The Bill to Reduce the Number of Toronto City Councilors to 25

The Honorable Rob Ford

Premier of Ontario

Toronto, Canada

Cc: Legislative Assembly; Executive Council

Subject: A Proposal to Bill Amendment

Dear Premier Ford,

The bill to reduce the number of Toronto city councilors to 25 from 47 is of particular importance to me because I am a citizen of Toronto. This issue directly affects me because I believe the change in ward boundaries will lead to increased workload on the representatives, thus affecting their motivation and performance. I am majorly concerned about your proposed 25-ward structure, which means that a single councilor will have to represent approximately 110, 000 people per ward (Gray & Giovannetti, 2018). The figure is much larger than the previous 47-ward structure representation whereby a councilor represented an average of 61,000 citizens (Gray & Giovannetti, 2018). Such a system may be marred by performance inadequacies as a smaller number in members of the council is likely to be overwhelmed with workload. By downsizing the ward structure, each of the remaining councilors will have to shoulder on more planning duties, work on more projects and complete more paperwork aimed at improving the living standards of an increased population. Additionally, the plan fails to account for the projected population growth within the city, which means there will be a decline in governance representation across the Toronto in the near future.

I am aware that your proposal is purposed to enhance decision-making process and save the taxpayers approximately $ 25 million in staff and councilor salaries over four years (Benzie, 2018). Even though you seem to have the interests of the population at heart, I am afraid to note that the implementation of your bill may fail to meet the intended objectives as the reduction will likely force councilors to double their office staffs to help handle the workload that comes with an increased population representation. Therefore, I am proposing for an amendment to the legislation to enhance appropriate governance representation. I am looking forward to your opinion about my proposal and whether it has weight in changing your current stance on the issue.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and consider my take on the matter. I am confident that it is crucial and I would like to see the bill modified to enhance quality service delivery.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Address]

[Phone Number]

[Email address]

References

Benzie, R. (2018, July 26). Ford to slash Toronto city council to 25 councillors from 47, sources say. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/26/ford-to-slash-toronto-city-council-to-25-councillors-from-47-sources-say.html

Gray, J., & Giovannetti, J. (2018, August 27). Toronto argues Doug Ford’s council reduction violates ‘constitutional principles.’ The Global Mail . Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-toronto-argues-doug-fords-council-reduction-violates-constitutional/