We considered items relating to homeless shelters, the FIFA World Cup, Toronto's Winter Maintenance Program, new protections for renters, Metrolinx construction issues, measures to address rat infestations and more.
City Council met this week for the final time before city legislative business pauses for the summer. It was a marathon Council session, finishing late Thursday evening.
We discussed items relating to homeless shelters, the city's bidding process for the FIFA World Cup, Toronto's Winter Maintenance Program and 'insourcing' litter removal.
We also considered new property standards rules to protect renters, Metrolinx-related and other construction issues, measures to address rat infestations and more.
We considered a report from the City Manager and Auditor General on Toronto's Winter Maintenance Program.
City Council called for this report, which included analysis from independent specialists, after major issues with the city's snow clearing services in response to the February 2025 winter storm.
The report identified several issues relating to the city's Major Snow Response Plan, along with snow removal and snow storage.
The report also examined the high volume of 311 requests made by residents for roads and sidewalks left inaccessible, at times for several days, to be cleared of snow after last February's storm.
Council also directed the City Manager to work with other city divisions and the specialists who conducted the independent review to develop a Major Snow Event Plan and related communications plan, which will be presented to Executive Committee in November.
Council approved the Mayor's motion adopted at Executive Committee last week to have city staff report in November on the potential of adding additional snow removal capacity and if removal services would be more efficiently provided by the city instead of private contractors, as is currently the case.
An internal audit will be conducted to ensure snow maintenance contracts were awarded appropriately and fairly.
The Auditor General's report on snow clearing, discussed at Audit Committee earlier this month, reviewed the process in which snow clearing services contracts were awarded under the previous mayor.
I moved a motion at Audit Committee this month earlier this month asked for information on the procurement process used to award the current winter maintenance contracts.
This was brought to Council this week, which you can read more about here.
These concurrent processes are critical in ensuring we avoid the same issues we saw in February. I'm committed to seeing this process through to ensure we're getting value for money and effective, timely snow clearing and removal services.
Read the Auditor General and City Manager reports we considered at Council this week to learn more.
We also considered an Auditor General's concerning report on Toronto's bid to host several matches at the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The report identified "potential financial, operational, and reputational risks" to the city resulting from the lack of oversight measures during the bidding process.
Many of these concerns centre around the city staff authorized to negotiate with FIFA failing to report key details to Council, including the conditions for pulling out of the bid, after hosting costs ballooned far beyond the $30 to $45 million initially estimated by staff.
Other concerns focused on former Mayor John Tory and his failure to recuse himself and declare a conflict on key votes and decisions relating to the city's FIFA bid while in a relationship with a former staffer and MLSE employee directly involved in the organization's World Cup initiatives.
Building on Mayor Chow's improvements to World Cup governance introduced last year, Council adopted the Auditor General's report, which included several recommendations to improve oversight on the bidding process for major international events.
Read the Auditor General's report to learn more.
City Council also voted in favour of staff recommendations to bring the city's mechanical litter removal (litter vacuum) program back in-house.
This comes after staff identified approximately $1.8 million in savings for the city if it 'insourced' the litter vacuum program. This staff estimate accounts for equipment and staffing costs the city would incur bringing this program back in-house.
Like litter collection, winter maintenance and countless other examples, we've seen many issues with various outsourced, privatized services previously provided by the city.
Often pursued for ideological reasons by previous administrations, residents were promised outsourced services previously operated by the city would deliver similar levels of service for less cost to taxpayers.
Instead, many of these outsourced programs have resulted in poorer service, transparency questions and costs exceeding what the city initially agreed to and what it was previously paying to deliver equal or greater levels of service in-house.
I'm pleased this program will be brought back in-house and that the city will examine similar opportunities for 'insourcing' other programs in the future.
Learn more about this item here.
Council considered a number of housing and planning items this week.
One of our most intensive debates at Council this week was on zoning changes for six approved city homeless shelters.
The item, which was solely on whether to approve zoning changes to allow for the proposed height of these future shelters, was quickly politicized after a small handful of City Councillors sought to turn the rezoning item into a proxy to further their broader political interests.
I was troubled to see some of my colleagues politicize the deep-rooted, complex issues of poverty and homelessness.
With approximately 15,000 people homeless in Toronto and nearly 150 people turned away from city shelters daily, this is not an issue but a crisis that requires all of us to step up and take action.
I was glad to support the item and pleased my colleagues voted overwhelmingly to approve the rezoning to allow these shelters to proceed.
Everyone has a responsibility to help others. Everyone has a responsibility to lift each other up.
Read more here.
Council voted to require colour-coded ratings - styled after the city's DineSafe program - to be posted showing property standard scores and ongoing maintenance issues for every RentSafeTO apartment building.
Designed to ‘shame’ landlords of rundown buildings, buildings with three or more storeys and ten or more units 10 will be required to post these colour-coded rankings beginning in July 2026.
Toronto will be the first city in the province to adopt colour-coded ratings for apartment buildings, which ACORN and other tenant advocates called for as a measure to protect renters from rundown buildings and landlords who refuse to address rodent, pest and bed bug infestations, remove mould, make basic repairs and respond to other critical property standards issues.
I was pleased to vote in favour of this motion and will continue to support measures to keep tenants safe and hold bad landlords to account.
Council approved city staff recommendations to increase the supply of affordable homes.
A series of investments and supports were approved by City Council this week, including:
The city's new Rat Response Plan was approved by City Council this week.
The plan contains proactive measures to address Toronto's increasing rat population.
It prioritizes preventative measures focused on environmental changes that minimize the conditions for rats to thrive.
Read more about the city's new Rat Response Plan.
Rats are a growing issue across the city, including here in Toronto-Danforth, where major Ontario Line construction is displacing rodents, which in turn are infesting an increasing number of nearby homes.
In addition to posing potential health hazards, rat infestations are both distressing and expensive to address.
Many residents, already facing significant noise and dust pollution, traffic restrictions, transit impacts and utility service disruptions caused by Ontario Line construction, have reached out to my office for help.
They’ve told me about the lack of preventive measures in place and difficulties getting full and timely reimbursement for pest control costs promised by Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for building this new transit line.
In response, I moved a motion that was approved by City Council this week calling on Metrolinx to put in place a comprehensive rat management plan that aligns with the proactive approach taken in the city’s new plan and properly supports residents facing rat infestations caused by Ontario Line construction.
Read my motion to learn more.
Council adopted a recommendation to require a robust public consultation plan from Metrolinx for the Gerrard Portal haul route before the city grants approvals or permits for this element of the project.
The city's Transit Expansion office will report on Metrolinx's proposed public consultation plan at the September meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council.
Metrolinx must take every measure to keep the community safe. This includes informing residents where construction trucks and other heavy equipment will be operating in their neighbourhood.
Ontario Line construction has been disruptive for our community, but especially for families and staff at Pape Avenue Junior Public School and Pape Children’s House.
City Council approved a series of temporary traffic and parking changes which will accommodate safe student transportation.
These will come into effect in September. They include:
Carlaw
Strathcona
Jones
View the agenda items for Jones, Strathcona and Carlaw to learn more.
Council adopted my motion calling on city staff to review the use and impact of micromobility vehicles, associated with delivery apps, on pedestrians to navigate Toronto's sidewalks.
My motion also calls for city staff to work with BIAs, local businesses, the city's Accessibility Committee and other stakeholders to develop immediate and long-term measures to address impacts.
We also discussed the city's process for awarding permits to utility companies for excavating roads and sidewalks.
The discussion centred around improving the city's process for granting permits to utilities for 'cuts', or excavation work. Utility cuts often keep streets closed for prolonged periods while leaving roads and sidewalks damaged and work zones uncleaned, often with little to no repercussions.
They agreed that existing measures were inadequate and have committed to strengthening accountability.
City Council approved the RapidTO bus lanes on Dufferin and Bathurst south of Bloor, which I discussed last week.
I was pleased to vote in favour of these RapidTO bus lanes and will continue to support new infrastructure to make travelling on the TTC quicker and more convenient.
Read more here.
View the full City Council agenda for more on these and other items we considered this week.
We considered issues such as speed cameras, expanding the Toronto Community Crisis Service to the TTC and more, as well as several of my motions.
My latest newsletter looks back at the major accomplishments and moments in Toronto-Danforth and at City Hall over the last year.
Luella Price Lane was named after the Eureka Club founder and resident of the Black community in early 1900s Leslieville.
