Read more

Because it’s summer, this week I am kicking back and letting some others do the work. Damien Moule has taken a look at Toronto’s famously slow streetcar system and why several supposed “silver bullet” fixes have generally missed the target. If you’ve ever wanted to get deep into the weeds of what “transit signal priority” actually means, this is the newsletter for you.

City Hall Watcher is also welcoming its first-ever reporting contributor this week. Andrey Levkovski will be hanging around City Hall and contributing material to CHW for the rest of the summer. If you need to get in touch, you can email him at andrey@cityhallwatcher.com.

To celebrate this week’s non-Matt contributions, this issue of City Hall Watcher is being sent free to all subscribers. If you dig it, consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get access to this kind of content each and every week, plus the interactive COUNCIL SCORECARD. It supports independent journalism and costs just six bucks a month or $60 a year, plus HST — a bargain and a deal.

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

— Matt Elliott

matt@cityhallwatcher.com / Archives / Subscribe

Toronto’s slow streetcars need more than a quick fix

By Damien Moule

When the Finch LRT opened back in December, there was an outcry about how slow it was1. And not just in niche transit circles. It made the papers. It made the evening TV news. People raced the transit vehicles on foot — and won.

Politicians sprang into action. TTC chair Jamaal Myers introduced a motion at December’s TTC Board meeting to look at improving signal priority and frequency, and to review TTC operating practices for the line to look for ways to speed up the LRT. Days later, at a City Council meeting, Mayor Olivia Chow introduced a motion asking the TTC to improve transit signal priority along the line.

By April, the TTC’s data showed a ten-minute time saving per direction, and by June, another five-minute saving. The $3.7 billion Finch LRT started moving faster than the bus it replaced. There was much rejoicing.

The initial slow speeds of the Finch LRT naturally raised comparisons to the sluggish streetcar network. And so, along with the motions to improve the Finch LRT came requests to investigate how to speed up the streetcars. In the same April report measuring improved speeds on the Finch LRT came a plan from the TTC to begin improving streetcar speeds. This came hot on the heels of the July 2025 approval of the painted Bathurst streetcar lanes that were rolled out ahead of the World Cup, and the December 2025 approval of parking and turning restrictions to speed up the Dundas streetcar.

Now, for those of us who live along a streetcar line, these have been frankly unexpected developments. The streetcars, while iconic, are notoriously the slowest and least reliable part of the TTC, and elected officials have long seemed perfectly happy to leave it that way. Past attempts at improvements, such as the King Street transit priority corridor, have been undermined by spotty enforcement, construction diversions, and frequency cuts.

You might expect that the streetcars finally receiving some focused attention from the TTC Board and City Council would make me happy. But you would be wrong. Instead, the last year has left me exasperated.

The streetcars are slow… like really slow

Before getting to my complaints let’s do some table setting. Toronto’s streetcars are slow. I know I’m not breaking any news by saying that. For as long as I can remember people have been making the joke that it’s usually faster to walk than take the streetcar. But I want to make sure you read that sentence with the right emphasis. It’s not that streetcars are slow. It’s that Toronto’s streetcars are slow.

Jan Scheurer, a professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, evaluated the speeds of 16 different streetcar2 systems across multiple years and found that Toronto’s streetcars in 2024 were the slowest of any system in any year reviewed. And not just a little slower. A lot slower.

The TTC has also compared streetcar speeds to those from five other international cities and found the same thing.

Now I am not willing to go so far as to say the Toronto streetcars are definitively the slowest in the world3, but I think it’s clear that Toronto’s streetcar network is one of the slowest major streetcar systems in the world. And it’s also clear that the difference in speeds between the fastest and slowest streetcar networks is quite large.

The never-ending search for silver bullets

Stop me if you’ve heard this before4. The streetcars would be fixed if we just put them in their own lanes. The streetcars would be fixed if we just gave them signal priority. The streetcars would be fixed if we just used wider stop spacing. The streetcar routes would be fixed if we just replaced them with buses.

This search for the one trick that will fix the streetcars has been going on for as long as I can remember. The idea that all a streetcar needs to be good is its own lane has been around since at least the 90s when the Harbourfront Streetcar, and later the Spadina and St. Clair streetcars, were given their own separated lanes. It carried on through Transit City, and Metrolinx seemed to be relying on the same thinking for both the Finch LRT and the above-ground sections of the Eglinton Crosstown. And it was still lurking around in 2025 when Council voted to give the Bathurst streetcar its own lane.

Why is this a problem? Aren’t transit lanes good? Well, they can be good. And they usually are OK, or at least better than nothing. But the search for silver bullets leads to a really bad habit of focusing on the buzzword and not the quality of the improvement. The focus becomes “is the proposal a dedicated streetcar lane?”, and not “will the proposed streetcar lane, you know, work”?

Let’s take the Bathurst painted streetcar lane as an example.

There are multiple ways streetcars get slowed down by cars. Let’s focus on a few of them. Streetcars can be stuck behind a car waiting to make a left-hand turn. They can be forced to slow down while a car turns across or goes straight across its path or does a three-point turn. They can be forced to wait while a car is pulling into an on-street parking spot in the right-hand lane or stopped for a quick drop off (sometimes called curb friction).

A dedicated streetcar lane can tackle all of these problems. But the Bathurst lane did not5. By my count, the design of the transit lanes only blocks left-hand turns from delaying the streetcar at 6 of the 236 intersections along the route, and only half of those were new restrictions. Everywhere else, cars are either still allowed to enter the transit lane directly to make a left turn, or get a dedicated turn lane and signal, which also slows down the streetcar. Even fewer of the streets have been blocked from allowing left-hand turns onto Bathurst7 or travel across the transit lane.

Really, most of what the transit lane is doing in terms of transit priority is removing parking spaces in the curb lane and adding no-stopping regulations (to the extent these are enforced), which reduces curb friction.

That’s not exactly nothing8, but it’s also not good transit priority. However, if all you’re looking for is a silver bullet called “dedicated transit lane”, then job done, time to go home.

What happens if that one silver bullet doesn’t work? We can always just move on to the next one. Which is exactly what I see starting to happen with transit signal priority, only this time the TTC is also adding to the confusion.

Transit signal crossing

Let’s go back to the April report measuring improvements to speeds on the Finch LRT and Eglinton Crosstown surface sections. That was only one part of a larger report to lay out a plan for improvements to the streetcar lines.

If you read the recommendations and summary section of the report, you could be forgiven for thinking that transit signal priority had arrived for the LRTs, been a great success, and would now be rolled out to the streetcars. Two of the four recommendations were to implement transit signal priority measures. Recent transit signal priority enhancements were reported to deliver time savings of up to 42% per intersection. And the round-trip time was reduced by 10 minutes on Eglinton and 20 minutes on Finch.

The only problem? No new9 transit signal priority was rolled out on the Finch or Eglinton LRTs between December and April. What the TTC did instead was called lagging left-turns. Instead of a red light followed by a left turn signal followed by a green light, they changed the intersections to be a red light followed by a green light followed by a left turn signal. The TTC called this transit signal priority in the report. Reporters understood the TTC to be saying that lagging left turns are transit signal priority. But they aren’t.

A lagging left turn changes the order in which the signals in a cycle appear, but it does not change the total amount of red light time in the cycle. If there are 75 seconds of red time between the cross traffic movement and the left turn signal, it doesn’t matter what order those phases are going in — the odds of the LRT vehicle showing up at a red light are mathematically unchanged. All you change is which cars the people on the LRT are likely to see moving instead of them during the red light. With a lagging left turn, they are less likely to see left-turning cars because that happens immediately after the green instead of immediately before it. But they still take the exact same amount of time to turn.

This is in contrast to phase rotation, where the order of the phases are changed depending on whether an LRT is present. So if the normal phase order is cross traffic, left turn, green, that can be dynamically changed to cross traffic, green, left when the LRT is waiting. This reduces the red time the LRT is facing, and so is actually transit signal priority. But if you read the TTC’s report carefully, this wasn’t rolled out on Finch or Eglinton. It was tested at two intersections on Spadina, which showed the 42% improvement referenced in the summary. The TTC is now planning to install phase rotation into the LRT lines, but it certainly wasn’t improving anything in the meantime.

So what actually improved the speeds on Finch and Eglinton? If you read down through the report sections it becomes clearer. The TTC changed the operations of the two LRTs. They reduced dwell times at stops and added operators so that they could swap operators at the end of a trip, so that mandatory breaks wouldn’t delay the vehicles. I also read speculation on social media that the padding from the trip schedules was reduced, and that speed limits were raised to match the adjacent car traffic, but I haven’t seen that confirmed by the TTC.

The TTC didn’t hide these operational changes, but it certainly didn’t emphasize them. Why? I would guess it’s because they aren’t transit signal priority, and everyone wanted transit signal priority. Council asked for transit signal priority. Advocates asked for transit signal priority. So the TTC spent some time and money tinkering with the signals to do nothing, and then also did some other actually effective stuff, and said voila, transit signal priority achieved.

I obviously would have liked for the TTC to communicate better about what it was doing, but this also matters going forward. The same report outlined a host of stale operations rules that are slowing down the streetcars. And the streetcar lines without dedicated lanes (i.e. most of them) won’t be able to use phase rotation because, for the most part, traffic lights along their routes don’t have left turn signals to be rotated. So what can actually be done in the near term to improve most streetcar lines isn’t transit signal priority, and it’s definitely not installing lagging left turns — it’s an improvement to operations (e.g. raising intersection and underpass speed limits). It would be good for the public, Council, the media and advocates to understand that clearly.

The road not altered

Despite our tendency to search for quick fixes and silver bullets, I do think the discussion around streetcars (and surface transit in general) is slowly becoming more sophisticated. The TTC report does acknowledge operations, stop spacing, and switches as contributing to the slow speeds of the streetcars.

However, I don’t think we’ve yet collectively realized how much more is done in other countries, and how much more we could be doing. Transit priority is not one, or three, or five things. It’s dozens of things that all need to be done correctly.

It’s transit signal priority and stop spacing and reliable switches. It’s island platforms and bus bulbs, so passengers aren’t spending precious seconds at every stop walking into traffic lanes to get to the streetcars. It’s level boarding and more doors to make it easier to board and alight, and to avoid deploying a slowly extending ramp for people unable to step up to the streetcars. It’s temporary tracks during construction so that streetcars don’t have to divert every time we tear up a road.

Most importantly, transit priority elsewhere includes a whole suite of tools that we don’t consider in Toronto. These tools change the configuration of the road or the traffic circulation pattern to give transit vehicles priority. They are summarized in a relatively new project called the Transit Priority Atlas which I can’t recommend enough.

I mentioned above that the Bathurst painted lane didn’t remove cars using the lane for left-hand turns at most intersections. There are ways to configure intersections to allow indirect left turns that would stop cars from holding up the streetcar, along Bathurst and elsewhere.

At the risk of becoming traffic lights guy, there is also the fact that the streetcars have to pass through a lot of lights. Have a look at the chart below, which shows the number of stops various TTC routes take along their length. The streetcars not only have a lot of stops compared to the bus routes, but they also go through more traffic signals.

The best traffic signal priority is removing the traffic signal. But to do that, the intersection often needs to be simplified. This can be done by making lateral streets right-in/right-out, or by simply dead-ending them. This would allow the removal of dozens of traffic lights along the streetcar routes.

There are also other ways of reducing the number of cars along a streetcar route. Through traffic can be reduced with contraflow lanes. You can go further and create sections of transit streets. Cities like Zurich and Bologna have adopted limited traffic zones in their downtowns, which limit access to residents, emergency vehicles, people with disabilities, and a limited number of permits for purchase. Bologna takes this a step further with a central “T” which only allows transit vehicles to pass through it. It’s not difficult to imagine something similar for Yonge Street.

I understand why councillors and advocates would have some hesitation in pushing for these changes. It’s been hard enough to get dedicated transit lanes and transit signal priority. These strategies would need to be studied and implemented by Transportation Services, who are not guaranteed to give a warm reception to the ideas.

But I think it’s worth putting the full suite of tools on the table and saying this is what fast streetcars use. We are decades behind other cities and it’s time we caught up. And of course I need to gesture towards the ongoing municipal election and say candidates should support better transit priority.

I’m sure opponents would argue that any given change will only save a minute and that’s not worth the disruption to drivers or loss of parking. But a few changes which each save a minute add up to a few minutes. And for most trips in Toronto, a few minutes is often the difference between worth your time or a waste of time. Suddenly, you have thousands of trips every day that are faster by streetcar. Thousands of cars stay at home. And now you have a streetcar that isn’t just for putting on postcards.

In other news

• City Hall Watcher’s Andrey Levkovski caught up with Parkdale-High Park Council contender Diana Chan McNally at last week’s Planning and Housing Committee. McNally was emphatic about leaving Billy Bishop Airport as it is and said councillors should help residents pressure Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to halt the expansion. “If the City doesn’t have the power, people certainly do. And I think a councillor’s role is also to support and galvanize the community to lobby the federal government to stop this,” she told CHW.

More from Matt: on crime as an election game-changer, and “you shall not pass!”

🎧 I was on CBC’s This is Toronto podcast last week to talk about the Salsa on St. Clair shooting, the political fallout, and whether this is a game-changing moment for the mayoral race. Give it a listen.

🗞️ For the Toronto Star this week, I am also writing about streetcars. Writing about streetcars is this year’s hot summer trend, I think. I’m focusing on the TTC’s new pilot project to track the number of drivers who blow by open doors. I like the idea, but I’m not sure why a pilot is necessary when the problem is so clear.

Look for it in your favourite newspaper.

The week at Toronto City Hall

By Andrey Levkovski and Matt Elliott

MONDAY: 🗂️ The General Government Committee met. They confronted the truth about software for cats and dogs. In 2024, the City entered into a no-bid deal with Kingston, Ontario-based tech company DocuPet to try out a new system for licensing Toronto pets. The deal was pitched as coming at no cost to City Hall, as DocuPet would make money by upselling pet owners on “customizable and stylized licensing tags, as well as other pet-related products.”

Despite some “privacy complaints related to DocuPet’s use of customer information”, Council voted to execute another no-bid deal with DocuPet in 2025, but this time there were costs. The City was on the hook for covering about $136,200 annually in credit card fees and postage costs related to the DocuPet service.

A year later, the bill is going up again, as DocuPet is seeking a four-dollar fee for each license issued and a $2.75 fee for every replacement tag given when the original tag is lost. That adds up to another $298,392 annually, bringing the total annual bill for software that started out as a freebie to $434,592.

That’s a more than 200% increase over the 2025 deal, and an infinite increase over the original zero-dollar deal. (To help pay for the ongoing costs, staff are also proposing adding an automatic inflationary increase to the fee charged to license a cat or a dog.)

And DocuPet will retain the right to upsell members of the public on pet products. Woof.

Still, staff are supportive of the deal, arguing that the deal with DocuPet has allowed them to reduce the staff needed to run the previous in-house pet licensing program. But the committee was not yet convinced. Noting there’s an “issue with the financing”, chair Councillor Paul Ainslie moved to send the item to Council without a committee recommendation. He’s asking for staff to produce “updated financial information related to the proposed contract amendment” in time for next week’s Council meeting.

The committee also considered a $14.2 million deal with Beanfield for internet service, and a notable $508,800 deal with Haywood Hunt — a surveillance company. The City needs the contract so it can continue spying on the crews it hires to do tree maintenance, the report says. This “allows for better oversight and performance of tree maintenance contracts,” apparently. Being a tree spy does sound like a fun job.

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

They’ll check out some always-fun budget and reserve fund variance reports. The operating budget variance report for 2026 shows that City Hall is running on a razor’s edge, posting a $4.6 million operating budget deficit through the end of April and projecting a $97.4 million deficit at year-end. (Reminder: City Hall is not allowed to post deficits.)

The report lists declining transit revenue and increased labour and fuel costs as the major factors behind the disappointing numbers. Everyone knows what’s causing fuel costs to spike, but the other two are interesting.

Notably, the TTC has seen a 50% decline in post-secondary pass sales following federal changes that limited the number of international students coming to Toronto. The wild winter weather was a major blow to fare revenue, too.

On the labour front, overtime costs are up huge at Toronto Fire, after the provincial government passed legislation that increases eligibility for workplace injury compensation and requires firefighters to receive additional training and qualifications. Collectively, the City estimates these changes have resulted in about $43 million in additional overtime costs.

In better news, the municipal land transfer tax continues to somehow stand stubbornly resilient against the forces of the dismal real estate market. The tax brought in $225 million through the end of April, about 10% above the budgeted amount.

The capital variance report, meanwhile, includes three pieces of news: first, the City is doing a much better job of late spending money. The City is on track to spend 89.9% of its $5.4 billion capital budget by year-end. That continues a positive trend.

Partly as a result of the improved spending rate, the City’s reserve fund balances actually declined in 2025.

Though more capital spending is generally good — better to spend money fixing and building stuff than just let it sit in a bank account — the report warns that the provincial government’s new Buy Ontario Act could have some negative impacts: “The new procurement requirements may result in delays, affecting project delivery due to extended procurement timelines, which could result in deferring project expenditures to later in the year or into future fiscal periods.” Ominous!

The final 2025 budget variance report also reveals that City Hall will not be BFFs with the province this year. In May, Queen’s Park informed Toronto that the City had not met the province’s housing target for 2025, and that there would be no funds coming to City Hall via the Building Faster Fund (BFF).

The committee will also consider a proposed deal with the Toronto Tempo. The WNBA team would lease part of the City-owned property at 701 Fleet Street for 40 years, with two possible 20-year extensions, at the low low price of just one dollar per year. The Tempo want to build a roughly 60,000-square-foot practice centre with two indoor basketball courts near their home arena at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

In return, the City will get at least 2,260 hours in the building every year for public programs, camps and permits, with a focus on women, girls and youth. The Tempo will also build a public park with outdoor basketball courts and washrooms. The deal could get the park open at least ten years earlier than currently planned. The practice centre is expected to open in summer 2028, with the park following that fall.

On paper, that sounds like a slam dunk. It is not completely free to the City, though. The City is on the hook to pay about $800,000 a year to operate the park, washrooms and public programs. Exhibition Place also expects to lose approximately $491,000 in parking revenue in 2027, when the existing parking lot disappears.

Also on the agenda:

• In February 2025, Council approved the creation of an advisory body to consider the thorny question of municipal autonomy. That led to the creation of the Municipal Autonomy and Effective Local Governance Program Advisory Body. The City calls it “MAPAB” for short, which is… not really an accurate acronym, but whatever. The final report of the group is a useful document, outlining the challenges Toronto City Hall has faced in recent years when it comes to autonomy and recommending the City direct legal staff to work on a single-province amendment to Canada’s Constitution, “which could include a new provision giving constitutionally protected status to City Charters.” Staff are not yet ready to fully embrace that path, however. City Manager Paul Johnson is recommending the committee request a further report analyzing the MAPAB’s findings, due Q3 2027.

• The committee will get an update on the Toronto Community Crisis Service, which sends civilian crisis workers to eligible mental health calls. From March 2022 to May 2026, the service received 49,185 calls. In 2025, it received 4,482 eligible calls through 9-1-1 and resolved 76.7% of them without police. Crisis teams also made 11,659 referrals to health and social services. Now the City wants to make the service much bigger. The plan is to move dispatching to Toronto Paramedic Services in 2027, increase the number of calls transferred from 9-1-1 from about 5,300 this year to more than 10,000 a year by 2031, and accept more referrals from hospitals, community organizations, and other institutions. The report estimates the service could eventually receive between 45,000 and 50,000 calls a year. Adopting the recommendation would have no immediate effect on the City’s finances. The 2026 budget already includes $37.3 million for the service. Expansion costs will need to be factored into future budgets. The report says sustaining and expanding the service will require continued investment across different levels of government.

• The Executive Committee will consider who should own the ⁠Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square. The garden opened in 2024 as a permanent place to honour residential school survivors and the children who were lost to their families and communities. It was developed by the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre in partnership with the City. The Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee wants staff to report to the Executive Committee in the second quarter of 2027 on a possible transfer of ownership of the Spirit Garden site at Nathan Phillips Square from the City to Council Fire, an Indigenous non-profit organization.

WEDNESDAY: 🐕 The Dangerous Dog Tribunal meets. They’ll consider appeals to muzzle orders given to Greyhound Milo and American Bulldog mix Big Louis.

🚇 The TTC Board meets.

CEO Mandeep Lali’s monthly report⁠ includes some interesting data from work the transit agency did to prep for a pilot aimed at drivers who pass a stopped streetcar while its doors are open. Before installing cameras on four streetcars, transit checkers manually recorded 145 illegal passes on six routes between December 2025 and March 2026.

Those daily checks found more illegal passes than the Toronto Transit Commission’s ten-year total of passenger-vehicle contact claims. The preliminary results suggest near misses may be common. Shocker.

The nine-month pilot officially starts today. The cameras will measure how often illegal streetcar passing occurs and test the technology’s reliability for future automated enforcement. Basically, it will test whether the camera footage could eventually support tickets. Alas, tickets will not be issued as part of the pilot.

The agenda will also include a discussion of the best way to commemorate the work of the late former TTC chair Howard Moscoe. A report recommends naming the atrium at Yorkdale Station after Moscoe, in part because of Moscoe’s tireless efforts to restore the Arc en Ciel art installation at Yorkdale. After decades in storage, the art is expected to return soon.

In addition, because speeding up streetcars is all the rage these days, Councillor Dianne Saxe has brought a motion to the agenda asking for a report on ways to give some graduated speed to the College streetcar.

THURSDAY: 🚔 The Police Service Board meets.

The cops are asking the board to approve a $10.54-million non-competitive contract with Rampart International for 5,861 Glock G45 duty pistols, 500 compact Glock G43X pistols and 200 training pistols. That is 6,561 pistols altogether. That is a lot of Glocks. 🔫

According to the Police Board report, many of their current pistols are getting old. Some date back to 1992, and replacement parts and ammunition are getting harder and more expensive to buy. Rampart would receive the contract without competition because it is Glock’s exclusive Canadian distributor for military and police customers.

The first $2 million would be reallocated from money budgeted for the new 54 Division police station, with that money scheduled to be returned to the station project through the 2027 budget. Police would seek the remaining $8.54 million through the 2027 capital budget. Staff estimate that lower ammunition and repair costs would make the switch roughly cost-neutral over ten years, with nominal savings of $166,000.

The board will also get an update on the state of the $1.4 billion police budget. Even with the big spending envelope, the cops are on track to post a $15 million deficit this year. The overrun is driven almost entirely by premium pay.

The agenda also includes Chief Myron Demkiw’s annual report, which includes a note making it clear the cops were totally ready to let George Springer ride a police horse, had the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series last fall:

Following post-game comments by Blue Jays player George Springer about celebrating with a ride on a police horse, the Mounted Unit publicly invited Springer to ride Service horse Blue Jay should the team win the World Series. While the Blue Jays did not ultimately secure the title, the exchange reflected the Service’s commitment to approachable, community-focused policing.

🏚️ The Preservation Board meets.

Planning staff are recommending heritage designation for the Weston Lions Arena on Lawrence West. It’s another twist in the long-running saga for the arena, which was built in the late 40s. At one point, the arena was slated for the wrecking ball, as part of a plan to build a new MLSE Launchpad recreation facility on the site. After Premier Doug Ford and a bunch of angry hockey players raised their sticks in protest, the plan was revised to maintain the arena while building a youth sports hub next door.

The board will also consider designating ⁠Simcoe Hall and Convocation Hall, two U of T landmarks that have been listed on the City’s Heritage Register since 1973. ⁠ These buildings score seven out of nine criteria points for their architecture, history and contribution to university life, which is impressive since only two points are needed. Safe to say they pass with honours.

FRIDAY: 🅿️ The Parking Authority Board meets. Their agenda includes a report recommending a seven-month extension of the contract with Shift Transit to operate the Bike Share system. The $14 million deal is presented as a temporary move while staff put together a big RFP for a long-term operator, which is planned to launch in Q1 2027.

A separate budget report shows the Bike Share system continues its uphill climb. Revenue through the end of June was $7.9 million, up $1.5 million compared to 2025.

The agenda also recommends approving a $3.8 million contract to build out a new six-level underground garage in Yorkville.

NEXT WEEK: Council meets, for the last and final time this term. Get hyped.

Weekly wrap

🗳️ CANDID CANDIDATES: The 2026 Election Candidate Tracker has been updated — with new registrations from incumbent councillors Frances Nunziata, Chris Moise, Neethan Shan, Nick Mantas and Alejandra Bravo.

🪧 SIGNS OF THE TIMES: 118 TANGLE BRIARWAY: Tangle Briarway; 4925 STEELES AVE W: Electronic Static Billboard; 790 MILITARY TRL: Popeyes; 437 SPADINA AVE: Puuffy; 240 EGLINTON AVE E: Flossy; 621 SHEPPARD AVE E: Injection Lounge Aesthetics Clinic; 126 MARTIN ROSS AVE: Empire Hardware; 322 CHURCH ST: Student Community Centre; 1401 HUNTINGWOOD DR: Ram Plastics; 1001 QUEEN ST E: New Era; 105 RIVER ST: Aic Tile Studio; 3385 DUNDAS ST W: Fabutan Hush Lash Studio; 3125 STEELES AVE E: Yondr; 2268 KINGSTON RD: Brik Construction Inc.; 941 PROGRESS AVE: Centennial College; 29 BATHURST ST: Setai Dental; 141 BAY ST: CIBC. (Sign Permit Applications since July 13, 2026)

City Hall Watcher #393

Thanks for reading! And thanks to Damien and Andrey for their contributions this week. Andrey and I will be back next week to preview the agenda for the final Council meeting of the term. The agenda isn’t published yet, but I can already tell you one thing about it: it will be long as hell.

You won’t want to miss it. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, consider mashing the button.

Subscribe now

To start, let’s take a look at the mayoral race. The electoral landscape is a real land of contrasts at the moment. On one side, you’ve got the incumbent, Mayor Olivia Chow, who has signed up but hasn’t really star…

Read more

That’s the total number of agenda matters up for consideration this week as Community Councils for Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke York and Toronto & East York get together for the final time this term. Most agendas this term have been much shorter but with the end of the term looming, they are trying to cram a who…

Read more

Less exciting, but still eventful, was last week’s meeting of Toronto Council. It ended up being a relatively tidy affair, wrapping up at a reasonable hour on the second day. Enjoy the feeling — I suspect the next m…

Read more

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

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more

Read more

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

Read more

Also in this issue: …

Read more

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…

Read more

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…

Read more

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

Read more

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

Thanks for reading! The sign permit round-up is a fun addition, isn’t it? Let me know if you dig it.

If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, you can use the code above for a sneak peek at the Council Scorecard available to all City Hall Watcher subscribers. I’ll be adding new data ahead of next week’s issue — and changing the code — so look fast.

I’ll be back next week with a brand new issue, looking at Mayor Olivia Chow’s Executive Committee agenda and everything else making headlines.

Also: a quick look at how Mayor Olivia Chow’s office might approach toda…

Read more

With so much up for consideration, I’m here to help. I’ve got a complete preview of the agenda, focusing on some of the more newsworthy and notable items. …

Read more

There’s little on the agenda this week, and Mayor Olivia Chow’s schedule shows “No Public Events” today.

To fill the silence, I decided to build a process to analyze the last six months of purchase data on the City’…

Read more