Toronto is the only Ontario city that will see its council slashed by Premier Doug Ford.

Ford’s government tabled the Better Local Government Act on Monday, but the provincial capital is the lone municipality that Ford is targeting at the moment.

As first revealed by the Star on Thursday, his Progressive Conservative government is unilaterally reducing Toronto council to 25 councillors from 47 with new ward boundaries matching provincial and federal ridings.

It was a surprise move because Ford did not broach the subject during the June 7 election when he toppled former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark introduced the legislation, which amends the City of Toronto Act, the Municipal Act, and the Municipal Elections Act.

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In a raucous question period in the legislature, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath denounced Ford’s “secret plot to interfere in municipal elections” as “the act of a bully, not a leader.”

“The premier cooked up his backroom plot to steal power from the people and kept it hidden from 14 million Ontarians for the entire election campaign,” said Horwath, noting Ford never once mentioned his scheme.

“Why is this premier inflicting his will on millions of voters when he never told them the truth about what he was going to do?” she said.

“Hiding one’s secret plans during an entire election campaign does not show respect for voters. Why is he acting like a dictator, instead of a premier?”

An unrepentant Ford boasted he “ended up getting 88,646 more votes than the NDP all combined in the city of Toronto” on June 7, suggesting he has a carte blanche to act.

“I think we did a pretty good job in the last provincial election. I can assure you that when we have 25 councillors, it’s going to be 500,000 less sheets of paper. I’m protecting the environment. I’m protecting trees,” the premier said.

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Tory cabinet ministers and MPPs — most of whom were unaware of his plan until the Star story was published at 9 p.m. Thursday — repeatedly rewarded him with standing ovations.

But Ford evaded questions about why he never told voters that he would reduce the size of Toronto council and scrap regional chair elections in Peel, York, Niagara, and Muskoka.

“We were very clear that we’re going to have a smaller government,” said the Tory leader, a one-term councillor during his late brother Rob Ford’s turbulent mayoralty from 2010 to 2014.

“With 47 people, it would be dysfunctional. Nothing gets done at city hall.”

Ford’s decision to return to appointed chairs in the four regional governments appears to have been aimed at thwarting the ambitions of his predecessor, Patrick Brown, the former PC leader who was running for Peel chair.

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Brown has since jumped into the race for Brampton mayor against incumbent Linda Jeffrey.

It was left to the municipal affairs minister to defend that move, which will not save taxpayers any money because there will still be appointed regional chairs.

“The last thing that families, businesses and municipal leaders in these regions need is another layer of politicians. We’re proposing to go back to the way it was before 2016,” said Clark, who voted for the change to elected chairs when the Liberals brought it forward two years ago.

Better Local Government Act, 2018 View document on Scribd

Loi de 2018 sur l’amélioration des administrations locales View document on Scribd

“The other regional governments would continue to elect their representatives as normal, but in York, Peel, Niagara and Muskoka we’re going to take a pause. We intend to reverse legislation imposed on municipalities in 2016,” he said.

Clark, whose home municipality of Brockville has eight councillors and is represented by one MPP in the Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes riding, said Toronto, which has 25 MPPs, would be represented municipally by 25 councillors.

According to the 2016 census, Brockville has a population of about 22,000 while Toronto has 2.8 million people.

Asked by reporters if he had made “a mistake” endorsing the Liberal bill for regional chair elections in 2016, the minister appeared visibly uncomfortable.

“We received a very clear mandate in the election to reduce the size and cost of government, to make government more efficient and more effective. I believe this is the right public policy.”

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter questioned why Clark “changed his tune all of a sudden” on democratic elections.

“He voted in favour of having an elected chair in York region. He said it was more democratic and that the people of York Region wanted to have an elected chair,” said Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood).

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said “the premier doesn’t have a mandate to wreak havoc with Toronto’s democracy.”

“I was totally surprised when this happened. The premier didn’t campaign on it; it wasn’t in the throne speech,” said Schreiner.

Toronto Councillor Giorgio Mammolitti, one of seven city councillors who came to Queen’s Park to endorse Ford’s move, predicted the change would ensure fewer “left-leaning politicians” in Toronto.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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