City Hall Watcher

Faster reports, less driving, and other ideas for Council in a new term

City Hall Watcher #409: Contributor George Bell has eight ideas for making Toronto Council better in the new term, plus Doug Ford’s speed camera ban…

Nov 9 • Matt Elliott

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Robotaxi and data centre lobbying set the stage for Council’s next term

City Hall Watcher #408: Lobbyist Watch for the election month features Waymo, data centres and more, plus the Brad Bradfordiest place in Toronto, and…

Nov 2 • Matt Elliott

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October 2026

Another election, in charts

City Hall Watcher #407: Olivia Chow remains the mayor, Council moves left, and Matt makes charts

Oct 27 • Matt Elliott

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Hey hey, it’s Election Day: City Hall Watcher’s municipal election guide

Final projections, live results, an election special, candidate chaos, post-election plans, and more

Oct 26 • Matt Elliott

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The most disagreeable decisions of Toronto City Council

City Hall Watcher #406: After 5,000 attempts, a look at what SIMCOUNCILLOR tells us about Toronto Council. Plus Candidate Chaos looks at dumb rules…

Oct 19 • Matt Elliott

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Campaign cash rules everything around me

City Hall Watcher #405: The return of the CAMPAIGN CASH archive, plus a look at where candidates have been spending on Instagram and Facebook

Oct 13 • Matt Elliott

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Where Toronto’s mayoral race stands today — and how it might change

City Hall Watcher #404: Alex Olson returns to look at the state of the mayoral race, and how it might change in the 21 days we have left. Plus: LOBBYIST…

Oct 5 • Matt Elliott

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September 2026

All the wrong ways to talk about Toronto’s budget

City Hall Watcher #403: A look at the complex and confusing nature of Toronto’s annual spending plan, plus campaign chaos considers missing councillors…

Sep 28 • Matt Elliott

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Quantifying Council’s chatterboxes — and quietest members

City Hall Watcher #402: On a lark, I analyzed 392 hours of Council speech and can now tell you definitively which councillors like to talk. Also…

Sep 21 • Matt Elliott

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Issuing lobbying report cards at the end of the term

City Hall Watcher #401: Handing out a Lobbying Report Card for every councillor, plus the return of Intersection Inspection and more CANDIDATE CHAOS

Sep 14 • Matt Elliott

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Celebrate 400 issues with a game of SimCouncillor

City Hall Watcher #400: To mark a milestone, I’ve got a new interactive tool to help you find out how well you line up with your councillor. Plus…

Sep 8 • Matt Elliott

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August 2026

Following the money from the mayor’s property tax increases

City Hall Watcher #399: Andrey Levkovski looks at what three years of property tax increases paid for, plus rise of the robot permit checkers, a…

Aug 31 • Matt Elliott

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