City Hall Watcher #240: Olivia Chow has put together her team at City Hall — a look at who they are, and how they might vote on issues like the Gardiner and police funding
Thanks Charles! Most of the Executive Committee is made up of "as of right" appointees who are automatically on Executive because they have been named Chair of another committee -- like Infrastructure & Environment Committee, or Planning & Housing Committee — or because they're the mayor or (statutory) deputy mayor or budget chief.
The exception is the two "at-large" members, who are selected by Council for Executive despite not having a Chair role. I think the original idea was to be a (small) check on mayoral powers — the 'at large' members are the only members selected by council. Without them, the entire committee would be appointed by the mayor.
Hi Matt, thanks for the ongoing coverage of City Hall and enjoyable newsletter. I was wondering about Toronto City Council's Executive Committee, is this unique to Toronto? It seems like an important committee in the city, but I don't recall seeing this in other municipalities. Maybe I missed it. Thanks!
Hey Jamie! Apologies for the late reply and appreciate the kind words. The Executive Committee has been unique among GTA municipalities because it came about as part of the "strong mayor" reforms David Miller pushed for nearly 20 years ago, which led to the City of Toronto Act and the ability for the mayor to directly appoint chairs of the various standing committees. With stronger mayor powers rolling out across the province, we may see similar models adopted by other munis.
Hi Matt, appreciate the coverage as always and look forward to reading more about the changes coming at City Hall. I hope we get to keep hearing from you and the rest of the Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel more regularly. I know I would love to even have that become a podcast series with more regularly scheduled updates. Keep up the good work!
Hey Austin! So glad you dig the podcast episodes. They're super fun. As far as I know, the plan is to have the panel check in regularly as news happens at City Hall. I'm hoping we do lots more!
Thank you for such a comprehensive look at the change Olivia Chow is making to leadership at City Hall. Very helpful, and I'm hopeful it will lead to many positive changes going forward for Toronto. What I don't see is a mention of Olivia Chow's designation of Councillor Dianne Saxe for a special role, that of climate and environmental champion. It's a super important role right now given the climate crisis we are in, the ambitious and necessary emission reduction targets in the TransformTO plan, and the introduction in this budget year of a climate budget - all items will be assessed for climate impact in order to keep the city's emissions on a downward trend. I hope you will cover this special and really significant role in a coming issue of City Hall Watcher. You might also link the city's challenge to meet it's climate target with the obstacle created by the province's 'Powering Ontario's Growth' energy plan that calls for expansion of gas fired power on the electrical grid which will make it impossible to reach the city's carbon reduction targets. The City has voted against expansion of gas on the grid, and against the expansion of the Portlands gas plant, but to no avail - yet. This is a plan the city needs to keep fighting, and Dianne Saxe could be key to this fight.
Hey Lyn! Appreciate the kind words. I think you'll appreciate my column in the Star today, which is about this exact thing! Lemme know if you have any feedback — always appreciate your perspective on climate change and environmental issues.
Excellent article! Thanks for taking a close look at what is going on with Toronto Hydro and what Chow's appointments may mean for expectations of serious climate action. Thanks for highlighting the kind of pressure that can be brought to bear. Let's hope this can help us in pushing back on the province's gas-fired electricity plan, so we can actually make progress on Net Zero by 2040.
Good thing we have City Hall Watcher. I didn’t find the newspaper coverage very thorough. Why are two of Ex Comm members “at large”?
Thanks Charles! Most of the Executive Committee is made up of "as of right" appointees who are automatically on Executive because they have been named Chair of another committee -- like Infrastructure & Environment Committee, or Planning & Housing Committee — or because they're the mayor or (statutory) deputy mayor or budget chief.
The exception is the two "at-large" members, who are selected by Council for Executive despite not having a Chair role. I think the original idea was to be a (small) check on mayoral powers — the 'at large' members are the only members selected by council. Without them, the entire committee would be appointed by the mayor.
Thanks! You’re so helpful.
Hi Matt, thanks for the ongoing coverage of City Hall and enjoyable newsletter. I was wondering about Toronto City Council's Executive Committee, is this unique to Toronto? It seems like an important committee in the city, but I don't recall seeing this in other municipalities. Maybe I missed it. Thanks!
Hey Jamie! Apologies for the late reply and appreciate the kind words. The Executive Committee has been unique among GTA municipalities because it came about as part of the "strong mayor" reforms David Miller pushed for nearly 20 years ago, which led to the City of Toronto Act and the ability for the mayor to directly appoint chairs of the various standing committees. With stronger mayor powers rolling out across the province, we may see similar models adopted by other munis.
Interesting, thank you!
Hi Matt, appreciate the coverage as always and look forward to reading more about the changes coming at City Hall. I hope we get to keep hearing from you and the rest of the Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel more regularly. I know I would love to even have that become a podcast series with more regularly scheduled updates. Keep up the good work!
Hey Austin! So glad you dig the podcast episodes. They're super fun. As far as I know, the plan is to have the panel check in regularly as news happens at City Hall. I'm hoping we do lots more!
Thank you for such a comprehensive look at the change Olivia Chow is making to leadership at City Hall. Very helpful, and I'm hopeful it will lead to many positive changes going forward for Toronto. What I don't see is a mention of Olivia Chow's designation of Councillor Dianne Saxe for a special role, that of climate and environmental champion. It's a super important role right now given the climate crisis we are in, the ambitious and necessary emission reduction targets in the TransformTO plan, and the introduction in this budget year of a climate budget - all items will be assessed for climate impact in order to keep the city's emissions on a downward trend. I hope you will cover this special and really significant role in a coming issue of City Hall Watcher. You might also link the city's challenge to meet it's climate target with the obstacle created by the province's 'Powering Ontario's Growth' energy plan that calls for expansion of gas fired power on the electrical grid which will make it impossible to reach the city's carbon reduction targets. The City has voted against expansion of gas on the grid, and against the expansion of the Portlands gas plant, but to no avail - yet. This is a plan the city needs to keep fighting, and Dianne Saxe could be key to this fight.
Hey Lyn! Appreciate the kind words. I think you'll appreciate my column in the Star today, which is about this exact thing! Lemme know if you have any feedback — always appreciate your perspective on climate change and environmental issues.
Excellent article! Thanks for taking a close look at what is going on with Toronto Hydro and what Chow's appointments may mean for expectations of serious climate action. Thanks for highlighting the kind of pressure that can be brought to bear. Let's hope this can help us in pushing back on the province's gas-fired electricity plan, so we can actually make progress on Net Zero by 2040.