Sixplexes for the Six, parking pondered, senior staff come and go, Tory turns up
The Week at Toronto City Hall for the week of June 9 to 13, 2025, featuring sixplexes, parking plans, TTC trends, early electioneering, and more
Hey there! Next week at City Hall is a busy one, with three standing committee meetings on the docket. Here’s a special free bonus edition of the newsletter with a look at what’s coming, including debates on six-unit multiplexes, the long-awaited parking strategy, the TTC’s troubling trends, and more. — Matt Elliott
What happened this week
🚪 ENTRANCES AND EXITS: Release the red smoke! The TTC has a new CEO. On Thursday, the board held a special early-morning meeting to appoint Mandeep Lali as the new leader. The Star’s Andy Takagi had the scoop early and offers some background info about our new subway skipper. Lali has experience in New York and London. And also with elevators, which are kind of like vertical trains, when you think about it.
Meanwhile, Council was told that Howie Dayton, General Manager of Parks & Rec, has abruptly departed the position. That follows news that Carleton Grant, the longtime head of Municipal Licensing & Standards, will be leaving in October. Both had been getting a lot of tough questions at Council and committee meetings of late.
Abi Bond, leader of the Housing Secretariat, has also recently departed. It’s a time of turnover.
🗳️ PREMATURE ELECTIONEERING: There are more than 500 days until the next municipal general election, but we’re not going to let a little thing like the linear nature of time stop us from talking about would-be candidates vying for Toronto City Hall’s highest office in 2026, apparently.
QP Briefing’s Barbara Patrocinio recently reported that Councillor Brad Bradford is planning a run. Shocking, I know. And Toronto Today’s Cherise Seucharan had a chance encounter with former mayor John Tory in which he made a point of not ruling out a potential comeback run.
Meanwhile, a Leger poll of 296 Toronto residents taken between May 23 and 25 found Mayor Olivia Chow’s approval rating at 48%, with 42% registering somewhat or strong disapproval.
Chow’s biggest red flag is perhaps that her “strongly approve” numbers are pretty weak, with only 10% of those polled giving her top marks. A plurality — 39% — are in the more mushy “somewhat approve” category.
But hey, what’s with all this 2026 talk when that isn’t even the next election? The next municipal vote will actually be the by-election in Ward 25 - Scarborough-Rouge Park to replace Jennifer McKelvie. It’s now been scheduled for Monday, September 29.
Monday, June 9
✊🏾 The Confronting Anti-Black Racism Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.BUBBLE TROUBLE: Staff will present on the new “Bubble Zone” bylaw restricting protests recently adopted by Council. I expect this committee will have thoughts.
CALLING THE COPS: After the matter was deferred in February, reps from the police board are expected to be at the meeting to present on “existing action and activities to support Black communities and advance equity through policing in Toronto.”
🔎🚇 The TTC’s Audit & Risk Management Committee meets at TTC HQ at noon.
DIVERGING FORKS: A draft version of the TTC’s 2024 annual report is on the agenda. Towards the end, you can find numbers dating back to 2015 for various metrics like operating expenses, operating subsidy, kilometres operated and revenue passenger trips.
Putting them all on a chart with an index back to 2015 shows the impact of the pandemic — and the challenge for new TTC CEO Mandeep Lali.
The four key metrics were tracking very close to one another pre-COVID. Since the virus hit, however, the needed operating subsidy has nearly doubled, while operating expenses have also shot up sharply. But total operated kilometres remain slightly down from pre-pandemic and, while revenue trips have grown since the dark days of 2020 and 2021, there are signs that the ridership recovery is starting to level off.
AND ALSO:
The committee will also get an update on the plan to improve fare compliance, but most of the substantial information is locked behind a confidential attachment.
Tuesday, June 10
📉 The Economic & Community Development Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.PEARSON INSIGHTS: A very light agenda is headlined by Pearson Airport’s annual update to the committee about how the whole airport thing is working out. Yay?
🐢 The Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.SEEKING REPRESENTATION: As part of the ongoing discussion about improving Indigenous Representation at City Hall, the committee will consider a presentation from the Public Appointments Secretariat with data on recent appointments. So far this term, Indigenous people have made up 2% of all applications for board and committee appointments and received 3.82% of the opportunities.
🚇🙋♂️ The TTC’s Human Resources Committee meets via videoconference at 10 a.m.There’s no agenda published yet. Disappointing, I know.
Previously, in City Hall Watcher
For paid subscribers of City Hall Watcher, this week’s issue has:
LOBBYIST WATCH for May 2025, with notes on lobbying about the Battle on Bathurst Street, self-driving cars, tiny shelters and more.
Exclusive charts of the top ten lobbyists and lobbied subjects for the month.
Next week:
The COUNCIL SCORECARD is back, with a look at how the battle lines on Council look following recent debates on the 2025 budget, bubble zones, traffic congestion and more. Find out how often your councillor is voting with Mayor Olivia Chow.
Subscribe today for ad-free access to weekly subscriber-exclusive issues.
Wednesday, June 11
🚧 The Infrastructure & Environment Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.PARKED ISSUES: At long last, the committee will consider a comprehensive report about parking. A bunch of separate report requests have been bundled up into one document, laying out a vision for car storage in the city. Some notable recommendations:
Encourage more carshare use by adding more dedicated parking spaces and moving forward with the previous staff recommendation to allow people to start and end trips with “free-floating” car sharing services like Communauto in more places. (A separate report on the agenda recommends authorizing these changes.)
Review the feasibility of centralizing operations of all City-owned parking lots — including at libraries, TTC stations, arenas, Exhibition Place and more — under the Toronto Parking Authority. Also: charge money for all these lots, as some of them currently offer free parking.
Develop a plan to transfer management of on-street parking enforcement away from the Toronto Police’s Parking Enforcement Unit, putting the TPA in charge.
Explore converting at least one on-street car parking space per block on cycling and transit corridors to bike parking.
Introduce “special event” parking rate hikes, potentially alongside discounted “special event” transit fares, to discourage people from trying to drive to big events.
AND ALSO:
An update on the Vision Zero road safety program recommends replacing 12 push-button “pedestrian crossovers” with full-on traffic signals. The change comes after a pregnant woman was killed by a driver at a crossover at Queen East & Sackville last summer.
The committee is being asked to authorize closures of the Gardiner and DVP for the Toronto Triathlon Festival and the Bike for Brain Health in 2026, which creates some doubt about whether the upload of the highways to the provincial government will be completed this year.
An annual report on tree removal permits reveals that Etobicoke York Community Council retains the title of tree-killing champs. West-end councillors overruled staff to allow the removal of trees in 64% of appeals in 2024, compared to 33% of appeals for North York councillors, and 0% in Toronto & East York and Scarborough.
Amidst intense lobbying, Magna International’s self-driving delivery vehicle pilot is back on the agenda. A supplementary report tells staff that deployment began on May 26 and there’s now a dedicated website for the project. It also reminds City Hall that they have no jurisdiction over this Ministry of Transportation-approved project. (In related news, Bell Media has signed a deal to sell ads on the robots.)
🏆 The Bid Award Panel meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.CONTRACT AWARD OF THE WEEK: $1.63 million for bike lane and sidewalk improvements on Brunswick Avenue, Havelock Street and Macdonell Avenue.
Thursday, June 12
🏘️ The Planning & Housing Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.NOW YOU’RE GOING TO SEE A SIXPLEX: At long last, the committee will consider a recommendation from planning staff to permit multiplexes with up to six units city-wide.
The move is part of the City’s commitment to receive Housing Accelerator Fund cash from the federal government. The report says City Hall has received $235.6 million of the promised $471.1 million so far.
The report isn’t really a wild departure from the changes Council approved in 2023 to allow multiplexes with up to four units. Aside from the increase in the maximum number of permitted units to six, the only other significant change is to increase the maximum height of the multiplex buildings from ten metres to 10.5 metres. This will allow for taller ceiling heights and better windows in basement units, planning staff write.
However, the buildings will still generally be constrained by the same lot size and depth requirements.
Staff considered increasing the maximum height to 12 metres, but concluded building code requirements related to staircases and elevators would “result in inefficient building layout” for most four-storey designs. They’re instead encouraging a “3.5-storey” approach with basement units.
This issue will almost certainly cause a big kerfuffle when it goes to Council. Stay tuned.
The agenda also includes an update on how things have been going since Council approved multiplexes city-wide. In total, 452 permits were issued between May 2023 and November 2024. Ward 9 (Davenport) was the multiplex champ, with 68 permits. The westside of the City generally saw a lot more multiplex interest than the east. (For a theory as to why, see contributor Damien Moule’s recent analysis for City Hall Watcher.)
OFF TARGET: The annual report on the number of housing units in the City’s Development Pipeline tries to put a good spin on things, but includes some discouraging news toward the end of the 72-page document.
At the current rate of annual construction, Toronto is set to reach only 70% of its provincially mandated 285,000-unit target by 2031. The City’s target isn’t likely to be met until 2035 — four years late.
Though the province still hasn’t updated its Housing Tracker — seriously, guys, what’s the damn hold up? — the report says Toronto only hit 85% of its target for 2024.
That’s not to say that recent changes to encourage more types of housing haven’t helped Toronto’s numbers, though. A separate report concludes that these “missing middle” initiatives have already led to a major spike in permits to build “intensification” units in residential areas.
By 2051, the City is theoretically projected to see 9,180 laneway suites, 26,388 garden suites, 87,134 multiplex units and 41,083 units on “Major Streets” that would not have been permitted under previous zoning. For those without a calculator, that adds up to 163,785 housing units enabled by recent changes to the planning regime.
AND ALSO:
The planning department isn’t exactly setting land speed records with the next phase of the Avenues Policy Review, which intends to eventually encourage denser developments along some of Toronto’s most notable streets. Phase two has been split into three sub-phases, each with two rounds of consultation. Things are expected to wrap up in 2027.
Another report tied to City Hall’s federal housing funds recommends allowing townhouses on sites zoned for apartment buildings. The idea is to make use of underused land on old-school “Tower in the Park”-style sites.
A report updating the committee on the status of various housing projects on City-owned land will be provided at the meeting, but it is not yet available.
🚌 The City-School Boards Advisory Committee meets at City Hall at 9:30 a.m.ROCK THE VOTE: A presentation from City Hall election staff reveals a plan to hold a “Kids Vote Weekend” as part of the 2026 municipal election. Mini-voting stations will be set up during advanced voting, and parents will be encouraged to bring their kids so they can cast a mock ballot. Fun!
🐕 The Dangerous Dogs Review Tribunal meets via videoconference at 9:30 a.m.NEW TRICKS: There will be an orientation for newly appointed tribunal member Sophia Davis.
Friday, June 13
🎢 The Exhibition Place Board meets in the Automotive Building at Exhibition Place at 9:30 a.m.FOREWORD TO FIFA: The Board will receive an update on the FIFA World Cup 2026 hosting plans, which includes some renders of the expanded BMO Field. There’s also a map of local road closures on match days, showing a potential closure of Lake Shore Boulevard.
🪧 The Sign Variance Committee meets via videoconference at 9:30 a.m.WATERFRONT WALL SIGN: After it was deferred in March, an application to install a digital sign on the Weston Harbour Castle’s conference centre is back on the agenda. The York Quay Neighbourhood Association is opposed.
🦥 The Toronto Zoo Board meets via videoconference at 2 p.m.WINTER WOES: A very wintery winter wasn’t good news for zoo attendance. Visitor numbers through the end of April were down 19% compared to last year.
The Week After Next
The General Government Committee meets on Monday, June 16
Mayor Olivia Chow’s Executive Committee meets on Tuesday, June 17
The TTC Board meets on Wednesday, June 18.
The Far-Flung Future
Nominations for the by-election in Ward 25 open on Monday, June 23. Election day is September 29.
Toronto Council’s next meeting starts on Wednesday, June 25.
Feedback? Tip? Email Matt Elliott. For advertising inquiries, email Sean Hansel.