Premier Doug Ford is slashing the size of Toronto city council almost in half before the October election, the Star has learned.

In a stunning development, Ford is also cancelling planned regional chair elections in Peel and York, thwarting the ambitions of his political foe Patrick Brown, the former Progressive Conservative leader, as well as those of former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Del Duca.

Conservative sources said legislation will be tabled as early as Monday to cut Toronto council from a planned 47 councillors to 25, and ward boundaries would match federal and provincial ridings.

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The surprise moves, which were never broached during last month’s provincial election campaign, come as the deadline for candidates entering the Oct. 22 municipal election looms at 2 p.m. on Friday.

“This is something the premier wanted to do even when he was on council,” said a senior government official, referring to the one term Ford spent at Toronto city hall between 2010 and 2014.

“Having too many people on council makes it hard to get things done,” the source said, claiming the reduction in councillors should save $25 million. It’s not clear where these savings would come from. By reducing council by 22 councillors, the city would eliminate nearly $9 million in salaries, office and staffing budgets.

There are no plans, however, to reduce the number of MPPs at the Legislature, which was expanded to 124 members from 107 in the June 7 election.

The overhaul of wards will wipe out a 2016 decision by Toronto council to redraw the city’s boundaries, which increased the number of wards to 47 from 44 for the 2018 election. That was the result of a four-year review that determined the increase was essential for effective representation.

The city’s clerk previously said any boundary changes would need to be in place before January of this year in order for her and staff to prepare for the October election.

Ford will detail his proposal on Friday morning at Queen’s Park.

That’s when he will announce that nominations for Toronto elections will be reopened until mid-September after the legislation passes in August.

Along with potentially creating council havoc for Toronto Mayor John Tory, who defeated Ford in the 2014 mayoral race, the premier appears to be taking aim at Brown and Del Duca, the frontrunners to win the chair jobs in York and Peel.

Brown stepped down as PC leader on Jan. 24 after CTV News broadcast a report alleging sexual impropriety with two women. He has denied any wrongdoing and is now suing CTV, which stands by its story, for $8 million.

Sources said Ford tried to find a high-profile candidate who could stop his predecessor from winning the Peel chair’s job, but was unable to do so.

But another PC source insisted the premier is not being vindictive against Brown or Del Duca.

“We’re putting a pause on those elections. There will be not be elected chairs of these regional governments,” the source said, noting there will still be elected chairs in Halton and Durham.

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“It will go back to what it was before the Liberals changed it in 2016 without any consultation,” said the Tory insider, adding there is no need for another layer of elected politicians.

Also affected are Niagara and Muskoka, which will return to having an appointed chair.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie praised Ford’s action, saying an elected chair would needlessly create “a super mayor.”

“From what I understand, the provincial government is looking to move forward with legislation to have regional chairs appointed, not elected,” Crombie said in an email Thursday night.

“If that’s the case, it will signal that mayors and local councils are being heard on this matter. In the past, I’ve have been quite vocal in my opposition to a regionally elected chair,” she said.

“As you know, Mississauga is the third largest city in Ontario, and our council is perfectly capable of controlling our own destiny and working with the appointed regional chair to do so. In fact, in Peel, we voted 22-1 in 2017 against electing a regional chair.”

The sweeping changes will require amendments to the City of Toronto Act, the Municipal Act, the Municipal Elections Act, and the Education Act, though there will be no change to the number of school board trustees being elected this fall.

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Still, the government is bracing for legal challenges since candidates have been campaigning for three months and have paid to hire staff, rent office space, and buy advertising.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark conceded Thursday “there’s been lots of suggestions out there on municipal reform.”

“I can’t speculate on something like that,” said Clark when asked about the changes.

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While Ford has been a proponent of a “strong mayor” system, that will not be addressed in the legislative amendments.

What the smaller council and redrawn wards will mean for Toronto residents remains to be seen.

Council expanded to 47 after an independent consultant’s nearly four-year review concluded that this was essential for effective representation, a priority set out in a Supreme Court decision that called for every vote to have equal weight, known as voter parity.

Today, the city’s ward populations are not balanced, with some as small as 45,000 people and some as big as 97,000, according to 2016 census data.

As Toronto continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, there are concerns disparity will grow with it. This is especially true in high-growth areas of the city, such as the downtown core.

Council provided direction to the consultants to maintain an average ward population of 61,000. The recommended 47-ward option would achieve voter parity by the 2026 election, the consultants reported.

A challenge to the recommended option from Etobicoke Councillor Justin Di Ciano went to divisional court and was dismissed in March. The court upheld an earlier decision of the Ontario Municipal Board, which found a 47-ward structure achieved effective representation and that a 25-ward option preferred by Di Ciano did not achieve better voter parity for the 2018 election.

During their review, the consultants did consider an option consistent with federal and provincial riding boundaries and that would create 25 wards but “encountered challenges” trying to achieve voter parity, their report said.

Adding an extra ward downtown, for 26 wards, still left voter parity issues, specifically in Etobicoke.

There was also “little support” for that option at public meetings and among members of council, the consultants’ report noted.

And shifting the boundaries to achieve voter parity would defeat the purpose of aligning with federal ridings, the consultants concluded.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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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