Mayor Rob Ford can’t stop transit tax discussion, say councillors

Just because Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee won’t talk taxes for transit, doesn’t mean the rest of council is prepared to let the matter drop.

Other councillors were gathering signatures to petition the city clerk for a special meeting even before Ford’s executive voted 6-4 Tuesday to defer debate on a city manager’s report recommending four revenue tools to pay for transit expansion.

No dates have been determined, said councillor Josh Matlow. But it would have to be before Metrolinx makes its recommendations to the province on May 27.

The executive committee had deferred debate on the report until May 28. The report endorses a sales tax, gas tax, parking levy and development charges as the best ways to fund transit

On Wednesday, councillors were still trying to figure out how council can seize control of the issue in time.

Any councillor can make a motion to discuss city manager Joe Pennachetti’s report on transit taxes at the May 7-8 council meeting. But two-thirds of council — 30, if all members are present — needs to vote in favour of adding the item to the agenda before it can be discussed.

Only half of council — 23 of 45 members — needs to sign a request for a special meeting that would specifically discuss transit revenue tools. At that meeting, two-thirds of the council members present would have to consent to remove the issue from executive committee’s jurisdiction and put it before council. The meeting would have to be held within 48 hours of the petition being filed with the clerk’s office.

City manager Joe Pennachetti also has the option of placing the item on the council agenda, said councillor Josh Colle, who said there was no consensus as of Wednesday morning on how to re-open the tax discussion.

“There are more than 30 of us that haven’t had the chance to debate this issue or change it or shape it. It’s unfortunate that six councillors denied us that opportunity,” Colle said.

“I have spent the better part of my elected political career talking about transit expansion and we’ve been dancing around it and hashing it out and then it’s finally coming to the province and we’re going to duck on it,” he said.

Matlow said he’s confident council will implement some form of “damage control” before time runs out for the city’s input.

“Any municipality that doesn’t get on (Metrolinx’s) Big Move train now will be left behind at the station holding nothing but their luggage,” he said.

“Rather than showing leadership, and engaging the process so new investment gains for Toronto’s local transit priorities, Mayor Ford is making cities like Mississauga look like better and more dependable partners,” said Matlow.

“Obviously the mayor’s 6-4 vote isn’t going to be the last word on this,” said left-wing councillor Paula Fletcher, who speculated that councillors might find another way to talk about transit taxes without invoking the city manager’s report.

She called the executive committee decision “disappointing. . . bordering on irresponsible.”

Fletcher said Tuesday’s executive meeting felt like the provincial legislature. “I felt like it was a the strong views of (Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader) Tim Hudak being represented in the mayor,” she said.

Councillor Gary Crawford, a Ford ally who voted to shelve the transit tax report, said on Wednesday he is not opposed to council having its say.

“I think if there is a majority (of councillors) who want to bring it to the table, that’s fine — we can have that discussion and allow council to move forward. If that’s the wish of a majority of council, so be it.”

Crawford said he disagrees with the process of municipalities making recommendations to the province which will then decide what fees and levies to impose.

“If the provincial government wants to raise taxes, they should do the heavy political lifting and make recommendations and then put them before municipalities to have our say.”

“If the mayor and others want to be a dissenting voice on revenue tools, they can express that at council and go on record,” said councillor James Pasternak, a centrist who represents Ward 10 York Centre.

Deferring the issue until it’s too late to have the province consider the city’s position is “regrettable” and “stretches out the pain that too many Torontonians have suffered with these transit woes,” he said, adding that that traffic and TTC service are the number one issue he hears in the community.

Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig has said his agency considers council’s decision as the city’s corporate position on funding tools for transit expansion.

The provincial body is legislatively bound to deliver its investment strategy to Queen’s Park and the regional municipalities by June 1.