The talk in Toronto, Ontario is that premier Doug Ford wants to force by fiat a casino on the city’s waterfront that he was unable to persuade the city council to agree with when he served there years ago.
Ford’s interest is not yet official, but there is plenty of speculation that he wants to reopen the decision of a waterfront casino that he lost on in 2013 in a near unanimous vote (except for him.)
The idea was not only political poison in then in the city, but in much of the surrounding area. However, recently the provincial government, through the adoption of Bill 5, changed the boundaries of the city, stripping away the part where the most vehement opposition to the casino lived at the time.
This decision by the Ford government shrank the city council and was recently upheld from a court challenge. This led one of the leaders of the Ford coalition, Todd Smith to tell reporters that this would allow the government to carry out all its election promises.
In October’s elections Toronto’s council was chosen for 25 wards instead of 36.
The rather blatant nature of this imposition of provincial control over a municipality has led to calls for more local control. Last week the Federation of Canadian Municipalities said: “Local governments are building a more livable, competitive Canada. We are ready to have an important conversation about greater municipal autonomy, and the tools needed to support it.”
