A Toronto city councillor is threatening to take one of his colleagues to court after a raucous outburst that abruptly ended Wednesday's council meeting.

After heated exchanges between Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and several of his colleagues – including Speaker Frances Nunziata – Ms. Nunziata abruptly ended Wednesday's meeting, saying "it was just getting out of hand." But after the meeting, the outspoken Mr. Mammoliti alleged that Ms. Nunziata broke council procedures by-law by singling him out, and planned to seek legal opinion to take her to court.

"Her job is to defend every single councillor and their role in that chamber. Not to downgrade and not to tell people to sit down and not listen to them. It's our job to represent our community and give our opinions," he said Wednesday night.

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"She's getting out of hand. If I have to, I'll do that. I'll take her to court and I'll prove to everyone that there's a bylaw...I feel that I'm being drowned out here by a speaker who doesn't want to listen."

At Wednesday's council meeting, Mr. Mammoliti rose to speak on a report by the integrity commissioner that said former mayor Rob Ford broke the council code of conduct in using of racial slurs. As he spoke, several councillors began to heckle him. At the same time, Mr. Mammoliti became involved in an exchange with Ms. Nunziata. After Mr. Mammoliti loudly told one of his colleagues, Councillor Paul Ainslie, to "shut up," Ms. Nunziata called an end to the meeting.

Afterwards, Ms. Nunziata seemed unfazed by Mr. Mammoliti's threat. "Fine, take me to court," she said. ""He was just misbehaving. He was like a child."

She denied Mr. Mammoliti's charges that she discriminates against certain councillors, saying that many of her colleagues felt Mr. Mammoliti was out of order.

"When you have 44 members of council that are angry at his behaviour on council, how can I be picking on him? Everybody agrees that he is acting inappropriately. He's just trying to get an audience," she said.

Mr. Ainslie, for his part, admitted he had been heckling Mr. Mammoliti. But he said it was only in response to Mr. Mammoliti's heckling of the speaker.

"He was heckling the poor speaker," he said. "He was heckling her, and I heckled him. If you can't take it, you shouldn't dish it out."

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When asked about Mayor John Tory's pledge for a calmer, more collegial tone at City Hall, Ms. Nunziata said progress has been made.

"This was only two councillors, right? Last term, it was all of them."