Meeting

Key Issue(s)

My Vote

Council Meeting, January 27 and 28, 2009

Downtown Relief Transit Line

A recommendation was made to ask Metrolinx to prioritize the Downtown Relief Line, so that it would be built in advance of the Yonge Street extension.  I did not vote in favour of making this request as I felt the Yonge Street extension is a greater priority.

Council Meeting, February 23 and 24, 2009

Planning and Zoning Framework for Yonge-Eglinton Centre

While not a contentious topic, this matter is important to Ward 16 residents.  I voted in favour of moving forward with recommendations to revitalize the Yonge–Eglinton area. Recommendations include limits on height and density and the creation of a new park in the Yonge–Eglinton quadrant.

Special City Council Meeting, March 31, 2009

2009 Operating Budget

I did not support the operating budget as proposed by the Executive Committee.  Instead, I supported a motion that costs be further reduced by $85 million, largely through reductions in labour costs, in order to limit the property tax increase to 2%.   Unfortunately, this motion was not supported by a majority of Councillors.

Council Meeting,  April 29 and 30, 2009

Compensation of Non-Union Employees

In the interests of treating all City of Toronto employees fairly and equally, I did not support the recommendation to immediately freeze non-unionized employee salaries.  Instead, I supported a motion to defer any decisions on salary freezes until the City completed negotiations with unionized staff.   Unfortunately, non-union staff did have their salaries frozen, while unionized staff subsequently negotiated a 2% per year increase. 

Council Meeting,  May 25, 26 and 27, 2009

Jarvis Street Plan

Council was asked to support a proposal to redesign Jarvis Street, which requires the removal of the fifth automobile lane.  In addition, it was recommended that a new bike lane be installed on the reconfigured road.  I did not support removing the fifth lane as I feel it will create more congestion into the downtown core.  In addition, I did not support adding a bike lane as there is already a north-south bike lane on Sherbourne for cyclists.  Congestion is a critical issue in the City but pitting one road user against another is not a productive solution.  I feel our energies and resources must be focused on improving public transit so that we have a viable transportation solution for residents before we urge them out of their cars.

Special Meeting of Council,

June 26, 2009

Streetcar Funding

After the Federal government confirmed that the City’s request for stimulus funds to pay for one third of the new streetcar costs did not meet the established guidelines, Council was asked to make up the shortfall, bringing the total City investment to $834 million.  I did vote in favour of paying two thirds of the costs, after the TTC indicated it was able to defer $400 million dollars worth of projects.  Unfortunately, it became very apparent that the TTC did not have sufficient capital dollars to fund this project, creating serious financial challenges for the City.

Special Meeting of Council,

July 31, 2009

Ratification of Civic Strike Settlement

I did not support the settlement reached with the unions, as it did not reduce our labour costs sufficiently, which was the stated objective of the strike.  In particular, the sick-day provision was not eliminated, but simply phased out.  Residents endured a 39-day strike for a settlement that could have been reached months earlier and the City set a poor precedent for future labour negotiations. 

Council Meeting, August 5 and 6, 2009

Union Station Revitalization

I did not support the recommendation for the City to finance the revitalization of Union Station.  Rather, I feel it would have been a better financial choice for the City to sell the property to the Province, in recognition of the Station’s role as a regional transportation hub and allow them to make the critical investments to improve this asset. 

Council Meeting,  September 30 and October 1, 2009

Tower Proposal in Don Mills

Council was asked to consider a proposal that would amend height restrictions on buildings in order to construct two 26-storey buildings.  As part of the proposal, the developer also offered to construct a community centre as a part of the overall project.  Since the local councillor and community were supportive, I voted in favour of the proposal.  It did not achieve a majority of Council support.

Council Meeting of Council,

November 30 and December 1, 2, 4, 2009

Girls’ Hockey Ice Time

Allegations were recently made by the Leaside Girls Hockey team that they were not getting their fair share of ice time at certain arenas in North Toronto.  In response, Council was asked to consider a new policy whereby the General Manager of Parks and Recreation would be given the final authority on arena ice allocation times.  This request of Council bypassed usual procedure where such a policy would first be contemplated by a Standing Committee, permitting public input.  I attempted to have this matter referred back to Committee but it was not supported by a majority of Councillors. 

Special Meeting of Council,

December 7, 2009

Capital Budget

I did not vote in favour of the proposed capital budget.  In particular, I did not support the strategy to finance the construction of the York-Spadina subway and then use the dollars allocated for this project to reduce our debt load.  The reality is that Council had been poorly informed about the financial consequences of funding two-thirds of the streetcar deal and now we have to play financial games to make ends meet.