“Today, city council has made an important decision for the future of the city,” Mayor John Tory triumphantly declared. “We voted to take down the Gardiner – and just the part east of Jarvis Street, let me remind you – and create a grand boulevard that opens up the waterfront for our residents of today and of tomorrow.”
In the first major victory of his term as mayor, Tory made good on a promise to unite a divided city, with council easily passing his motion for the somewhat contentious “boulevard” option by 34 to 11.
“It was a vote to create opportunity by opening waterfront lands to development,” he explained afterward, contrasting his preferred option to the rebuild championed by his deputy mayor, Vincent Crisanti, which would have seen 12 fewer acres of land made available. “It really puts the people of this city first. Cars are important – they are extremely important, vital to the economy, I’m a member of the CAA – but this decision puts the whole city first.”
When asked if his failure to bring 11 councillors on board indicated that the council was still in fact polarized, the mayor read out a list of far closer votes from his predecessor’s term.
The boulevard option was backed by city staff, as well as virtually every person and organization with relevant expertise. Given the critical mass of opinion from noted urbanists, there was never much doubt as to the direction that the mayor – who fashions himself a “city-builder” – would lead the council.
“What we showed over the last two days is that as a council we can have a debate on a long-held emotional issue, that it can be thoughtful, that it can be largely respectful and that it can be informed, and that that’s what the people have a right to expect from their civic democracy,” said Tory, basking in the glow of the goodwill he earned.
He singled out chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat for her passionate advocacy, which included publicly countering misinformation about the boulevard plan. “We are fortunate to have such professional and dedicated senior staff.”
On the council floor, however, some members had called out Keesmaat for what they saw as her overstepping the role of a civil servant.
“It is perfectly appropriate for staff to make their opinions public, but what is not appropriate is for staff to campaign against councillors on social media or through other public platforms,” said Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7 York West) in a characteristically incoherent speech, before darkly warning that other councillors might next find themselves in Keesmaat’s crosshairs.
New councillor and extended-Tory-team member Jon Burnside (Ward 26 Don Valley West) explained how difficult it had been to come to a decision. “This is really a battle between my heart and my head,” he said. “My heart says keep it up. But I see numbers like 3 per cent of the commuters affected, and I know those numbers just don’t justify the expenditure or blocking the waterfront for a century.”
In one of the debate’s odder digressions, Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt) proposed relocating the Gardiner to a dedicated underground tunnel, but Tory refused to entertain the notion, dismissing the idea as an invitation to a boondoggle. In the end, Karygiannis’s motion to investigate the possibility found support from only Mammoliti, Stephen Holyday and Anthony Perruzza, meaning we will never have to hear of it again.
A handful of groups such as the CAA and the Ontario Trucking Association pushed hard for council to adopt the so-called hybrid compromise, even hiring former members of Tory’s mayoral campaign team to lobby for them.
But the mayor and his staff declined to meet with their ex-colleagues on principle, stating that to do so could create a perception of purchased influence. Meanwhile, the study the lobbyists had commissioned was largely written off for possessing insufficient objectivity and working from questionable assumptions.
Deputy mayor Pam McConnell, the councillor for the area through which the affected part of the highway runs, praised the outcome.
“We have put behind us the policies and divisions of the past and are building a city for the future,” she said. “After the challenges of the last four years, it is finally, truly a new day on council and for all of Toronto.”
jonathang@nowtoronto.com | @goldsbie
