Council opposes Ford's bike lane busting bill, renoviction rules coming, Don Trail problems
The Week at Toronto City Hall for November 18 to 22, featuring school vaccination rate stats, council decisions on renovictions and provincial overreach, mental health insurance claims and more
Hey there! What a week. Another Council meeting is in the books. I’ll have your full recap in Monday’s issue, including the Quotable Council and a look at how Mayor Olivia Chow and councillors split their time. They spent more time than you’d expect debating the history and virtue of Christianity. But anyway, here’s a look at what’s on the calendar next week, including notes on vaccination rates, the Lower Don Trail, mental health amongst City workers and more. — Matt Elliott
What happened this week
🏟️ COUNCIL CONSIDERATIONS: City Council wrapped up their November meeting at around 10 p.m. last night. Things got weird at the end. Some important decisions:
A motion by Mayor Olivia Chow to oppose Premier Doug Ford’s efforts to restrict and remove bike lanes in Toronto was approved 21-4. A motion from Councillor Brad Bradford to express support for removing the recently installed lanes on Bloor West failed 6-18. But Councillor Mike Colle’s motion to look at installing signs blaming Ford for the traffic delays caused by bike lane removals carried 14-11. A supplementary report released during the meeting concluded that removing the bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge would cost around $48 million and also sink $27 million in investment made to install the lanes in the first place. It would also require nine months of construction-related lane closures that would make car travel times much worse in the near term. And staff project minimal impact on driver travel times after the lanes are removed.
Council’s new bylaw designed to prevent unjust renovictions was approved 25-1. Starting on July 31, 2025, landlords will need to apply for a renovation license to justify an eviction to perform a renovation.
City Hall’s new program to waive development charges and provide other incentives for developers to build rentals was approved 23-1. Applications for the incentive program are planned to open Monday.
A temporary hike to the tax on hotel rooms and short-term rentals (like Airbnb) was approved 21-4. Revenue from the 2.5% increase will go to covering FIFA World Cup-related costs.
Council voted 18-3 to endorse as-of-right permissions for mid-rises on the City’s avenues. They also voted 14-7 in favour of a Bradford motion to look at increasing as-of-right zoning permissions on avenues with frequent transit service to allow up to 12 storeys.
My full thread of Council coverage is available on Mastodon and BlueSky.
🚴 ANTI-BIKE LANE BRIGADE: At Toronto Today, Jack Hauen looked at the cast of connected characters leading the pushback to the Bloor West bike lanes.
🎤 HARD TO SHAKE OFF: “The City of Toronto estimates all levels of government are expected to take in around $40 million in tax revenue from the events, but the City will only receive about $250,000 in total.” For the Toronto Star, Councillor Paul Ainslie has some tax revenue numbers for Taylor Swift’s run of shows in Toronto.
🚨 COPS TO POP: At a Police Board meeting on Tuesday, members approved a new five-year hiring plan designed to increase the ratio of “cops to pop” — the number of officers in relation to the city’s population. Now, there’s just the small matter of figuring out how to pay for it. More on this in future issues.
Monday, November 18
🩺 The Board of Health meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.NEXT TOP DOC: Release the white smoke! But don’t inhale. It’s bad for you. After an extensive interview process, Councillor Chris Moise, Chair of the Board of Health, is ready to bring forward a recommendation for a new Medical Officer of Health. The candidate has yet to be named. They’ll replace Dr. Eileen de Villa after she departs City Hall at the end of the year.
ANNUAL REPORT: TPH’s annual report on health in Toronto comes with a recommendation to request (again) that the provincial government keep safe injection sites open.
It also links to two new dashboards launched this year. One provides data on how many Toronto residents have a regular healthcare provider and how many are smokers, while the other looks at mental health and substance use. I wish the data were more current, though.
SHOTS SHOT SHOTS: A report on vaccination programs in Toronto asks the Ministry of Health to expand eligibility for the HPV vaccine to all people 25 and under and provide vaccination clinics at universities and colleges.
It also links to updated vaccination rates by school. The five schools with the lowest reported Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) coverage for Grade 2 students in the 2023-2024 school year:
St Anne Catholic Academy (Jr) - 6.5% MMR vaccination coverage
Braeburn Junior School - 10.5%
St Margaret’s Public School - 20%
Ryerson Community School Junior Senior - 23.8%
Shoreham Public School - 26.7%
Meanwhile, three schools report 100% coverage among Grade 2 students: Avondale Alternative Elementary School, St Florence Catholic School and St Ursula Catholic School.
The report notes an inherent problem with this kind of data is there is no provincial vaccine registry, so the only records are the little yellow immunization cards people are supposed to carry around and keep track of. The report recommends that the provincial government create an electronic vaccine registry for better tracking and data.
Without a registry, the better measure of vaccine skepticism in a school community might be the rate at which parents have secured exemptions for their kids from shots like the MMR. The top five in that category:
St Luigi Catholic School -14.3% exemption rate for MMR
ÉÉC Sainte-Madeleine - 12%
Lanor Junior Middle School - 11.5%
St Joseph Catholic School - 10.5%
Transfiguration of our Lord Catholic School - 10%
🫎 The Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo meets at the zoo at 2 p.m.NIFTY FIFTY: The zoo’s 50th anniversary year is going pretty well. Attendance is up year-to-date by 3%. The report to the board says, “With 99,069 guests, October 2024 was the fourth highest October attendance since the Zoo opened in 1974.” Something to roar about.
Tuesday, November 19
No meetings scheduled.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
A data investigation! How many people cycle in Toronto? Well, it depends on where you get your numbers. But it’s more than Premier Doug Ford thinks.
Next week:
A full recap of this week’s Council meeting, with detailed vote results, the Quotable Council and a chart of how Council spent their time.
Subscribe today for ad-free access to weekly subscriber-exclusive issues.
Wednesday, November 20
🗂️ The General Government Committee meets at 9:30 a.m.
UNHAPPY TRAILS: The much-delayed project to improve the Lower Don Trail has run into more problems. A report to the General Government Committee reveals issues with the planned accessible sloped pathway linking Riverdale Park to the trail. Building the ramp has proven to be really difficult:
This is the eighth amendment to the purchase order since 2015 and is required to redesign the foundation of the sloped path using steel piles due to challenging soil conditions and the associated increase in construction duration. Additionally, the trail crosses over an old Toronto Water trunk sewer chamber, which requires a structural assessment of the chamber.
The latest increase pushes the ramp-related contract from $638,966 to $972,421. The report says the Lower Don project is on track to be completed in July 2025, but it’s also only 30% complete. I’ll believe it when I can walk it.
MUNICIPAL MENTAL HEALTH: A report on Health & Safety across City divisions in 2023 reveals that the number of WSIB claims made by the City increased from $49.5 million in 2022 to $57.3 million in 2023. In 2019, the total invoiced amount was just $32.3 million, so there’s been a 77% increase over five years.
Much of that is due to an increase in claims for mental health and emotional illnesses. WSIB invoices in that category have doubled over five years. The divisions with the most staffers off work for mental health reasons are Paramedic Services, Fire Services and Shelter & Support Services.
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: Up to $1 million for fireworks and drone show services for events like Canada Day and New Year’s Eve.
Thursday, November 21
💨 The Board of Directors of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.The board will consider four grants for projects designed to achieve environmental goals, worth a total of $578,845. Recipients are the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Toronto Environmental Alliance, the MaRS Discovery District and the Town of East Gwillimbury.
👉 The Civic Appointments Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.The committee will ponder names to appoint to the Housing Rights Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors of TO Live.
🎶 The Music Advisory Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.The committee will hear the jazzy sounds of a presentation from Municipal Licensing & Standards about the rules for noise monitoring at outdoor events.
Friday, November 22
No meetings scheduled.
The Week After Next
The Economic & Community Development Committee meets on Tuesday, November 26.
The Infrastructure & Environment Committee meets on Wednesday, November 27.
The Far-Flung Future
Council’s next meeting starts on Tuesday, December 17.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.
There are lane markers painted on the Lower Don Trail south of the Queen Street bridge! I wish I felt like it was an exciting sign of more to come soon, but I think it’s more like I’m Charlie Brown and the city is Lucy with the football. 😔
Had to laugh Matt - Mike Colle's motion to look at signs blaming Ford! Yeah that will stop the problem - thought we elect adults for public office! What about signage blaming public officials (City Hall) for promoting private interest over the public good (see your lobbyist registry data).