politics How Council’s Committees Could Change for the Second Half of John Tory’s Term

Josh Matlow gets shafted, again.

Every two years, council picks its new dodgeball teams. Since council doesn’t actually have dodgeball—which is unfortunate—this takes the form of council committees.

Some committees, of course, are more desired than others. Executive Committee (which basically functions like the mayor’s cabinet), Budget Committee, the TTC, and public works are the big prizes for councillors who want to be seen and heard.

Halfway through each term, the committees get re-shuffled, and it tells us something about council’s dynamic to see who winds up where and to speculate why.

Committees play an important role at council. Various committees look at issues in detail before passing on recommendations to council. More often than not, council upholds these recommendations—after all, the committee had a chance to look at the issue in greater detail. These committees are put together by Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East), in part based on ranked preferences submitted by each councillor. The recommendations are forwarded to council, where they will likely approve most of them (sometimes there are changes at that later stage, but they tend to be minor).

Michelle Holland (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest) is off executive at mid-term, and she’s replaced by Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32, Beaches-East York), who is now the chair of the Parks and Environment Committee. Holland will become the “Innovation Economy” lead on council, a new role appointed by the mayor. She’s proposed a bunch of member motions about SmartCars and SmartCities and the disruption economy and so on, so it makes some sense.

One of the most significant committee concerns was municipal licensing and standards, which was in large part responsible for the Uber fiasco. The circus-like atmosphere at the committee was the result of putting a bunch of grandstanding councillors on one committee so they didn’t affect others. Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s) was the pitiable outlier on the committee, often pleading for some semblance of civility.

Matlow won’t return, and will likely be thankful for that. Instead, Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt), Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre), Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York South-Weston), Frank Di Giorgio (Ward 12, York South-Weston), and Jon Burnside (Ward 26, Don Valley West) comprise the committee that continues to be chaired by Cesar Palacio (Ward 17, Davenport). Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West), who was often the source of much noise on the committee, gets a quasi-promotion to public works.

John Tory will continue to sit on the Police Services Board, which fulfills a campaign promise he made. This decision has been the source of some discomfort, as it puts him in the spotlight on issues like carding, the police budget, and the subject of protests from Black Lives Matter.

Downtown councillors continue to be shut out from key committees like executive. Left wing councillors complain this trend shuts out important perspectives on issues like the East Gardiner, pedestrian safety, shelters, and more.

Not all was well for Matlow, though. As first noted by the Star‘s Jennifer Pagliaro, the councillor was the only person to be removed from chairing a committee he wanted to lead. Although the Ward 22 councillor has more tenants in his ward than any other, Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s) will now lead the tenant issues committee.

Hey, someone has to be picked last for dodgeball.