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Ahead of the meeting, Mayor Olivia Chow reiterated her position on Premier Doug Ford’s plan to take over the island airport and allow jets at the facility, details of which remain scarce. She didn’t outright oppose the plan, but called for the city to be consulted on any changes to the waterfront.

“The provincial plan, if there’s one, remains a mystery,” she said at a press conference in her office.

“What is clear is this: Torontonians must have a say in the future of their waterfront. Democracy matters. The waterfront belongs to the people.”

Local councillor and deputy mayor Ausma Malik succeeded in getting her colleagues on council to vote to formally oppose the provincial takeover of the island airport. It’s a mostly symbolic gesture, councillors admit, but one most of them believe is necessary in the face of what they consider overreach by the Ford government. 

“This government should have a say,” said Chow. “This government is important. We have to be the voices of the people of Toronto. We cannot shirk our responsibility and let other levels of government deal with it.”

An amendment by Coun. Josh Matlow to ask the city solicitor to consider possible avenues for legal recourse also passed. 

Ford has announced plans to take over the city’s share of the land the airport is on, and thus its role in the governing tripartite agreement, in order to push forward bringing in jets — a proposal the federal government has said it is “very interested” in. Questions swirl about the impact that larger plans could have on everything from housing development in the Port Lands to noise on the city’s waterfront.

Conditions in an apartment building at 500 Dawes Rd. got so bad in recent months that Canada Post refused to deliver the mail, citing “health and safety issues” for its delivery drivers. In response, Chow authored a successful motion that will make it easier to identify problem landlord and track repeated violations, rather than looking at each property in isolation. The motion also pushed for more support to fix the problems faced by the 500 Dawes tenants.

Chow clarified at council Wednesday that the cost associated with this and any other remedial action taken by the city will be borne by the property owners. If they don’t pay for the repairs the city will have to undertake on their behalf, plus interest, the city will put a lien on their property. 

“There’s no escape,” said Chow. “We will shut down bad landlords.” 

The motion also includes a flurry of requests to Ontario to amend provincial housing law, including to increase fines for property standards violations and reinstate rent control. 

City council’s watchdog found that Coun. Chris Moise acted in a “derogatory” way toward a controversial advocate and “relentless critic” of his: Daniel Tate, who filed a complaint with the integrity commissioner after an exchange with Moise last year that Tate videoed and shared with the Toronto Sun. In it, Moise said Tate holds “a white supremacy view” and he would “never” apologize to Tate “because you are.”

But integrity commissioner Paul Muldoon recommended that council impose no penalties on Moise for several reasons: it was the first time Muldoon found Moise acted in a “derogatory manner”; Muldoon recognized “the councillor’s lived experience” in light of Tate’s “persistent criticism” of diversity initiatives, often directed at Moise; and Muldoon said he also considered how the brief “emotional” interaction happened in a “‘gotcha moment’” when Tate pursued Moise with critical questions while Moise was trying to leave a meeting. Muldoon also noted the exchange only became public when Tate shared his video with the media.

Council cannot revise Muldoon’s findings, but they can amend the penalty recommendations, which is rare. Tate argued council should impose a “significant” penalty.

In an unexpected move at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, council voted to simply “receive” the commissioner’s report, meaning councillors didn’t endorse the watchdog’s finding that Moise violated the code. The motion, from Coun. Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) also requested the commissioner “provide guidance to Members of Council on how to respond appropriately to discriminatory, hateful or harassing speech.” 

For months, Coun. Amber Morley (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) repeatedly told her constituents the city would shut down a controversial boat club on the Humber River before the summer. Residents nearby told the Star they were relieved. Members of the 70-year-old Toronto Humber Yacht Club said they were devastated.

In 2018, the club made enemies of environmentalists, paddlers and many of its neighbours. Critics say it was taken over that year by a volatile commodore who encouraged the proliferation of Jet Skis and tried to surreptitiously expand its borders. They further accuse club members of littering in the waterway, running over wildlife and behaving in an aggressive and threatening manner toward outsiders.

He and other yacht club supporters pointed out that the city offered hardly any justification for closing the club in official documents. Staff cited vague “environmental sensitivity” issues they had difficulty expanding on when questioned by councillors.

The Weston Foundation has said it wants to donate $50 million to overhaul Queen’s Park North, a city-leased park owned by the University of Toronto — and commit another $43 million to provide “enhanced maintenance, operations, and programming” over 20 years.

While concept plans for the park haven’t been finalized and the city is accepting the money, local residents criticized plans for a centralized cafe and washroom facility, and an elevated “tree walk” feature, arguing these kinds of changes and drawing crowds would disrupt the natural features of the park and damage their place of serenity.

At the behest of local Coun. Dianne Saxe, the executive committee passed a motion to require council approval for a new design concept. Public park designs typically don’t need council approval.

Council voted Wednesday to direct staff to work with U of T and the foundation to ensure the upgrades, including any restaurant operations, won’t adversely affect trees and the natural environment. They also requested a public art plan for the site.

In an omnibus motion, Coun. Brad Bradford has outlined some recommendations to the TTC board aimed at improving safety on the transit system, some of which are already underway but which Bradford told reporters this week will be part of his campaign platform when he runs for mayor in October.

Chief among the recommendations — and the most scrutinized by Bradford’s council colleagues for their feasibility in interviews with the Star — is for the board to come up with a funding plan to install multimillion-dollar platform edge doors and to work with the police to deploy officers at all 75 subway stations.

Costs to renovate a Cabbagetown building to become a 24/7 women’s drop-in centre have more than tripled and it remains unfinished five years after it was originally set to open. Local councillor Chris Moise says he was left in dark by city staff and is seeking to increase oversight of projects that run over $10 million.

He also wants to know if the city could simply purchase the building that the city is currently renting from the parents of Craig and Marc Kielburger, the founders of the controversial WE charity. In a memo to council, city staff said while the owners said they weren’t willing to sell, the municipality could possibly expropriate the property. However, “any such approach would require a thorough due diligence review to assess feasibility, risks, and whether acquisition represents the most appropriate course of action.”

Council could re-examine the city’s long-standing policy of flying the flags of foreign nations at government buildings from two opposing angles.

Coun. Jon Burnside (Don Valley East) wants to ban the practice, which he says deepens animosity between diaspora groups. Coun. Lily Cheng (Willowdale), meanwhile, wants permission to expand it, so she can raise the pre-Revolutionary flag of Iran at the North York Civic Centre.

Since this is not the official flag of a country recognized by the Canadian government, it is not eligible for ceremonial hoisting at present. But many Torontonians from Iran who despise the Islamic republic have been lobbying the city to make an exception.

Burnside says his motion is unrelated to Cheng’s. But he feels his colleague is wading into world affairs, which is outside the mandate of a municipal politician.

Cheng says she does not intend to take a political stance or endorse a foreign war, she means only to make people feel seen and heard.

Also to be debated Thursday, Coun. Anthony Perruzza wants to open the door to what food experts are calling an “exciting” discussion but one that should be taking place at the federal level: Toronto’s first-ever public grocery stores to tackle rising food costs.

Experts who researched this, including for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, which is where Perruzza drew inspiration from, told the Star the idea is both feasible and necessary in large cities, given the market oligopoly. They also said that it needs to run like a Costco — large warehouses with a large procurement practice that will drive down prices and make the operations sustainable. This is why they argue it should be a federal undertaking.