Toronto’s city manager Peter Wallace has announced he is stepping down for a top public appointment in Ottawa after less than three years at city hall.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office announced Thursday Wallace is being tapped to become secretary of the Treasury Board starting April 4.

The 59-year-old career public servant, known for his quick wit and frank talk in committee rooms and the council chamber, was appointed to the top job at city hall in May 2015 after retiring as head of Ontario’s public service. He was a fellow at the University of Toronto before coming to city hall.

“I am only leaving here because this is a fantastic opportunity in the Government of Canada to serve at the national level. That is the only thing that would have moved me,” Wallace told the Star in an interview.

Wallace is the latest and highest ranking in a growing list of top public officials to leave their posts during Mayor John Tory’s administration.

He follows deputy city manager John Livey, who announced his retirement in December and the earlier departures of chief financial officer Rob Rossini, who also retired; TTC CEO Andy Byford, who took the top transit job in New York City; chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who announced she would not be seeking to renew her contract in August; interim Toronto Community Housing CEO Greg Spearn, who was passed over for the top job; general manager of transportation services Stephen Buckley, and general manager of solid waste Beth Goodger.

Only the TCH and general manager positions have been filled permanently.

“This is a larger exodus than we saw under Rob Ford,” said Councillor Gord Perks. “I am very worried about where this leaves the city. The only senior public official we have who is still in her job is our city solicitor and she is relatively new.”

In a press release, Tory wished Wallace well, saying he “set a tone of absolute professionalism and raised the bar on customer service excellence by helping to transform city services to meet the needs of a modern city.”

Wallace recommended Giuliana Carbone, deputy city manager, take over on an interim basis “to ensure a smooth transition” in an election year.

“I wouldn’t have gone if I didn’t have confidence in the professionalism and capacity of the service,” Wallace said.

There is much work to do.

Major infrastructure projects representing billions of dollars, including a Scarborough subway extension, “SmartTrack” GO stations, and Gardiner East replacement, have yet to get underway. The transit projects have not been approved for construction. Planning for a relief line subway continues.

For much of his time at city hall, Wallace and staff have been preparing a long-term financial plan, which was meant to “ensure the city runs well, spends public money wisely and delivers the programs and services residents need and want over the long term,” the city website says.

In December 2016, it was promised “well in advance” of the 2018 budget.

It has yet to be delivered.

This city manager has, for three years, faced a council, led by Tory, which has repeatedly rejected his advice about not to delay solving the city’s financial problems.

Wallace has compared one-time, unsustainable budget strategies — council again approved such a budget for 2018 on Monday — to kicking the can down the road, and warned that relying on a hot housing market to balance the operating budget could spell disaster should sales sag.

At what will now be his last annual address to the University of Toronto’s Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance in October, Wallace told a full house the city’s budget process has amounted to “relentless reinforcement of the status quo.”

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The most significant new tool to generate revenue approved by council — tolling the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway — was later scrapped unexpectedly by Premier Kathleen Wynne, whose government’s sign-off was required for implementation.

In the meantime, Wallace said he was proud to achieve budget restraint requested, including direction from Tory and council for an across-the-board spending freeze in 2018.

“I know that that’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but those were the instructions and we’ve been able to deliver on them.”

He said council is not listening to his advice is “not frustrating at all.”

“There is a reality that public servants provide advice,” he said.

“We implement what council decides.”

Wallace agreed the “iceberg” remains — the term is a graphic metaphor that appeared on several staff budget presentations, much to the amusement of many city hall watchers, to explain how council had approved billions in capital spending projects but failed to approve the funding needed to pay for them.

“All governments always have ambitions greater than their immediate grasp,” Wallace said. “You would never actually want to have a situation in which you had everything funded. That is the nature of ambition, and is the nature of city building, and it’s especially the nature of an organization that needs to make sure that other governments contribute.”

The Star asked if he thought council has been misguided in approving any projects given the city’s limited resources.

“No, I don’t,” he said.

Wallace is proud of the work implemented to create what may be termed a “stage-gate” process for major projects, which forces council to reconsider any given plan at various points in the decision-making process and also provides various off ramps along the route.

“The city really does need to continue to align the policy and fiscal directions,” he said. “It’s making progress on that and it needs to recognize and take pride in the services it delivers, the impacts it has on peoples’ lives.”

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