In the first term of the post-Rob Ford era, Toronto council took on 26 days of meetings to tackle issues big and small in 2015. While the former mayor still occupies a chair in the chamber, how often are he, Mayor John Tory and their colleagues showing up to vote? The Star crunched the numbers (see note at bottom) for all 45 members.

Former mayor, new chair

Rob Ford, reprising his old role as councillor for Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) has spent most of this year grilling Tory for the way he governs at city hall. Ford was also the most truant member of council in 2015, missing 52.7 per cent of the votes. After being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in the midst of his re-election campaign last year, Ford chose to instead run for his old seat, which he easily won. He has continued to face health setbacks and treatments during this term. Not all of his absences, however, have been health-related. Though he was present for some parts of a March meeting, including to apologize for making racial slurs during his term of mayor, he missed other votes including one concerning the Woodbine Racetrack, which is in his ward. And during October’s meeting, he missed votes on rehabilitating the Gardiner Expressway, instead appearing on CP24 with his brother, Doug, to discuss their annual “Ford Fest” BBQ.

New mayor, busy schedule

Tory, who is known for keeping to a punishing schedule of meetings, events and speaking engagements, has the eighth worst attendance record on council, missing 22.5 per cent of the votes. As mayor, Tory has on occasion left his chair to attend to other duties. In the chamber, the mayor is typically expected to set the tone and direction of major debates. Tory has been more absent than Ford was in his first year as mayor, when Ford only missed 7.7 per cent of council votes. That climbed to 23.5 per cent the following year. Data isn’t available for David Miller’s first year as mayor. He missed 41.8 per cent of the votes over his last two years in office (2009 through 2010).

Best in class

Besides Councillor Frances Nunziata, whose role as speaker has her presiding over council meetings, there was a deadlock over the title of most attentive councillor. It is shared by Councillor Gord Perks, on the left, and on the right, Councillor Stephen Holyday. Both councillors only missed three votes out of almost 1,300. Perks maintains the title after besting his former rival for the honour, former Ward 3 (Etobicoke Centre) councillor Doug Holyday — Stephen’s dad. Councillor Doucette was a close second, missing just four votes.

Executive absences

Apart from Ford, the most truant councillors included a deputy mayor and three executive members, all veterans at council: Giorgio Mammoliti (40.8 per cent), Michael Thompson (33.8 per cent), Michelle Berardinetti (31.7 per cent), Denzil Minnan-Wong (24.4 per cent) and David Shiner (24.2 per cent). Mammoliti, who is not on the executive this term, improved his attendance over last year (49 per cent), while the attendance of Thompson, Berardinetti, Minnan-Wong and Shiner has gotten slightly worse. Shiner noted he’s not always in his seat, but working to resolve items with colleagues in the back of the chamber. Thompson said he missed votes for business trips as chair of economic development committee and also to attend to ward matters.

The rookies

Of the newbies on council, Stephen Holyday led the pack, missing just 0.3 per cent of the votes. He was followed closely by the other first-timers: Jon Burnside (6.5 per cent), Joe Cressy (6.9 per cent), Christin Carmichael Greb (7.0 per cent) and John Campbell (7.9 per cent). Justin Di Ciano (12 per cent) and Jim Karygiannis (13.6 per cent) did better than average to fill in the back row of the class.

Midtown

The average for missed votes at council this year was 15.3 per cent. The median councillor was 23rd-place Maria Augimeri, who missed 15.5 per cent.

Barely quorum

During days-long council meetings it’s not uncommon for councillors to wander off in the midst of a debate — bathroom breaks, tending to business in their offices or out in their wards, and strategizing with other councillors or staff on the sidelines. But while many of the votes missed are often routine business, some are important city or community issues. Here are several items that saw a lack of attention:

A third of councillors missed a vote to protect undocumented Torontonians from police reporting them to immigration officials.

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A third of council was absent from a vote on a proposed 30 km/h speed limit policy.

Nearly 40 per cent of councillors missed a vote on a pilot project for bike lanes along Richmond and Adelaide streets.

More than 40 per cent of councillors missed a vote regarding an investigation into city hall security.

More than 40 per cent missed votes on ticketing vehicles when they are dropping off or picking up persons with disabilities.

Summer break

While council is usually very attentive at it’s first meeting, attendance tends to drop off from there — especially as council nears the summer break (there is no meeting in August). Council was fairly attentive through March, but missed votes spiked during a three-day meeting in May and again in July. The most missed votes came during a two-day November meeting that saw a shortened agenda.

Percentage of missed votes per meeting:

December 2-3, 2014: <1%

December 11, 2014: 12.9%

February 10-11, 2015: 10.6%

March 10-11, 2015: 4.4%

March 31-April 2, 2015: 14.2%

May 5-7, 2015: 16.2%

June 10-12, 2015: 14.8%

July 7-9, 2015: 18.2%

September 30-October 2, 2015: 11.4%

November 3-4, 2015: 24.3%

December 9-10, 2015: 17.6%

Absence rate

All attendance percentages are calculated using the city’s database of voting records for city council, the only regular meeting involving all 45 members. A councillor may be in the building or attending to other business but not in their seat in the chamber to vote, in which case they are marked as “absent.”

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