May City Council Recap

Last week was the May meeting of City Council. We considered and debated several major issues.

These included Ombudsman recommendations to protect renters, the demonstration ‘bubble zone’ bylaw, expanding the Toronto Community Crisis Service to the TTC, measures to protect Toronto's film industry, the Unwin Avenue Bridge and more.

View the full agenda for more on other items from last week.

Demonstration ‘Bubble Zone’ Bylaw

The proposed demonstration ‘bubble zone’ bylaw was one of the key items at City Council last week. The bylaw bans protests within 50 metres from childcare centres, places of worship and schools.

While the bylaw ultimately passed, I did not support it. Since the bylaw was first proposed last year, I heard from hundreds of residents concerned about its impact on their Charter rights.

Of almost 43,000 respondents who participated in the city's consultation on the bubble zone bylaw, 63 percent were unsupportive.

With over 3,000 locations covered under the bylaw, it's also unwieldly and hard to oversee.

The city and police also already have tools for responding to problematic incidents at protests and demonstrations. I'm not convinced Toronto bylaw officers, who are charged with enforcing the new bylaw, will be effective in doing so.

It's also very uncertain if the bylaw, amended last week to be even more restrictive, could pass a court challenge.

What's more, the federal government is reportedly considering passing similar legislation. While similarly concerning from a Charter perspective, if passed it would render Toronto's bylaw redundant, wasting precious city resources creating and implementing an unnecessary bylaw.

I have and will continue standing up to hate and intolerance in all its forms. Limiting Charter rights through a misplaced, ineffective and legally dubious bylaw is neither a democratic nor effective way of doing so.

Ombudsman Recommendations to Protect Renters

Council also passed a series of recommendations from the Ombudsman to ensure the city properly enforces existing rules to protect tenants.

The recommendations come from the Ombudsman investigation into the city's response to a rooming house fire in northwest Toronto where the landlord left 11 tenants without heat and water from September 2023 to March 2024.

The Ombudsman's findings were troubling. He found Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS) staff were unaware of current rules to protect tenants and failed to act according to procedure.

City bylaws require landlords to provide heat, electricity and water. While MLS has the authority to force property owners to undertake immediate repairs to these critical services, the Ombudsman found city staff chose not to exercise their authority.

I was pleased to stand alongside my colleagues in support of the Ombudsman's recommendations, which were adopted. My amendment calling for further review of several troubling aspects of this incident was also adopted.

Thank you to Mayor Chow for making this her key item at Council last week. This incident was unacceptable. We must ensure this never happens to a renter in Toronto again.

Read the Ombudsman's report or Council agenda item to learn more.

Expanding Toronto's New Crisis Service to the TTC

Council also adopted updates to the city’s SafeTO: Toronto’s 10-Year Community Safety & Well-Being Plan.

This included approving the expansion of the Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) to help respond to mental health-related calls on the TTC.

Operating city-wide for less than a year, the TCCS has demonstrated success in helping those experiencing a mental health crisis and freeing up resources for Toronto's other emergency responders. I'm confident it will also help encourage residents to continue using transit.

I've proudly supported the creation of the TCCS, its growth from a pilot program to a permanent, city-wide service and now its expansion to the TTC.

Protecting Toronto's Film Industry

I also moved a motion at City Council calling on the provincial and federal governments to implement several immediate measures to protect and grow the city's film industry.

My motion was in response to Donald Trump's recently proposed tariffs on foreign-made films. These directly threaten our thriving film and television sector, which employs over 30,000 people and contributes approximately $2.6 billion annually to our economy.

Mayor Chow also raised the importance of protecting the Canadian film, television and digital media industry in her meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Carney.

As Councillor for Ward 14 - the heart of the industry in Toronto - Chair of the Toronto Film, Television, and Digital Media Board and a longtime advocate for our film sector, I'll always stand up for this critically important industry which contributes so much to Toronto's economic and cultural vibrancy.

Read more here.

New Unwin Avenue Bridge

City Council approved staff recommendations to replace the single-lane Unwin Avenue Bridge in the Port Lands.

This bridge can't continue supporting the level of traffic we saw last summer during the frequent closures of the Cherry Street Ship Channel Bridge.

I'm pleased my Council colleagues approved staff recommendations for a new two-lane design, which will bring the bridge up to a more modern standard.

View the staff report or agenda item to learn more.

Sign up to get my updates on what's happening in Toronto-Danforth and at City Hall.