Local government of the City of Toronto
The
municipal government of Toronto
(
incorporated
as the
City of Toronto
)
[1]
is the
local government
responsible for administering the city of
Toronto
in the
Canadian province
of
Ontario
. Its structure and powers are set out in the
City of Toronto Act
.
The powers of the City of Toronto are exercised by its
legislative body
, known as
Toronto City Council
, which is composed of 25 members and the mayor. The council passes municipal legislation (called
by-laws
), approves spending, and has direct responsibility for the oversight of services delivered by the city and its agencies.
The
mayor of Toronto
serves as the
chief executive officer
and head of council. The day-to-day operation of the municipal government is managed by the city manager who is a public servant and head of the Toronto Public Service ? under the direction of the mayor and the council. The government employs over 38,000 public servants directly,
[2]
as well as affiliated agencies. Its operating budget was
CA$
20.53
billion
in 2023, including over $5.1
billion for the
Toronto Transit Commission
and $4
billion on emergency service agencies, such as the
Toronto Police Service
,
Fire Services
and
Paramedic Services
.
[3]
Administration and governance
[
edit
]
As the City of Toronto is constituted by, and derives its powers from, the province of Ontario, it is a "creature of the province" and is legally bound by various regulations and legislation of the
Ontario Legislature
, such as the
City of Toronto Act
,
Municipal Elections Act
,
Planning Act
, and others.
[4]
The
City of Toronto Act
lays down the division of powers, responsibilities and required duties of the corporation. It provides that if the City appoints a chief administrative officer (the city manager), then that person shall be responsible for the administrative management and operation of the City.
[5]
The Toronto Public Service By-law (TPS By-law), Chapter 192 of Toronto's municipal code, further strengthens the separation of the administrative components (the public service) and the political components (mayor and council) of the City of Toronto.
[6]
In general, the council determines the services provided to residents and develops programs and policies, while the public service implements the council's decisions.
[4]
Toronto City Council
[
edit
]
The council is the legislative body of the City of Toronto. It is composed of 25 city councillors (each representing a ward of around 96,800 people), along with the mayor. Elections are held every four years, in October, with the mayor and councillors being elected by Canadian citizens who live or own property in Toronto. The
mayor of Toronto
serves as the political head of the City of Toronto.
The council is the only power able to enact Toronto laws, known as by-laws, which govern the actions of the corporation and/or matters within its jurisdiction, such as administration of the Canadian
Criminal Code
within its borders.
[7]
It also forms several committees, including the
Board of Health
and "Community Councils", which hear matters relating to narrower, district issues, such as building permits and developments requiring changes to zoning by-laws. Community Council decisions, as well as those of the mayor, must be approved by the city council at regular sessions.
[4]
Toronto Public Service
[
edit
]
The Toronto Public Service is responsible for providing politically neutral advice to council, and delivering services to the City's residents. As of March 2022, there were nearly 40,000 active employees.
[2]
The city manager (formerly the chief administrative officer), who reports to the mayor and the council, is the administrative head of the City of Toronto. While the city manager and public service are ultimately accountable to the council, the council may not give specific direction to public servants, and members of the council do not manage the day-to-day operations of the city.
[5]
The following senior staff report to the city manager:
[8]
- Four deputy city managers (including one as chief financial officer and treasurer), each responsible for a service cluster
- Heads of divisions including general managers, executive directors and directors are responsible to the city manager through the deputy city manager of their respective cluster
- Chief of staff
- Chief communications officer and directors of executive administration, governance and corporate strategy, Toronto Office of Partnerships, Intergovernmental and Agency Relations, and the Civic Innovation Office are responsible to the city manager through the chief of staff
- Chief people officer
- Manager of the Indigenous Affairs Office
City officials reporting directly to the council:
- Auditor general
- Integrity commissioner
- Lobbyists registrar
- Ombudsman
The following officials report to the council for statutory purposes, but to the city manager for administrative purposes:
- City clerk
- City solicitor
- Medical officer of health (through the
Board of Health
)
Finances
[
edit
]
The City of Toronto represents the fifth-largest municipal government in North America. It has two budgets: the
operating
budget, which is the cost of operating programs, services, and the cost of governing; and the
capital
budget, which covers the cost of building and the upkeep of infrastructure. The City's capital budget and plan for 2019?2028 is
CA$
40.67
billion
.
[9]
Under the
City of Toronto Act
, the Toronto government cannot run a deficit for its annual
operating budget
.
[10]
The city's revenues include 33% from property tax, 6% from the land transfer tax, subsidies from the
Canadian federal government
and the
Ontario provincial government
, and the rest from other revenues and user fees.
[9]
The council has set the limit of debt charges not to exceed 15% of the property tax revenues.
[11]
The city has an AA
credit rating
from
Standard & Poor's
, and an Aa1 credit rating from
Moody's
.
[12]
[13]
[14]
Toronto's debt stood at $3.9
billion at the end of 2016.
[15]
Capital expenditures are 39% funded from debt.
[15]
History
[
edit
]
The City of Toronto was incorporated in 1834, succeeding
York
, which was administered directly by the then-province of
Upper Canada
. The new city was administered by an elected council, which served a one-year term. The first mayor, chosen by the elected councillors, was
William Lyon Mackenzie
. The first
by-law
passed was
An Act for the preventing & extinguishing of Fires
.
[16]
The first mayor directly elected to the post was
Adam Wilson
, elected in 1859. Through 1955 the term of office for the mayor and the council was one year; it then varied between two and three years until a four-year term was adopted starting in 2006. (See
List of Toronto municipal elections
.)
To finance operations, the municipality levied property taxes. In 1850, Toronto also started levying income taxes.
[17]
Toronto levied personal income taxes until 1936, and corporate income taxes until 1944.
[18]
Until 1914, Toronto grew by annexing neighbouring municipalities such as
Parkdale
and
Seaton Village
. After 1914, Toronto stopped annexing bordering municipalities, although some municipalities overwhelmed by growth requested it. After World War II, an extensive group of suburban villages and townships surrounded Toronto. Change to the legal structure came in 1954, with the creation of the Municipality of
Metropolitan Toronto
(known more popularly as "Metro") in 1954. This new regional government, which encompassed Toronto and the smaller communities of
East York
,
Etobicoke
,
Forest Hill
,
Leaside
,
Long Branch
,
Mimico
,
New Toronto
,
North York
,
Scarborough
,
Swansea
,
Weston
and
York
, was created by the Government of Ontario to support suburban growth. This new municipality could borrow money on its own for capital projects and it received taxes from all municipalities including Toronto, which meant that the Toronto tax base was now available to support the suburban growth. The new regional government built highways, water systems and public transit, while the thirteen townships, villages, towns, and cities continued to provide some local services to their residents. To manage the yearly upkeep of the new infrastructure, the new regional government levied its own property tax, collected by the local municipalities.
On January 1, 1967, several of the smaller municipalities were amalgamated with larger ones, reducing their number to six. Forest Hill and Swansea became part of Toronto; Long Branch, Mimico, and New Toronto joined Etobicoke; Weston merged with York, and Leaside amalgamated with East York. This arrangement lasted until 1998.
Although a referendum of the Metro municipalities showed broad opposition, the Ontario government passed the
City of Toronto Act, 1996
, which spelled the demise of the Metro Toronto federation. During 1997, the municipalities of Metro were placed under provincial trusteeship. On January 1, 1998, Metro and its constituent municipalities were dissolved, replaced by the single-tier "megacity" of Toronto, which is the successor of the previous City of Toronto.
Mel Lastman
, the long-time mayor of North York before the amalgamation, became the
first mayor
(62nd overall) of the new megacity.
Existing by-laws of the individual municipalities were retained until new citywide by-laws could be written and enacted. New citywide by-laws have since been enacted, although many of the individual differences were continued, applying only to the districts where the by-laws applied, such as winter sidewalk clearing and garbage pickup. The existing city halls of the various municipalities were retained by the new corporation for various purposes. The City of York's civic centre became a court office. The existing 1965 City Hall of Toronto became the city hall of the new megacity, while Metro Hall, the "city hall" of the Metro government, is used as municipal office space. The community councils of Etobicoke?York, North York and Scarborough meet in their respective pre-existing municipal buildings.
In 2018, just before
that year's provincial election
, the Ontario government of Doug Ford passed the
Better Local Government Act
, which redefined the number and representation of Toronto City Council. The number of councillors was reduced to 25, and council districts were defined that matched provincial electoral districts. The passage took place during the ongoing election campaign and spurred a number of lawsuits by potential candidates and a referral to the Ontario courts of the act's constitutionality. Its constitutionality was upheld and the reduced number of councillors was elected.
In 2022, the Ford government passed the
Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act
, which redefined the powers of the mayor of Toronto. Under the act, the mayor could overrule a motion of City Council that had less than a 66 percent plurality. Ostensibly introduced to allow the passage of bylaws that would increase the supply of housing in Toronto, the act received considerable criticism as anti-democratic. The mayor at the time, John Tory, supported the law
[20]
and pledged to continue to act by consensus.
[21]
Divisions, agencies and corporations
[
edit
]
Toronto City Council is the primary decision making body defined in the
City of Toronto Act
. A number of divisions (core public service, or "Toronto Public Service"; responsible to the city council through the city manager), agencies (responsible through their relevant boards), and corporations (municipally owned through the city council) administer programs and services as directed by the city council.
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
- Toronto City Council
?
Mayor of Toronto
- Office of the City Clerk
- Office of the Ombudsman
- Office of the Auditor General
- Office of the Integrity Commissioner
- Office of the Lobbyist Registrar
- Medical officer of health (statutory; see Public Health)
- Office of the City Manager
- Office of the Chief of Staff
- Strategic Communications ? Chief communications officer
- Office of the Chief Information Security Officer
- People & Equity Division ? Chief people officer
- Indigenous Affairs Office ? Director
- Governance & Corporate Strategy ? Director
- Intergovernmental and Agency Relations ? Director
- Executive Administration ? Director
- Strategic Partnerships ? Director
- Concept2Keys ? Chief operating officer
- Community & Social Services ? Deputy city manager
- Infrastructure & Development Services ? Deputy city manager
- Corporate Services ? Deputy city manager
- Technology Services ? Chief technology officer
- 311 Toronto ? Director
- Fleet Services ? General manager
- Environment & Energy ? Director
- Corporate Real Estate Management ? Executive director
- Finance & Treasury Services ? Chief financial officer and treasurer
- Financial Planning ? Executive director
- Internal Audit ? Director
- Office of the Controller
- Accounting Services ? Director
- Pension, Payroll & Employee Benefits ? Director
- Purchasing & Materials Management ? Chief procurement officer
- Revenue Services ? Director
- Agencies (operate separately from the core public administration; responsible to the council through respective boards)
- Corporations (publicly owned by the City of Toronto through the council)
- Partnered corporations
- Quasi-judicial and adjudicative boards
- Administrative Penalty Tribunal (parking enforcement)
- Committee of Adjustment
- Committee of Revision
- Compliance Audit Committee
- Dangerous Dog Review Tribunal
- Property Standards Committee
- Rooming House Licensing Commissioner
- Sign Variance Committee
- Toronto Licensing Tribunal
- Toronto Local Appeal Body
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Headley v. City of Toronto"
.
canlii.org
. Retrieved
April 7,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Workforce Statistics"
.
City of Toronto
. March 1, 2022
. Retrieved
June 27,
2022
.
- ^
"Highlights from Toronto 2020 budget"
.
thestar.com
. February 19, 2020
. Retrieved
November 18,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Introduction to Toronto's Government"
(PDF)
.
- ^
a
b
"Memorandum from City Manager and City Solicitor to Mayor and Council RE: Notice of Motion MM11.9"
(PDF)
.
- ^
"Toronto Public Service By-Law"
.
City of Toronto
. August 24, 2017
. Retrieved
December 4,
2019
.
- ^
"City of Toronto Act, 2006"
. Government of Ontario
. Retrieved
May 28,
2019
.
- ^
"Administrative Structure"
(PDF)
.
- ^
a
b
"Budget 2017 Charts"
. City of Toronto
. Retrieved
September 13,
2017
.
- ^
"Toronto's Budget: A Decoder"
.
www.torontoist.com
. Retrieved
January 20,
2014
.
- ^
"capital_financing.pdf"
(PDF)
.
www.toronto.ca
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on June 10, 2014
. Retrieved
January 20,
2014
.
- ^
Moloney, Paul (June 27, 2011).
"Toronto debt $4.4B and rising"
.
Toronto Star
. Retrieved
August 12,
2011
.
- ^
"Toronto (City of)"
.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
. McGraw Hill Financial
. Retrieved
June 21,
2015
.
- ^
Heitmann, Kathrin.
"Toronto, City of"
.
Moody's
. Retrieved
June 21,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"2015 Annual Report"
(PDF)
. City of Toronto. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on March 30, 2017
. Retrieved
September 14,
2017
.
- ^
"Toronto in 1834"
. City of Toronto. Archived from
the original
on October 3, 2015
. Retrieved
October 2,
2015
.
- ^
An Act to establish a more equal and just system of Assessment in the several Townships, Villages, Towns and Cities in Upper Canada
, S.Prov.C. 1850, c. 67, s. 4
- ^
Sewell, John
(April 2011).
"Letter"
.
The Walrus
.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2013
. Retrieved
March 18,
2013
.
- ^
"
'Nobody' cares about his new 'strong mayor' powers, John Tory tells his critics"
.
thestar.com
. December 14, 2022
. Retrieved
December 22,
2022
.
- ^
"In first meeting of new Toronto council, Mayor John Tory outlines conditions for using 'strong mayor' powers"
.
thestar.com
. November 23, 2022
. Retrieved
December 22,
2022
.
- ^
"City of Toronto Administrative Structure (organizational chaart)"
(PDF)
. March 10, 2021.
- ^
"Toronto Agencies and CorporationsMay-2020.pdf"
. May 2020.
- ^
"Staff Directory, Divisions & Customer Service"
.
City of Toronto
. August 4, 2017
. Retrieved
April 3,
2021
.
- ^
"Agencies"
.
City of Toronto
. March 11, 2019
. Retrieved
April 3,
2021
.
- ^
"Toronto Port Lands Company"
.
City of Toronto
. Retrieved
February 15,
2022
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Sewell, John (1993).
The Shape of the City: Toronto struggles with modern planning
. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN
0-8020-7409-X
.
- Sewell, John (2009).
The Shape of the Suburbs: Understanding Toronto's Sprawl
. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN
9780802098849
.
External links
[
edit
]