2025: the year in charts
City Hall Watcher #364: A look back at the legends and plots that moved Toronto City Hall in 2025
Good tidings to you. Hope there was eggnog, tinsel, merriment, and etcetera.
As is City Hall Watcher’s custom, today I’ve got a special year-end edition: the year in charts. I’ve combed through the archives for this newsletter’s seventh year and selected charts that define the issues we've covered. It’s a nerdy walk down memory lane.
A special year-end thank you to all who help keep this project going. I’m enormously grateful that this gets to be my job. Your continued readership and support are amazing, and I’ll never take this for granted.
If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, maybe 2026 is the year to give it a try. It’s an election year. The stakes will be high. The news will be relentless. City Hall Watcher, with its frothy mix of data and news and jokes, might help you get through it.
✨ This issue runs a bit long. (There are a lot of charts!) If it gets cut off in your email client, you can read it on the web.
— Matt Elliott
graphicmatt@gmail.com / Archives / Subscribe
2025: the year in charts
Previous years, in charts: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
January
The year started with a recap of all the municipal lobbying in 2024. Kim Wright took the top spot. Did she wear the crown again this year? We’ll find out soon.
The budget process occupied the rest of the month. I did a nice job putting a proposed 6.9% residential property tax increase into context. I also looked at City Hall’s reserve funds, where the cash continues to pile up despite some efforts to spend more of the money.
But the undisputed highlight of the month was David Hains’ very triumphant return to municipal politics punditry, with an updated version of his piece explaining how property taxes work. Worth re-reading in advance of the coming 2026 budget.
February
I looked at increases in the number of cyclists by month, showing an increased number of winter warriors. Speaking of warriors, the threat of U.S. tariffs ended up overshadowing Council’s budget debate. Benefitting from a rally-around-the-flag effect, Chow’s spending plan got passed with minimal drama.
Also, City Hall Watcher welcomed another guest writer, as Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher looked at City Hall’s Complete Streets strategies, and what the data tells us about their impact on safety.
March
Lobbyist Watch continued to report on various robot-related lobbying files. There’d be a lot of those in 2025. Meanwhile, I helped set the stage for City Hall’s response to U.S. tariffs by looking at where departments tend to spend their money. They buy a lot from Amazon, it turns out. I also took a look at new data on bike theft and previewed and recapped a Council meeting in which councillors asked for more Canadian flags — and gave themselves a big pay raise.
April
Lobbyist Watch looked at a flurry of lobbying activity that followed the winter snowstorms. Council expense records for 2024 dropped, which gave me another opportunity to chart how councillors get around the city. It’s always a revealing chart. Council prepared for a debate on making Toronto more aesthetically appealing, and finally got around to creating a car czar.
May
After some finance guy became the Prime Minister, former councillor Jennifer McKelvie got a new job too. Lobbyist Watch featured some bah humbugging about the Distillery Christmas Market. Guest writer Damien Moule looked at the data on multiplex construction in Toronto. They’re multiplying, but perhaps not fast enough. A report on the City’s capital assets gave councillors some capital-C concerns. And Council got trapped in a bubbly debate about bubble zones.
June
The debate over whether to install transit lanes on Bathurst Street was bolstered by a bunch of lobbying — and some AI. Meanwhile, I charted some of the TTC’s troubling trends and updated the Council Scorecard with a look at which councillors might be voting in ways contrary to their constituents. I also spent a lot of time previewing the contentious Council debate on sixplexes. In the end, as they often do, Council embraced compromise.
July
Lobbyists for Magna’s robot car pilot continued to dominate the lobbyist charts. I got ready for Council’s debate on the Bathurst Street bus lanes with a special edition of Intersection Inspection. Council’s July meeting also featured a fractious debate on six new shelter sites. In the end, Council compromised on the Bathurst bus lane plan but held firm on the shelters.
August
The annual Council Power Rankings brought the usual share of controversy to my inbox, plus one of my favourite charts of the year — a look at which councillors are moving the most motions, and how many of those motions are successful.
Also in the month: Lobbyist Watch chronicled more robots. I looked at the five councillors forming Mayor Olivia Chow’s main opposition. And it looked like we’d be getting a battle between Chow and new PM Mark Carney over shelter space. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.
September
Lobbyist Watch featured a visit from our old pal (?) John Baird. The provincial government’s move to ban speed cameras prompted me to speed through some analysis of the Parkside Drive speed camera, where many tickets were issued — and traffic was slowed — before some people took a literal axe to it. I also looked at the growing number of Toronto intersections where pedestrians and cyclists outnumber cars. And the future arrived with the new Council Scorecard. The month ended with some data showing how the condo crash was taking a big bite out of expected City revenue through development charges.
October
The gondola lobbyists pulled up in Lobbyist Watch. Council returned from their summer break to make an attempt to save the speed camera program from Premier Doug Ford. Spoiler: it didn’t work. I looked at the Toronto Parking Authority’s emptiest parking lots and attempted to build a better dashboard for tracking Toronto’s progress building new housing.
November
The Blue Jays almost did the thing, but, alas, it wasn’t to be. I soothed my sadness by covering some lobbying activity. Council, meanwhile, found yet another way to compromise — this time on neighbourhood retail. They also — surprise! — disbanded the Toronto Parking Authority Board. I tried to figure out why, and concluded it’s probably mostly a money thing. Meanwhile, each councillor got a housing report card, and we all had a good laugh about the sheer size of the new speed limit signs provided by Queen’s Park.
December
Waymo drove into the lobbyist registry, prompting some hype and handwringing about self-driving cars. I introduced a new feature to the Council Scorecard: the Council buddy system. And I previewed and recapped the final Council meeting of 2025, featuring a festive debate about a faster Finch LRT. The meeting delivered a seasonal mix of exciting gifts and lumps of coal.
Charted: Council’s longest 2025 debates
In 2025, for the first time ever, I produced a chart after every Council meeting with approximate debate lengths. So I figured, hey, why not combine them into one mega-chart? Everyone loves mega-charts.
Across 100 debates I tracked, the longest debate of the year was, of course, the 2025 budget debate. The second spot goes to the May 2025 debate on whether Toronto should have a “bubble zone” bylaw restricting protests. Taking the noble bronze? The October 2025 discussion on speed cameras.
You can view the complete list here.
More from Matt: on feeling optimistic about Toronto’s future, despite the doom and gloom
📰 For the Toronto Star over the holidays, I tried to push back against some of the algorithmically-generated doomerism I’ve been seeing about Toronto these days.
Yes, the city still has big problems to figure out, but the data is showing positive trends on crime, homelessness, and rent prices. There’s hope in the numbers. Believe in them.
The week at Toronto City Hall
No meetings scheduled.
City Hall Watcher #364
📊 Council Scorecard access code: LONGDECEMBER Thanks for reading — both today and all year long. After a break to recharge the batteries and count backwards from ten, I’ll be back at full power next Monday, with LOBBYIST WATCH, including a chart of 2025’s top lobbyists.