Bold Election Ideas for the Toronto Region

Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance releases bold ideas from some of Toronto’s most respected leaders, ahead of the municipal election.

Toronto, September 17, 2018 – Elections are an ideal time to talk and ask questions, often uncomfortable ones, about the places we live and the opportunities we are creating for those who live here. To encourage those conversations and provide some answers, the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) at the University of Toronto is releasing 15 short pre-election papers, tapping into the ideas of some of Toronto’s most respected leaders.

The papers cover a wide range of themes – transportation, housing, homelessness, decent work, neighbourhoods, urban Indigenous reconciliation, mental health, electoral reform, regional and local governance, policing, and the arts. Authors include Jan De Silva (Toronto Region Board of Trade), Sevaun Palvetzian and Jodie Rawn (CivicAction), Dr. Kwame McKenzie (Wellesley Institute), Daniele Zanotti (United Way), Pamela Palmater, Cathy Crowe, and Alok Mukherjee (Ryerson University), Deena Ladd and Mary Gellatly (Workers’ Action Centre), Tim Jones (Artscape), Meric Gertler, Richard Florida, and Kofi Hope (University of Toronto), Alan Broadbent and Enid Slack (IMFG), Marcy Burchfield (Neptis Foundation), and Steve Munro (transit journalist).

Here are just some of the ideas the next municipal council could implement:

• Reform Toronto’s municipal council by limiting councillors to a maximum of two five-year terms;
• Use Toronto’s power in hiring and procurement to improve working conditions for residents;
• Ensure that all Toronto residents have a right, not just to housing, but to basic shelter;
• Include Indigenous voices in municipal decision making;
• Develop a formal model of collaboration between the City of Toronto and GTHA municipalities on matters that cross municipal boundaries such as transit, land use, and economic development;
• End the expensive and pointless practice of fining poor people for minor infractions of the law; and
• Provide more effective support for vulnerable youth.

These subjects do not always make for easy conversations, but elections are a time to probe our civic life and assess our progress ‑ or lack of it ‑ since the last election. The IMFG pre-election series can guide us in exploring where we want to go and how to get there.