing an increase in travel times for the shuttle buses that replace the Yonge Subway during closures, following the installation of the bike lanes between Bloor & Davisville. toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2… (PDF)

How this new report will shape the debate on these lanes is TBD. Councillor Mark Grimes has held the cycling network item. They probably won’t get to it until tomorrow.

Council has returned! Mayor John Tory is taking a few minutes to thank the people who served as community ambassadors to support the COVID vaccination effort. We get to watch a very nice video highlighting their work.

Councillor Joe Cressy, here at his final Council meeting, also gets some podium time. Tory credit him for putting together the vaccine ambassador program. “It’s good old-fashioned community organizing,” says Cressy. “You reach everyone and you leave nobody behind.”

About 100 of the 600 community vaccine ambassadors are in the chamber. “You have made your city incredibly proud,” says Cressy. Councillors give ‘em a standing ovation.

Councillor Paul Ainslie tries to release the item about the 2026 World Cup, with an amendment asking for a report on ways to recoup the hosting costs. Councillor Mark Grimes isn’t ready to have Council vote on it yet, though. So we’ll come back to the soccer item later.

After Mayor John Tory grumbled this morning about the lack of a visible timer for when members are speaking, the City Clerk’s office has managed to find a very large digital clock.

Now Council is on the item about the city acquiring 214-230 Sherbourne for use as affordable housing. The owner had moved to build some condos there. Here’s @_VictoriaGibson’s story about it. thestar.com/news/gta/2022/…

CreateTO CEO Vic Gupta confirms the city was outbid in their offer to buy the Sherbourne land. He says the City does have other sites in the general area they could use for affordable housing.

Councillor Brad Bradford asks about the expropriation process. Gupta says it’s generally true that it’s a lot faster to build affordable housing on land the city already owns than to expropriate.

Mayor John Tory asks Gupta if the difference between the city’s offer for the Sherbourne Street land and the offer made by private developers is more than ten million. Gupta, who can’t talk specific numbers without going in camera, says yeah, the number was in that ballpark.

The details get complicated, but what we’re watching here is a full-court press by Tory and his team to try to shut down an attempt by council’s left to move to expropriate this land.

Correcting an earlier tweet: There are two giant clocks.

https://twitter.com/Gruesomebrat/status/1511781308833439750

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam moves to expropriate the 214-230 Sherbourne land.

“This is about uplifting an entire neighbourhood that has been left behind,” says Wong-Tam on the move to expropriate. She says 214-230 Sherbourne is “tied to the intricate potential of lifting an entire area.”

Councillor Ana Bailao rises to speak against expropriation. “I wish we had won that bid,” she says, of the city’s offer to buy it. But she says cost of expropriation could drive the per-unit cost to up to $1 million. “I start to question whether that’s the best use of our money.”

Bailao is shut down by some yelling from the gallery. “This is about whether Dundas & Sherbourne should have a condo! That’s the real question! We all know we need housing. Do we need a condo?!”

“It sat empty for 14 YEARS! For 14 YEARS it sat EMPTY. Why didn’t you do something?!” continues the commenting from the gallery. I’m not able to tell from this Livestream what happened beyond that, but security was heading over that way.

Wong-Tam’s motion to expropriate 214-230 Sherbourne FAILS 5-20.

Wong-Tam’s motion directing staff to start negotiating with the owner of the plaza next to 214-230 Sherbourne to build some deeply affordable housing there FAILS 10-15.

Wong-Tam’s motion to set up a community working group for the coming private development at 214-230 Sherbourne CARRIES 26-0. Item as amended carries via a show of hands.

Council moves on to an item about Transit-Oriented Communities around Ontario Line stations. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

On the TOC item, Councillor Joe Cressy moves for staff to work to get more parkland around the King-Bathurst, Quen-Spadina and Exhibition stations along the Ontario Line.

Councillor Wong-Tam moves to have Infrastructure Ontario ensure community benefits agreements are part of OL construction, making sure there are local jobs, etc. Motion also calls for more parkland around the Corktown station, amongst other things. toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2… (PDF)

Both the Cressy and Wong-Tam Transit-Oriented Communities motions carry via shows of hands. So does the item as amended. TOC? Ticked.

But wait, there’s more TOC talk in the next item, which is specifically about the East Harbour TOC. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

A press release tells us that tomorrow’s session of council will have some special guests: Mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine Vitaliy Klitschko and Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk. They’re set to address council at 9:30 a.m.

On the East Harbour TOC item, Councillor Paula Fletcher moves to reiterate that the Port Lands should remain a good spot for the city’s film industry. Motion also calls for more affordable housing.

Mayor John Tory moves to require Cadillac Fairview to provide more affordable housing in the East Harbour development, to align with the inclusionary zoning policy.

Both East Harbour TOC motions carry with no opposition.

Up now: are you ready for some FOOTBALL? It’s time to debate whether Toronto should pay for about one-third of the estimated $290 million cost of hosting five World Cup matches in 2026. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

I wrote a column about this World Cup 2026 deal, calling it a “sucker’s deal.” thestar.com/opinion/contri…

Councillor Gord Perks says he has to vote against this World Cup item. “This is going to cost the City of Toronto tens of millions of dollars. If I had those tens of millions of dollars, I’d use it to expropriate properties to build affordable housing.”

Councillor Mark Grimes, Chair of the Exhibition Place board, says the city has a great team working on the World Cup preparations. He says having games here will be exciting and fun, just like the Pan Am Games in 2015.

Mayor John Tory says the World Cup will bring economic contributions that will “more than repay all the money that is going to be put into this.” He acknowledges the province and feds will get most of the tax revenue, but “that will put them in a better position to help us.”

Council votes 21-1 to move forward with plans to host up to five World Cup matches in 2026, at a total cost of an estimated $290 million. Under the proposed funding framework, Toronto would be on the hook for about $90 million.

The World Cup is a not a done deal yet. Staff will report back in June with an update on negotiations with FIFA and more refined cost estimates. So : stay tuned.

Up now: Toronto’s digital infrastructure strategic framework, which is intended to set some boundaries to our very connected future. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

You didn’t ask, but my favourite part of Toronto’s Digital Infrastructure Framework Plan is page 79, which is a full-page photo of some pumpkins.

Anyway, the Digital Infrastructure Framework item carries via show of hands.

Up now: a report about helping restaurants recover from that whole pandemic thing. Councillor Gord Perks moves to add his ward to the pilot project that’ll allow live music to be played on patios.

Live music on patios is all the rage these days, apparently! Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam moves to add Ward 13 to the live-music-on-patios pilot project for 2022.

All the motions on the restaurant items carry via shows of hands. So you’ll be able to hear some live music this summer on patios in wards 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 19 and 21. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Next up: the plan to transition away from the shelter hotels set up during the pandemic. It’s a slow plan — city proposes extending the lease on many shelter hotels for another year, then relocate people in spring 2023. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says the city made a decision during the COVID emergency to move people into shelter hotels. “That emergency is now over.” He says this isn’t sustainable and the city should have a plan to phase out the hotels now.

Councillor Mike Layton moves for staff to review the number of housing workers at each shelter hotel to make sure there’s enough support available.

Councillor Jennifer McKelvie has a motion asking for a briefing with inspection reports before staff extend the lease on any Kingston Road motel being used as a shelter.

Councillor Gord Perks moves for a report in June on progress in achieving the goals in the 24 Month Housing Plan.

Councillor Wong-Tam moves for a report on ways the City could provide financial supports for hotel workers affected by the extension of the shelter hotel leases. Also calls for hotels to look at extending 24/7 security, and for critical incident reports.

https://twitter.com/TorontoCouncil/status/1511821546104446978

Councillor Shelley Carroll pushes back on Minnan-Wong’s “the emergency is over” comments.

“I’m not sure which crisis my colleague was talking about. Is it the COVID crisis? Is it the housing crisis? Is it the opioid crisis? Are any of these over? Not one of them is over.”

Councillor Michael Thompson has a motion directing staff to reach out to the unions about the impact hotel shelters are having on the hotel sector.

Mayor John Tory is the last speaker on the shelter item. He disagrees with his deputy mayor. The pandemic is “not over — and the more marginalized you are, the less it’s over.”

Layton’s motion to review the number of housing workers at each shelter hotel site CARRIES 23-1.

McKelvie’s motion for a briefing with inspection reports before Kingston Road shelter hotel leases get extended CARRIES 24-0.

Perks’ motion calling for a report in June on the status of the 24 Month Housing Plan CARRIES 23-1.

Wong-Tam’s motion for a report on providing financial support to hotel workers impacted by the extension of shelter hotels FAILS 12-12. Loses on a tie.

Wong-Tam’s motion to provide some clarity to the hotel workers’ union on shelter hotel lease end dates as the union negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement FAILS 9-15.

Wong-Tam’s motion directing staff to work with shelter hotel operators on extending contracts for 24/7 security guards CARRIES 20-4.

Wong-Tam’s motion calling for emergency services to compile “incident reports” for areas around shelter hotels CARRIES 23-1.

Thompson’s motion calling for staff to work with the hotel unions CARRIES 22-1.

And the shelter item as amended CARRIES 23-0.

That’ll do it for Council today. Back tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. There are 56 items left on the agenda, including 36 member motions.

Rise from your slumber! Council is back for day two. Today is scheduled to start with an address from the mayor and deputy mayor of Kyiv. Later, we’ll get a debate on the bike network, with a focus on the midtown Yonge lanes.

Today’s live stream is here:

And here they are, live from Kyiv: Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk. Klitschko has a pro boxing record of 45-2. He urges Toronto and Canada to take refugees from Ukraine, to support the country, and to provide defensive weapons.

Standing ovation in the chamber for the mayor and deputy mayor of Kyiv. There are a bunch of students from a Ukrainian Catholic School here too.

Our first vote: Council votes 26-0 to ADOPT the Danforth Avenue Planning Study. Among other things, it relaxes some of the “angular plane” rules that require buildings to look like pyramids. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

And now: chickens. Council is being asked to extend the backyard chicken pilot. Staff had proposed expanding program city-wide, but the committee pumped the brakes a bit. Rec before council extends pilot for another year, with a report back in Jan. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong asks MLS Chair Carleton Grant if backyard chickens are a top priority for his department. Grant says no, but the pilot project has resulted in just six complaints and the registration fees are expected to pay for the cost of inspection and enforcement.

As expected, some concern in this debate about recent reports of avian flu. Councillor Michael Thompson says he has been spending a lot of time on YouTube. “I’ve now become the YouTube expert in terms of getting information about chicken,” he says.

On to motions about the chickens. Councillor Mike Layton moves to expand the pilot to include all of Wards 4, 9, 10, 11 and 19. He says he expected the committee would take the program city-wide, but since that’s not happening he wants to at least expand it.

Councillor Shelley Carroll calls the notion that every household in Toronto will get chickens if this program goes city-wide a “numbskull notion.”

Councillor Stephen Holyday, who opposes chickens, objects and says members of council should not be referred to as “numbskulls.”

“Let me just say at the onset that I love eggs,” says Councillor Anthony Perruzza. “I love fresh farm eggs. I do.” But he disagrees with the “romantic notion” that you can bring hens into your yard and it’s going to be a “clean endeavour.”

Councillor Michael Thompson again references watching YouTube videos about chickens. “I’ve watched more than I really care to, to be honest.” This is quite the subplot.

Councillor Mike Layton’s motion to extend the backyard chicken pilot so it encompasses wards 4, 9, 10, 11 and 19 CARRIES 20-6.

The backyard chicken report as amended CARRIES 19-7. Hens still limited to a few wards for now. Staff will report back again in January on taking the program city-wide.

Up now: Toronto’s got a new Music Strategy. Here are a variety of charts from it. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

The new music strategy carries via a show of hands after a speech from Councillor Brad Bradford.

Up now: an update to Toronto’s Food Charter. Councillor Paula Fletcher has a motion to ensure community gardens and allotment gardens are part of the city’s poverty reduction strategy. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

A motion on the food charter item isn’t ready, so we’ll skip forward to the cycling network item. Our main event of the day: app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

I expect the major focus of this cycling debate will be the staff recommendation to extend the ActiveTO midtown Yonge Street bike lane pilot for another year.

Businesses have been raising objections, though some of their concerns seem… well, questionable

https://twitter.com/spicygarage/status/1511453199110189060

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong is questioning reps from the TTC about travel times on the shuttle buses that operate on Yonge when the subway gets shut down. TTC provided a report showing increases after the ActiveTO project was installed.

Those numbers have been revised since yesterday. TTC COO Jim Ross, good ol’ JR, says they identified an issue with the original data. New data shows a smaller difference between pre- and post-ActiveTO travel times. toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2… (PDF)

TTC chair Jaye Robinson asks if slower travel times on the Yonge subway replacement shuttles could hurt the TTC’s efforts to grow post-pandemic ridership. I think having the subway out of service frequently is likely to be a bigger detriment to ridership.

Mayor John Tory is the first speaker on the cycling item. He has a motion making the midtown Yonge lanes “provisional” with a report back in January. This is a compromise — staff had recommended a year-long extension of the ActiveTO pilot, while this is about six months.

(The Bayview Avenue bike lane gets lumped in here sort of by default. I haven’t heard of anyone having much of a problem with it.)

Council breaks for lunch. We’ll get the vote on the bikes after they — and I — return at 2 p.m.

A new addition to the council agenda: Mayor John Tory has a motion to guarantee a $3 million loan for Massey Hall. The venue needs the extra cash to finish its renovations. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Council is back from lunch. Before they get back to the agenda, we’re set to hear a farewell address from Councillor Joe Cressy. The mayor is introducing him, saying he could not have had a better partner than Cressy during the pandemic.

Mayor John Tory says he expects to see Cressy re-enter public life at some point. “I hope I’m long gone by then,” he says, laughing, because he wouldn’t want to be in a situation where they’re both running for the same job.

Also singing Cressy’s praises: Perks, Filion, Ainslie, Fletcher, Ford, Colle, Bailao, Pasternak, Bradford, Perruzza, Wong-Tam, Nunziata, Thompson, Layton. (“When you’re in a canoe with Joe, you never tip.”) It gets emotional.

The goodbye photo.

Cressy speaks as best Council pal Layton, Dr. de Villa, and his wife, the author Grace O’Connell, look on from the gallery. “When I arrived here eight years ago, I was a young kid. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was racing to prove myself. And in many ways I grew up here.”

Cressy says what makes Toronto a great city is the continual “pursuit of inclusion.” He closes by quoting the Quaker saying: “do all the good you can for as many as you can for as long as you can.” He says he’s tried to live up to that credo for his eight years at city hall.

Cressy gets a standing ovation. A lot of nice speeches, but I think the greatest gift his colleagues could give him would be not making him come back for a third day of council tomorrow.

The retirement ceremonies keep coming. Council also says goodbye to @AnnMarieNasr who has worked at city hall for 34 years.

Councillor Josh Matlow’s “EmpowerTO” motion requesting the province dissolve the Ontario Land Tribunal FAILS to get the 2/3rds support it needs to make the agenda. 8-18. It’ll go to the Executive Committee instead.

A financial update item submitted by the mayor gets approved via show of hands. It asks the feds and province to provide the $837 million Toronto needs to balance its books for 2022. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Mayor Tory’s motion calling for the city to guarantee a $3 million loan for Massey Hall also carries via a show of hands. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

The member motions have all been dealt with. There are now just 12 items left on council’s agenda.

Back on the cycling network item. Councillor Mark Grimes for a report on extending the complete street project further along the Queensway.

Councillor Josh Matlow moves to have the paramedics and fire department provide granular data about response times in and around the bike lane pilot area on Yonge Street.

Councillor Stephen Holyday doesn’t have a motion, but is opposed to bike lane upgrades on College Street and the ActiveTO projects on Yonge and Bayview.

Holyday says he recently had reason to make frequent car trips along downtown Bloor Street. He says it was a “very frustrating experience” which he chalks up to the bike lanes. “There are a lot of cars on the road and there aren’t that many bikes,” he says.

Councillor Cynthia Lai moves to have staff work with local councillors to host community meetings (with language interpreters) re: the complete street project planned for Steeles Ave.

Councillor Jaye Robinson, chair of the TTC, says the data makes it clear the midtown Yonge bike lanes are delaying the Yonge shuttles during subway closures. She says she won’t be supporting the bike lanes today, adding that Yonge Street must be prioritized for surface transit.

True priority for surface transit on Yonge would probably involve shutting the street down to cars when the subway isn’t running. It’s an interesting idea!

Good illustration here of one of the unique challenges with the midtown Yonge area, these bike lanes and transit priority: the surrounding street grid is truly terrible. What a ridiculous design.

https://twitter.com/CharlieKime1/status/1512162205390807052

Referencing this week’s IPCC report, Councillor Mike Layton ties the need for more bike infrastructure to the fight against climate change. “Our behaviour on our roads, with respect to our climate, is killing us. If we don’t move now, there’s going to be no stopping it.”

Deputy Mayor Minnan-Wong moves for the TTC to provide data on travel time impacts for the shuttles during unplanned subway shutdowns on weekdays. (The data provided so far is for planned closures on weekends.)

“We don’t need to put bike lanes on every street!” says an exasperated Minnan-Wong. “We need to be smart about it and pick the right streets.” He says picking Yonge Street was “dumb.”

“The notion that everyone’s gonna get in their single-occupant vehicle and get across town in 20 minutes? It’s an antiquated notion,” says Councillor Brad Bradford. “21st-century cities build bike lanes.”

Councillor Gord Perks: “The idea that the thing we really need to do to prepare for subway emergencies is to remove bike lanes is so badly reasoned and so utterly without facts behind it, let’s spend a moment on it.”

Perks points out designing streets in anticipation of subway failures is bad policy — just make the subway reliable! — but even if you decide to do it, it’s the cars that most get in the way of the shuttle buses, not bikes.

Time for some bike votes. Mayor John Tory’s motion to extend the ActiveTO bike lane projects on midtown Yonge and Bayview on a “provisional” basis with a report due back with more data by Jan 2023 CARRIES 23-3.

Minnan-Wong’s motion calling for analysis of traffic delays on midtown Yonge during unexpected weekday subway closures CARRIES 15-11.

Councillor Jaye Robinson says she voted incorrectly on Tory’s motion, so they’ll load up the voting machine and re-run it. Tory’s motion to extend midtown Yonge and Bayview ActiveTO bike lane pilots on a “provisional” basis CARRIES again, 22-4.

Matlow’s motion calling for emergency services to provide response time data in the midtown Yonge pilot project area CARRIES 24-2.

Grimes’ motion to report on extending the Queensway complete street project carries via show of hands. So does Lai’s motion for more community meetings re: the Steeles Ave complete street project.

Holyday wants a separate vote on Recommendation #2 from the cycling network report, which is to upgrade the bike lanes on College Street. It CARRIES 25-1.

And the rest of the recommendations from the cycling network report carry via a show of hands.

After council deals with a few tiny items, we’re down to five items left. Up now: remember when it snowed a lot in January? It turns out the city didn’t have a plan to deal with that level of snow. Staff say they’re going to work on a plan that’ll be final in Jan 2023

Councillor Josh Matlow wrote a letter to the committee arguing that a January 2023 timeline isn’t great, because it’s probably going to snow a bunch before then. Transportation GM Barbara Gray explains the timing is dictated by the election and schedule of meetings.

Council has voted to finish their agenda tonight, so we can all focus our Friday on gearing up for the start of the baseball season.

On the snow item, Councillor Josh Matlow moves for staff to report on the first steps of a plan for dealing with extreme winter weather in July. He reiterates that he thinks waiting until January is a bad idea because it’s totally going to snow before then.

McKelvie and Nunziata are suggesting Matlow wouldn’t have brought this motion forward if he had received a briefing from staff re: their snow-clearing plans and process. Matlow says he talks to staff all the time.

I like that the PlowTO snowplow map is still active even when it’s not snowing. You can see where all the plows are sleeping. What’s this little guy doing all by itself on Edward Street? Seems lonely. toronto.ca/services-payme…

Matlow’s motion to get a report on an extreme winter weather response plan in July (instead of waiting until January) FAILS 4-19.

After Matlow’s motion is iced, the snow report with the staff-recommended timeline carries via show of hands.

Council votes 20-2 to increase the composition of the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB) from 10 members to 14 members. (It’ll now be more than half the size of Toronto Council). app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Tory has a motion that will disqualify any vendors from countries facing federal sanctions from winning city contracts. It’s intended to make sure the city doesn’t do any business with companies linked to Russian oligarchs. It CARRIES unanimously 22-0. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Two items left. One of them is about cross-border service integration with TTC and 905 transit agencies. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

Councillor Gord Perks moves to refer the cross-border transit item back to Executive Committee. He’s concerned that, as written, the request for provincial legislation would open pandora’s box of allowing other transit operators to provide transit service in Toronto.

ATU 113, the union representing TTC workers, has written to Council asking them to refer this item. They said Tory assured them these changes wouldn’t threaten the TTC’s “legal monopoly” but the recommendations appear to do just that. toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2… (PDF)

Perks’ motion to refer the cross-border transit item to Executive Committee for more consideration FAILS 5-13. Item carries via show of hands.

Council completes the agenda by confirming a slate of appointees to the Toronto Hydro Board. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

And that’s all for Council’s April 2022 meeting. Councillor Joe Cressy is given the honour of reading the confirming bills for one last time.

“And that’s it. I’m out. Mic dropped,” he adds. (No microphones were literally dropped.)

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