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TORONTO: The majority of Torontonians would support slashing the size of city council and introducing term limits, according to a new poll.
The Forum Research telephone poll of 802 city residents found that 52 per cent would support reducing the number of wards in the city from 44 to 22 in order to correspond with pre-existing provincial riding boundaries. That’s compared to 27 per cent who opposed the move and 21 per cent who said they didn’t know.
Support for cutting the size of council in half was strongest among residents in Etobicoke (55 per cent), North York (55 per cent) and Scarborough (53 per cent) while those in the downtown core were lukewarm to the move (45 per cent support).
Residents between the ages of 45-54 (60 per cent) were also more likely to support the proposal, especially when compared to residents between the ages of 18-34 (46 per cent) and 35-44 (45 per cent).
The idea of reducing the size of council isn’t new.
In fact, a city-commissioned consultant’s report that was released this summer notes that the current municipal boundaries are “unbalanced” and puts forward five options for how the wards can be redrawn to create greater voter parity.
It should be noted that the smallest city council proposed in that report would consist of 38 wards, each with a population of 45,000-55,000.
“Torontonians are adamant, and have been since we started asking about council size. They see 44 councillors as unwieldy and they understand the logic of matching provincial riding boundaries,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said in a press release accompanying the poll.
Majority favour term limits
In addition to the size of city council, Forum Research also polled Torontonians on their support for term limits.
When it came to a term limit for the mayor, 56 per cent of respondents said they agreed with the idea compared to 32 per cent who said they disagreed and 12 per cent who said they didn’t know.
Support for a term limit on city councillors was higher.
According to the poll, 60 per cent of respondents said they agreed with that idea compared to 30 per cent who said they disagreed and 10 per cent who said they didn’t know.
Support for term limits tended to be highest among female and wealthier respondents while young people were less likely to favour the idea.
The poll was conducted on Dec. 23 and is considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
