This week, it’s the PENULTIMATE meeting of the term. We’ll see debates …

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Anyway, while the soccer action continues, today I’ve brought you a story from frequent contributor Damien Moule about another kind of action: hot housing action.

Damien’s got a look at the major changes to the planning process that will come after Premier Doug Ford’s government passed Bill 98, the “Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act.” It will force the Council elected this October to make some big changes to the Official Plan — I sure hope they’re ready.

Also in this issue: I’ve launched an archive project that collects 17,000+ posts I’ve made during meetings of Toronto City Council over the last 15 years. Did it make me question my life choices? Never.

Speaking of life choices: thanks for choosing to read this newsletter. This issue is being sent out for FREE, but if you want to get this kind of municipal nerdery each and every week, consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll be supporting independent local journalism — and that’s a very cool thing to do.

✨ This issue runs a bit long. If it gets cut off in your email client, read it on the web.

— Matt Elliott

graphicmatt@gmail.com / Archives / Subscribe

Doug Ford’s Bill 98 will bring major changes to Toronto’s Official Plan — council candidates should know all about it

By Damien Moule

Toronto is a housing-obsessed city. Polling routinely shows it as a top issue in the city. Some of the key moments at City Council this term were housing fights that drew petitions with thousands of signatures and hours of deputations at committee. So surely a provincial law that upends housing and land-use planning, passed during a municipal election, would not go completely unnoticed by the candidates, the media, and pretty much everyone else, right?

…Right?

You may have heard about Bill 98, the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, which received Royal Assent on June 2. The bill got a decent amount of press coverage, mostly about the transportation parts. It gives the Ministry of Transportation the ability to set and harmonize transit fares in the GTA, set service standards, and require service on some routes. Some people are worried about that. Toronto City Council, in particular, is worried about that.

The bill also removes requirements for sustainable building design, such as EV charging requirements or bird-friendly window coatings, beyond what’s required by the Building Code. Some people are worried about that, too.

If you are reading a newsletter about Toronto municipal politics and policy, there’s a good chance you are the type of person who also follows news about provincial legislation and that you knew all of that. But if you followed along the main coverage of Bill 98, you might not have read anything1 about the most important aspect of Bill 98: it is the largest change to municipal land use planning in Ontario in decades.

What’s changing?

Land use planning is notoriously complex and dry, but stick with me for a few minutes here before scrolling down to Matt’s updates on happenings at Council. I want to convince you that the changes coming as a result of Bill 98 are a top municipal election priority and that you should be asking prospective councillors about it when they come knocking on your door.

Let’s start with the Official Plan. Remember that? The document which dictates which type of buildings will and won’t be allowed where, as well as transportation and infrastructure policies, community facilities and more?

Bill 98 requires Official Plans for large municipalities in Ontario to have a standard format and contents which do not remotely resemble Toronto’s current Official Plan. So the Official Plan has to be completely rewritten by August 2030, i.e. within the next municipal term.

Along with the standard format will come standard land use designations. These are the tools that every municipality uses to structure which types of buildings are allowed where. Things like neighbourhoods, mixed-use areas, parks, commercial, etc. For each designation, there are associated Official Plan policies about how development will or won’t proceed in those areas.

Three of Toronto’s land use designations, Apartment Neighbourhoods, Institutional Areas (for things like hospitals, universities, government buildings, etc.), and Regeneration Areas (formerly industrial areas that are being redeveloped), do not appear in the new standard list provided by the province. These categories will soon go poof, and their associated policies will either need to be removed from the Official Plan or rewritten for another category. There will also be several new categories, most notably “Major Facilities,” that the city will need to define and create policies for.

There’s more! Several new proposed regulations under the Planning Act were also posted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario alongside Bill 98 to support its changes. And these regulations would upend many policies in the current Official Plan.

The first two proposed regulations relate to standardized submission requirements for a complete development application and to potentially large revisions or the elimination of Site Plan Control. I have been reliably informed by friends and family that no one cares about any of the words in the previous sentence, but the upshot is that they will significantly reduce the number of reports, studies, and plans that the City can require developers to submit from 20+ to roughly ten.

The main way the City applies its Official Plan policies is by requiring developers to demonstrate that their proposed buildings are consistent with those policies. Removing the requirement to produce the reports removes the City’s ability to check that the policies were implemented, and so effectively removes a host of Official Plan policies. For example, City Council will have to find new ways to throw literal shade at new developments, because they will no longer be able to require shadow studies.

I will mention two more policy proposals that came along with Bill 98, though I know I’ve pushed my luck with your attention. One is looking at secondary plans and site-specific policies. It may upend the priority given in the Official Plan to local planning exercises over city-wide policy. The other is a change to population and employment projection methodology that will likely increase the amount of housing that Toronto will estimate that it needs.

A maximum minimum

Finally and more importantly, Bill 98 caps the minimum lot size that a municipality can require in urban residential areas. The cap is set by regulation, which the Ministry has proposed at 175 m². For those wondering what that looks like, a typical lot size for a semi-detached Victorian bay-and-gable in the old City of Toronto is roughly2 6 m by 30 m, or 180 m².

The required minimum lot sizes in Scarborough, North York, and Etobicoke are mostly between 300 and 600 m², with some notable outliers like the required lot size of 8,000 m² in the Bridle Path3. What this means in practice is that lot severance will be allowed4 and feasible in most of Toronto’s residential areas5.

Why am I talking about this after yammering on about the Official Plan? The current Official Plan land use designation for low-rise residential areas is called capital-N Neighbourhoods. The policies for Neighbourhoods are the conceptual centre of the entire Official Plan. The Plan states that Neighbourhoods policies take priority over everything else. Every other land use category has policies to limit the impact on nearby Neighbourhoods. The key feature of Neighbourhoods policy is that they are meant to be physically stable, and that any development will respect the prevailing character, including in terms of lot size, building type, scale, and density.

With lot subdivision allowed throughout the city, recent changes in Toronto zoning to allow multiplexes, and Major Transit Station Area zoning mandated by the province, the guarantee of physical stability and prevailing character in Neighbourhoods will be gone. Smaller lots with narrower houses — different from the others on the street — and multiplexes will be allowed everywhere. Neighbourhoods near transit will allow midrise apartments. The centre of the Official Plan will fall through.

This is a Big Freaking Deal

Taken together, Bill 98 and its related regulations mean that not only will the Official Plan need to be reorganized to the new standard format, but that many of its policies will have to be removed or reworked, including those at the heart of the Plan. The land use maps will all need to be remade as well.

It would be pointless to try to smash the remnants of the current Official Plan into the new format. City Planning should start from scratch. And because zoning and other features of land use planning in Toronto implement the Official Plan, it seems likely to me that an Official Plan overhaul would be a first step towards an overhaul of those by-laws as well.

Now, to put my cards on the table, I am a fan of the proposed land use regulations under Bill 98. The current post-amalgamation Official Plan has been in place since 2002, and in my estimation, it has been a generational failure6. Housing affordability in Toronto began to deteriorate quickly after it was first adopted. Despite the good intentions of its authors, it has made thousands of people homeless, put a strain on the household budgets of hundreds of thousands more, hurt the local economy, and is deeply unfair. I think the Official Plan desperately needs a reform that will allow more housing in more places, and Bill 98 and the proposed regulations, especially around minimum lot size, will promote that.

But even if you don’t share my perspective, the Official Plan will need to be rewritten, and the councillors elected this fall will be the ones responsible for designing the process to replace it.

Bill 98 has taken restrictions on many types of low-rise development off the table and put limits on what can be asked of developers. Other provincial actions have made high-rises near transit an inevitability. There is a more standardized set of planning tools. But it will still be up to Council to make something good with them7.

This is a once-in-a-generation exercise to create the most important document for the most important municipal power. It will affect the well-being of millions of people for decades. Candidates for office should know that it will happen. They should list it as a priority. You should expect them to be able to answer questions8 about it and outline their vision for the new Official Plan. Anyone who can't shouldn't be elected.

City Hall Watcher LIVE collects and archives 15+ years of Council coverage

By Matt Elliott

For the last couple of Council meetings, I’ve been testing a web app that automatically collects my live coverage on Bluesky and posts it to live.cityhallwatcher.com. People have told me it’s been useful as a simple way to follow the proceedings.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks refining the app. The design has been updated. There’s a new feature that should let you keep track of your last-read post. Images display better.

In recent meetings, you’ll even see links on each post that take you to the approximate timestamp in the YouTube meeting video that aligns with my coverage. And I’ve coded in lunch break detection, so you’ll know when councillors took lunch. Groundbreaking.

But here’s the really big addition: I’ve collected and archived every thread of Council meeting coverage I’ve ever posted.

That’s nearly 15 years of meeting threads. It’s 166 meetings. It’s 17,201 posts. It’s a hell of a lot of use of the word “CARRIES.” It spans my complete evolution as someone who covers local politics — starting out snarky and more opinionated and ending all gruff and world-weary.

There’s a complete archive. It’s searchable, too. My favourite feature is probably the “From the Archives” section on the main page, which surfaces a random quote on every page refresh. Beware: it’s addictive.

I’m not delusional enough to think that a lot of people are going to want to go back and read my coverage of the debate on removing the Jarvis bike lane, the decision to strip Rob Ford of his mayoral powers, the chaos that ensued after Council got word that Doug Ford was going to cut half their jobs, or the first strange COVID-era virtual meeting.

But as Twitter has transformed into X and become more locked down for users who aren’t logged in — and also more generally unpleasant to use — I’ve become increasingly worried about one day losing access to the archive of information from the years I was only posting my coverage to Twitter. So now it’s got a home. A permanent one, I hope.

I need your help, though: with so many threads and posts, I can’t possibly review this whole thing by myself. I am looking for any reports of anything that appears broken, janky, or missing.

Features I am working on:

• Swapping the screenshots of vote results for a more readable, accessible vote card display.

• Councillor tagging, so you can easily find all posts related to a member of Council.

• Making this an open-source project.

Let me know if there’s anything else that would be useful.

➡️ Access the complete coverage archive and follow along LIVE when Council meets at live.cityhallwatcher.com

More from Matt: on making nice for the World Cup, and the half-baked airport expansion plan

📰 For the Toronto Star last week, I wrote about the City’s push to make things really clean and nice for those attending the FIFA World Cup. The improvements are appreciated, but I’m still wondering why it takes a mega event to motivate a major municipal effort.

🗞️ For the Star this week, I write about the latest on the island airport expansion effort. The provincial and federal governments have us talking about a plan that doesn’t even exist. That shouldn’t fly.

Look for it in your favourite newspaper.

The week at Toronto City Hall

MONDAY: ♿️ The Accessibility Advisory Committee met. They got an update on staff’s work to assess the feasibility of providing a real-time central dispatch system for accessible taxis. Currently, people looking for an accessible ride generally need to book with Wheel Trans in advance, which limits the spontaneity. The update says work is ongoing, with a complete report due in Q1 2027.

🎭 The TO Live Board met. They reviewed the results of a consultation process with performing arts groups about the current state of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. “Participants felt that the centre is tired and in need of an upgrade,” the presentation says, but the same groups are also worried that upgrades will require a prolonged closure — they want to make sure they get at least 18 months’ notice before any shutdown.

Also on the agenda: TO Live CEO Clyde Wagner wants to hike the facility fee charge added to tickets by a dollar. The move is expected to raise about $500,000.

TUESDAY: 🗄️ Mayor Olivia Chow’s Executive Committee meets.

They’ll hear that Toronto residents are bonkers for barrels, apparently. An initial offering of free rain barrels was fully claimed in just nine hours.

To offer more barrels of fun, the mayor has a motion to spend another $238,249 — offset by revenue from Toronto Water — to provide another batch of barrels. To make things fairer, the mayor is also recommending limiting the program to one barrel per household this time. (Previously, households could snag two.)

Also on the relatively light agenda:

• The committee will be asked to endorse the construction of a new library branch in the Quayside community on the waterfront.

• At Council’s request, Toronto Hydro has put together a report on its work to support the development of multiplex housing. They note the number of multiplexes they’ve connected to power has been on the rise, from 129 in 2024 to 179 in 2025. This year, they’re on pace to connect about 200.

• A summary of donation activity shows the City received 6,450 individual donations totalling about $1.08 million in 2025. Most were donations made to Animal Services and the Commemorative Tree & Bench Program.

WEDNESDAY: 🐕 The Dangerous Dog Review Tribunal meets. They’ll consider a much-delayed appeal regarding a muzzle order in 2022 issued to Poodle mix Kaibo.

THURSDAY: 🎢 The Exhibition Place Board meets. A report on the agenda looks at whether the Exhibition grounds would be a good place for a casino, and concludes it would not be. “Overall, the available evidence suggests that introducing new casino opportunities may lead to adverse public health and community impacts, particularly for vulnerable populations,” the report says.

The temporary casino operated during the CNE will continue to be allowed to operate, though.

🥖 The Francophone Affairs Advisory Committee meets for the final time this term. They’ll review a list of city departments and agencies that offer some services in French. Reps from the Bureau du Québec à Toronto will also be in attendance to give a presentation. Ooh la la.

FRIDAY: 🪧 The Sign Variance Committee meets. The Nobu Hotel on Mercer Street is looking for approval to put illuminated “NOBU” signage atop the building. But city staff are saying no to Nobu, citing the building’s “significant residential component.” Mixed-unit buildings have different rules regarding signs than office buildings, apparently.

🏗️ The CreateTO Board meets. They’ll consider a request to hire a consultant to compare the cost of building affordable housing in Toronto with costs in other cities. Could be useful.

NEXT WEEK: Council meets, starting on Wednesday.

Weekly wrap

📊 CouncilScorecard.ca ACCESS CODE: Subscribers can access the current code here.

🗳️ CANDID CANDIDATES: The 2026 Election Candidate Tracker has been updated — and now includes a handy map view.

🪧 SIGNS OF THE TIMES: 30 HIGH MEADOW PL: C; 234 MARKHAM RD: North Kabab; 3463 KINGSTON RD: Charging Station Electrical Design; 4211 YONGE ST: 4211 Yonge St; 2220 BLOOR ST W: TD Canada Trust; 234 MARKHAM RD: Afghan Bakery; 1235 WILSON AVE: Hennick Humber Hospital; 1623 QUEEN ST W: Revertsconnect; 85 ELLESMERE RD: McDONALDS; 571 BLOOR ST W: Mirvish Village; 373 FRONT ST E: Canary Landing West Cherry House; 831 GLENCAIRN AVE: Pizza Nova; 2870 EGLINTON AVE E: McDonalds Restaurant; 3571 SHEPPARD AVE E: Healthy Planet; 755 ROYAL YORK RD: Ecole Elementaire Catholique; 10 PLASTICS AVE: Topomath.Ca; 7431 KINGSTON RD: McDonald’s; 2507 YONGE ST: Flight Centre; 220 YONGE ST: R.W & Co; 1 THORA AVE: Vaultra Storage; 152 PARK LAWN RD: Tim Horton’s; 5418 YONGE ST: California Beef Noodle; 50 JOHN ST: Rosemont Residences. (Sign Permit Applications since June 8, 2026)

City Hall Watcher #388

Thanks for reading! And thanks to Damien for his contribution. If you’ve got an idea for some analysis or reporting on a municipal matter, don’t hesitate to send me a quick pitch.

If you enjoyed this issue and you’re not yet a subscriber, I hope you’ll consider joining us. Subscriptions are just six bucks a month or 60 bucks a year, plus tax — it’s a bargain and a deal.

Subscribe now

For subscribers, I’ll be back next week to get you set for the second-to-last Council meeting of the 2022-2026 term. Be warned: I am planning to use the word PENULTIMATE a lot.

The Scorecard, if you’re not familiar, tracks every member of Toronto Council and measures how often they vote with Mayor Olivia Chow on significa…

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To mark the occasion, I’ve brought you a new LOBBYIST WATCH. It’s got notes about elevating waterfront transit, the Weston-funded push to redesign Queen’s Park North, and a potential red flag on the affordable modular housing file.

Plus: the TTC Board’s got a big agenda, with a focus on s…

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So far — with a failed bid in 2014 and a successful one in 2023 — she’s got a 1-1 record. Like the Blue Jays so far this season, she’ll be hoping to move above .500.

Soon after registering, Chow’s c…

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But more on that later! This week, I bring you an update to one of my favourite pieces of data every year: the…

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Also in this issue: …

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But before that, there’s the not-so-small matter of last week’s Council meeting to cover. Mayor Olivia Chow and councillors met for two days last week to discuss items like island airport expan…

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It’s a big meeting — the last one before election season begins next week. To get you set for it, I’ve got a complete rundown of the agenda, with notes on the new colour-coded rental warning…

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In the City Hall calendar, we’ll take a look at a plan to spruce up Exhibition Place, the ongo…

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Speaking of big things, today I’ve brought you a new edition of LOBBYIST WATCH — my monthly summary of activity on Toronto’s lobbyist registry. I’ve got notes on the island airport, jet skis, smart speed bumps, self-driving taxis and more.

Plus: it’s a busy week on the City Hall calendar, so I’ve highlighted some of the most newsworthy items up for consideration by various committees. You’ll learn about transit signal priority, driver compliance rates with turn restrictions, and a heck of a lot about hot dog carts.

To mark the holiday, this issue is being sent FREE to everyone on the City Hall Watcher mailing list. It’s an election year. There’s a lot happening. If you want to get updates like this in your inbox each and every week, consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get permanent access to the interactive Council Scorecard, plus great features like my Council Defeatability Index, Lobbyist Watch, and more. It’s just $6 a month or $60 a year, plus tax — a bargain and a deal.

✨ This issue runs long. If it gets cut off in your email client, read it on the web.

— Matt Elliott

graphicmatt@gmail.com / Archives / Subscribe

Lobbyist Watch for March 2026: Island airport lobbying, TTC talks security tech, Waymo moves forward

Lobbyist Watch is City Hall Watcher’s monthly summary of activity on Toronto City Hall’s Lobbyist Registry. In March 2026, I reviewed 492 registered lobbyist communications and 70 new subject matter registrations.

Disclaimer: Toronto’s Lobbyist Registry requires lobbyists to register and record all communications they have with politicians and staff, but it does not require them to provide much detail about the extent of those communications. As a result, a meeting noted below could be a long conversation with some deal-making or a passing chat of no real consequence. The data presented below is current as of April 6, 2026.

On the runway

Lobbyist Kim Wright topped the lobbying charts in March, flying high with 23 communications related to Billy Bishop Island Airport in addition to her usual bushel of communications on other files.

Wright is working for Nieuport Aviation, owners of the terminal building on the island. They’ve been the major force behind this latest push for airport expansion. It’s a bit of a departure from earlier expansion efforts that were primarily pushed by Porter Airlines.

Wright’s itinerary included three separate meetings with Adam Chaleff, the mayor’s Director of Legislative Affairs & Issues Management, on March 10, March 25 and March 26. She also logged notable meetings with CreateTO’s Director of Port Lands Asset Management Bryan Bowen on March 13, and Deputy City Manager for Development & Growth Services Jag Sharma on March 25.

Her councillor communication included meetings with Councillor Nick Mantas, Councillor Josh Matlow, Councillor Parthi Kandavel, Councillor Michael Thompson, Councillor Chris Moise and Councillor James Pasternak.

Hello Moto

Senior staff from the TTC logged a meeting on March 18 with several reps from the technology and communications company Motorola.

The company has, of late, been really pushing its security and safety products. That includes a line of body-worn cameras, an AI-powered service that “connects intelligence from the command center to the field and back”, and a whitelabel “personal safety application” that lets people report safety and security issues.

The TTC’s “SafeTTC” app is currently a rebadged version of a product from Elerts.

Helping Motorola with the lobbying effort is Motorola Account Manager Ryan Evans, a former constable with the Peel Region Police. He was part of the Motorola contingent that met with TTC staff. The company also sent General Manager Wayne Fasek, Account Manager Matthew Kernerman and Account Manager Ajwad Aniq.

The TTC side included reps from Constable Services, Cybersecurity Operations and Information Technology.

Prior to the TTC meeting, Evans, Aniq and Motorola’s Director of Government Affairs Matthew Swarney logged a meeting on March 3 with staff from City Hall’s Social Development division, including Associate Director of Violence Prevention Nicole Watson and Manager of Community Development John Smith.

Lobbyist-for-hire Saeed Selvam is also supporting Moto in their effort. He logged several emails in March.

Sailing for their life

Lobbyist Alex Chreston was paddling furiously all month trying to keep the Toronto Humber Yacht Club afloat.

The lobbying effort came following news that staff were recommending Council terminate the boat club’s land lease following several years of compliance issues and ecological concerns.

Chreston, a former Ontario PC Party staffer and advisor to John Tory, focused his effort on conservative-leaning councillors, logging meetings and phone calls with Councillor Michael Thompson, Councillor Jon Burnside, Councillor Stephen Holyday and Councillor James Pasternak.

Wilson DaSilva, Vice Commodore for the yacht club, also opened up a lobbying registration before the March 26 Council vote, but never logged any communications.

Chreston’s lobbying effort was somewhat successful insofar as all the councillors he targeted supported renewing the lease. But it was less successful when you consider that their support wasn’t anywhere near enough to give the club a life preserver. Council voted 19-5 to end the lease. The club says their fight isn’t over.

Waymo watch

Self-driving taxi company Waymo added another in-house lobbyist in March as its push into Toronto continues to pick up speed.

George Ivanov, a veteran Google employee who is now Head of International Policy & Government Affairs for the autonomous cab company, got right to work, logging a very notable meeting on March 30 with senior staff from Transportation Services.

Ivanov met with the Director of Policy & Innovation Elyse Parker, as well as two other unnamed managers in the transportation department, on March 30. He followed up the next day with a meeting with Adam Chaleff, the mayor’s Director of Legislative Affairs & Issues Management.

StrategyCorp’s Aidan Grove-White and Alex Bernst remain on board, too. They both kicked in several emails and phone calls on behalf of Waymo.

Lobbying grab bag

• Jet ski rental service Jetti has hired Rubicon Strategy’s Mustapha Khamissa to lobby about “the use and regulation of rental PWC's along Toronto's waterfront.” Concerns about noisy jet skis have been picking up over the last year, with complaints last summer focused on Woodbine Beach. Personal watercraft were also recently cited as one of the reasons for shutting down the Humber Yacht Club’s lease. Khamissa logged a meeting on March 31 with Spencer Julien, the mayor’s Legislative Affairs & Implementation Liaison. Jetti CEO Raj Mehta also attended the meeting.

• Working on behalf of the Rail Deck Development Corporation, the partnership between Ferngate and LiUNA that plans to build atop the rail corridor downtown, StrategyCorp’s Aidan Grove-White has been texting and calling staff in Mayor Olivia Chow’s office, requesting a meeting.

• G&S Group of Companies, a development and property management conglomerate, has taken a sharp and sudden interest in extending the Sheppard Subway westwards. They’ve hired StrategyCorp’s Aidan Grove-White, Marco Bianchi, Lorraine Huinink and Alex Glista to lobby about “Sheppard West Subway Extension (Line 4 Extension) and station locations.” No communications yet.

• Pickleball purveyor Fairgrounds has hired lobbyist Chris Rickett in an attempt to return serve on a big property tax bill they recently received for their courts at 8 Rosehill Drive, near Yonge & St Clair. The courts are a temporary use for the vacant site, which will eventually become home to a 50-storey tower. But the Pickleball company says they were recently hit by a $500,000 increase to their property tax bill — a result of a zoning change necessary to make way for the project. Rickett wants to talk about a fairer property classification system for temporary uses. So far, he’s organized a grassroots communication effort, encouraging disappointed pickleballers to email Councillor Josh Matlow.

• On behalf of NAIOP Greater Toronto, the advocacy group for commercial property owners, lobbyist Natalie Dash logged a meeting on March 27 with senior staff from Social Development and Shelter & Support Services to talk about “safety issues in the downtown core.”

• Pharma company Sanofi Vaccines Canada, which has proven quite adept at inoculating itself from any development near their factory on Steeles West, sent Public Affairs Lead Doug Daniell to a meeting on March 5 with senior staff with Economic Development & Culture.

• Advocacy group Environmental Defence Canada has hired Claire Malcolmson to lobby about the City’s mid-rise avenue studies and design guidelines. Topics for discussion include “pre-zoning for Mid-rise; reducing fees and charges for Mid-rise buildings; [and] reducing the approvals timeline by a year.” Malcolmson logged a meeting on March 18 with Chief Planner Jason Thorne.

• How about some McLobbying? Steven Caron, Senior Manager of GR and Public Policy for McDonald’s Canada, logged a meeting on March 16 with Councillor James Pasternak to talk about single-use packaging bylaws.

Tech 4 sale

• With the list of the tools the City can use to slow down traffic getting shorter, Swedish company Edeva is betting City Hall might have some interest in their Actibump product. It’s effectively a smart speed bump. Paired with a radar, it drops a few centimetres when speeding cars are detected, giving drivers some real-time feedback that they’re going too darn fast. Edeva Marketing Manager Karin Wiklund is on the file, with no communications yet.

• Andrew Hill, Regional Manager for parking reservation app SpotHero, logged a meeting on March 11 with the Toronto Parking Authority’s VP of Business Development Adamo Donatucci. The software company wants to discuss a “possible collaboration.”

• California-based tech company Automotus has registered to pitch City Hall on their “automated curb management” technology. No communications yet.

• Darwin O’Connor, maker of the very useful TransSee webapp, has registered to talk about “providing or generating real-time transit data.” He sent an email to TTC staff on March 13.

Familiar faces

• Developer Sud Group deployed a pair of former councillors in an attempt to win Council support for their “Beach House” development at Queen East and Kingston Road — the site of the popular Murphy’s Law pub. Both Joe Mihevc and Peter Milczyn were working on the file in March, with Milczyn logging a meeting with local rep Councillor Brad Bradford on March 20 and Councillor Gord Perks, the Planning & Housing Chair, on March 26. The two former councillors also logged a flurry of emails in support of the proposal for a ten-storey development. They were successful in convincing Perks and a majority of the Council to support the development, but Bradford was a harder sell. At last month’s Council meeting, he unsuccessfully moved to refuse the application and voted against a Perks motion to approve it.

• Former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat opened a trio of new lobbying files in March, as part of her gig as CEO of Collecdev Markee. She’ll be talking to City Hall about her plans for 3377 Bayview, 275 Merton Street and 86 Lynn Williams. She hasn’t logged any communications yet.

• Rachel Hillier, a longtime staffer to the late Jaye Robinson, has returned to City Hall as a lobbyist. She opened five new registration files in March as part of her work for Sussex Strategy Group, working on behalf of clients Cadillac Fairview, The Boulevard Club, Redpath Sugar, Alberici Constructors and Emblem Developments.

Toronto’s top lobbying charts for March 2026

Most Lobbied Officials: Adam Chaleff, Mayor’s Office (29 communications); Jennifer Chan, Mayor’s Office (12); Tom Gleason, Councillor Shelley Carroll’s Office (10); Councillor Stephen Holyday (10); Councillor Jon Burnside (10); Councillor Dianne Saxe (10)

Lobbyist Watch will return in May.

More from Matt: on the shocking failure of the GO electrification project, and the put-up-or-shut-up opportunity with the Waterfront East LRT

📰 For the Toronto Star last week, I wrote about the news that the GO electrification project has likely been delayed and scaled back. It’s the biggest bang-for-the-buck transit project in the GTA, but successive provincial governments have spent decades screwing it up.

📰 For the Star this week, I’ve got a piece reacting to the very good news that the Waterfront East LRT is now a funded project. It’s also good news, I argue, that Metrolinx won’t be delivering this one. After much grumbling about the provincial transit agency’s track record, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate that there’s a better way to build transit. I just hope the City doesn’t whiff on it.

The week at Toronto City Hall

MONDAY: 🐣

TUESDAY: 🚧 The Infrastructure & Environment Committee is meeting today. They got an update on the City’s Congestion Management Plan. According to the Transportation Department, there are three pieces of good news to report:

• Downtown travel times in the 2025 “construction season” were down by 12% compared to 2024.

• The average construction-related road closure in 2025 was 2.4 days shorter than the average closure in 2024. The City credits new fees that “incentivize construction crews to limit their lane use.”

• Round-trip travel times on the Finch West LRT have been reduced by 20 minutes after “improved signal timing” was activated.

The plan includes some details on the continued rollout of enhanced transit signal priority and AI-powered “smart” traffic signals. The report includes this handy map showing 2026 signal priority installation locations:

For more on the AI-powered signals, the Star’s Mahdis Habibinia has a good story.

The report recommends hiking some of the fees the City charges when contractors close traffic lanes. Reps from advocacy groups NAIOP Greater Toronto, RESCON and BILD Toronto aren’t loving that idea, submitting letters arguing that such fees only add to the cost of building new housing.

Also on the agenda:

• The decades-long effort to improve car traffic at the intersection of Eglinton West & the Allen Road Expressway continues. A new report says there’s been some recent improvement due to, well, fewer pedestrians getting in the way of cars. Pedestrians who previously crossed at street level are now using a new pedestrian tunnel that was installed as part of the Cedarvale Station construction. Prior to the tunnel, pedestrians were hitting the button to cross 88% of the time in the morning period. That’s now been reduced to 55%. The report also includes a rather dispiriting stat about the rate at which drivers comply with turn restrictions: overall, just 60% of drivers complied with a series of turn prohibitions introduced last December in the area around the intersection. At one intersection, Dufferin Street & Livingston Avenue, the compliance rate was just 28%.

• A report on the City’s EV charging strategy includes some notable data on how often the chargers installed by the Toronto Parking Authority are getting used.

WEDNESDAY: 🗂️ The General Government Committee meets. They’ll ponder a report suggesting the City must award sole-source contracts worth up to $17.5 million to support the City’s new pair of electric ferries.

🏡➡️ The Housing Rights Advisory Committee meets. Reps from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto will be in attendance to talk about how co-op housing can help fight the housing crisis. Co-ops certainly seem popular. Their presentation notes that a new co-op near Queen East & Broadview saw 6,000 people put their names in a lottery for 26 available units.

THURSDAY: 📉 The Economic & Community Development Committee meets. Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog. At long last, the committee will consider whether to lift the moratorium on new hot dog carts and other sidewalk vending permits. It’s been in place since 2002, when I was still in high school.

When the moratorium was put in place, there were 134 vendors permitted to sell on sidewalks downtown. These days, that number has dropped to just 47. A survey suggests a majority of residents don’t feel like that’s enough. The report proposes allowing new downtown sidewalk vending applications for the first time in nearly 25 years.

In addition to the expected street meat, they also suggest allowing people to apply for permits to sell non-food items. In addition, if this report is approved by Council, buskers will now be allowed to sell CDs, vinyl records and cassette tapes to people who enjoy their performances. Uh, better late than never, I guess?

New vending opportunities won’t just be confined to sidewalks. A separate report to the committee outlines a plan to launch a test program this summer that will allow food trucks or food carts to sell food and drinks at a few select parks. Despite the City recently loosening up on the general prohibition on drinking booze in parks, this program won’t allow vendors to sell alcohol.

The list of parks is currently being refined and will be presented before the program begins on June 25, 2026, subject to Council approval.

Also on the agenda: the City is continuing its clean-ups of outdated bylaws. With this update, there will no longer be a specific business license for adult video stores operating in Scarborough. The City hasn’t issued a new license in this category since 2003. Time marches on.

FRIDAY: It’s Holy Friday for Eastern Orthodoxers. No meetings scheduled.

NEXT WEEK: The Police Board meets on Monday. The Planning & Housing Committee meets on Tuesday. Mayor Olivia Chow’s Executive Committee meets on Wednesday. The TTC Board meets on Thursday.

Weekly wrap

🪧 SIGNS OF THE TIMES: 1615 Birchmount: Tim Hortons; 145 King West: Scotiabank; 30 Mutual Street: Famo; 677 Queen East: Shoppers Drug Mart; 2329-2361 Brimley: Pho Non LA; 4228 Midland: Tim Hortons; 2005 Avenue Road: Firehouse Subs; 1980 St. Clair West: Honestly Good Chicken Fingers; 480 Front West: Playa Bowls; 40 Eglinton East: Jersey Mike’s Subs. (Sign Permit Applications since March 30, 2026)

📝 CONTRACTIONS: $243,624 to Grascan Construction Limited for “Repair of Lower Don Trail High Level Interceptor Blow Off Chamber” (non-competitive)

City Hall Watcher #378

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