Councillor Bravo's motion to request the province integrate the UP Express with the One Fare program, making it more affordable, before this new St. Clair - Weston Station opens, CARRIES 21-1.
Bravo's motion to request the province fund the widening of St. Clair West and bundle the work in with the construction of the new station CARRIES 22-0.
Council APPROVES the change to the St. Clair & Old Weston Station, making it an UP Express Station, 20-2.
After Councillor Amber Morley notes she was able to get a "unit cap" reducing the number of units in the project, Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a six-storey development on Islington Road.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.2Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a 12-storey proposal for Lake Shore West.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.4Council votes 20-1 to APPROVE a 42-storey proposal for 5280 Dundas Street West.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EY26.5After dispensing with a few minor items, Council breaks for dinner. Back at 6:30 p.m.
There are 35 items left on the agenda, which is actually pretty darn good, relatively speaking.
Council is back, but can't seem to figure out what they want to debate next. They settle on childcare. There's an update on the $10-a-day program, which asks Council to support a request for more provincial and federal funding.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EC24.1Agenda Item History 2025.EC24.1
Agenda Item History 2025.EC24.1
On the childcare item, Mayor Olivia Chow moves to "identify areas of inequity" for childcare expansion.
Councillor Bravo asks for a report in Q2 2026 on breaking down the barriers to expanding childcare in high-priority wards.
The motions on the childcare item all CARRY via show of hands. So does the item as amended. The city will ask the provincial and federal governments for more funding.
Up now: the Auditor General's workplan for 2026. Councillor Jamaal Myers has been eyeing an audit on SmartTrack.
"The cost of this program is approximately $878 million. Would it be of public concern if a significant amount of that money was spent designing stations that were never built?" he asks
The AG says her mandate doesn't allow her to audit provincial programs, which SmartTrack basically is. Myers asks if she could just audit the money the city spent. She says she could consider it.
Councillor Perks and Councillor Bravo are both speaking in favour of a SmartTrack audit as part of the 2026 AG work plan. Seems like that might be less than ideal for a potential mayoral candidate.
Myers formally moves to request a SmartTrack audit in 2026. This builds on a similar motion he passed at committee, and makes a more direct request to the auditor general. (The AG is independent, though, so she can just ignore the request if she wants.)
"I think there's a lot of genuine questions about how this program came about, how money was spent, and how decisions were made. And we still don't have a clear answer. It's almost like we spent almost a billion dollars and no one can explain how we got here," says Myers of Tory's SmartTrack project
Nunziata: Councillor Fletcher, did you just call me?
Fletcher: No.
Nunziata: Oh, I thought you said, 'Oh lord.'
Late-night Council's got jokes.
Councillor Myers' motion to request a SmartTrack audit as part of the Auditor General's 2026 work plan CARRIES 16-3.
(Somewhat notable: The mayor was chatting with staff in the gallery during that vote, so she was marked as absent. She returned to the council floor right after.)
Council has been spending some time heralding a report about expanding the number of "Association of Community Centres", or AOCCs (Pronounced eh-ocks — fun acronym). They're community centres managed by private boards, like the 519 Community Centre.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.EC24.2Agenda Item History 2025.EC24.2
Agenda Item History 2025.EC24.2
During a discussion of this report about Toronto's "circular economy", Councillor Lily Cheng reveals she's had to replace her refrigerator three times in the last six years. That... seems like a lot.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.IE25.1Agenda Item History 2025.IE25.1
Agenda Item History 2025.IE25.1
On to a progress report on Toronto's Housing Plan. Perks moves to hold off on any changes to housing programs while negotiations with Ottawa and Queen's Park continue. Morley wants to extend tower renewal program eligibility to co-ops. Thompson wants consultation with Black residents.
Part of the housing progress report, a recommendation to request the federal gov provide $163 million to create 230 supportive homes CARRIES 18-1.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.PH25.4The other motions on the housing progress report CARRY via show of hands. So does the item as amended.
After a brief digression about a development in Holyday's ward that ends up going nowhere, Council breaks for the night. They'll be back at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow to deal with the 27 items left on the agenda.
First up: neighbourhood retail.
Council is about to start up again. Before they get to the first item on the agenda — corner stores — there will be a presentation honouring Sick Kids Hospital. They've been named "the best children’s health-care centre in the world" apparently.
Watch live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTlscTt3Jjc
City Council - November 13, 2025
"Even if you've never had to walk through its doors, you can take comfort that it's there, ready to care," says a rhyming Mayor Olivia Chow of Sick Kids Hospital. Karen Kinnear, a VP at Sick Kids, is here to get a plaque.
Councillor Paula Fletcher has a petition signed by 1,200 people asking Metrolinx to add GPS tracking to trucks working on the Ontario Line project and improve communication response times when people complain about those trucks.
Up now: corner stores. The original recommendation to allow small retail uses within neighbourhoods was watered down at committee, but the recommendation to allow retail uses along designated major streets remains.
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.PH25.3Agenda Item History 2025.PH25.3
Agenda Item History 2025.PH25.3
Councillor Lily Cheng starts us off by asking about one of the recurring themes throughout this debate: a fear of pot shops everywhere. Reefer store madness. She asks if the city can limit cannabis stores. Staff say they're having conversations with province about possible additional restrictions.
Councillor Thompson asks if there's been enough consultation on this corner store item. Staff say they had pop-up events in every ward with a total of 1,300 people, a survey that received 2,600 responses, public meetings with 'several hundred" attendees, seven meetings with resident associations.
Most significant remaining change in the corner store report is adding permissions for retail along "major streets." Staff have provided maps for each ward showing what would change — retail would be permitted in the orange areas. A few examples attached.
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-259945.pdf (PDF)
Providing these maps may have further complicated this debate, as now councillors are interrogating planning staff about whether certain sections should actually qualify as major streets.
Councillor Neethan Shan asks if it's true that, if council allows more retail, there won’t be any way to stop these businesses from selling alcohol and pot.
Staff say licensing processes already exist. And discussions continue re: new city powers to restrict those uses.
Seems to be some scene-setting going on for a motion to defer this until after the close of negotiations with the province re: restricting alcohol and pot uses. We'll see if that gains traction.
Deputy Mayor Malik asks if the city has received a lot of complaints about existing retail within neighbourhoods. Staff say of 1,000 neighbourhood businesses operating over last five years, 60% had no complaints, another 35% received five or less.
Councillor Dianne Saxe asks if it's true that increased retail permissions could lead to residents getting evicted and replaced by stores or restaurants.
Staff confirm a change of zoning doesn't change anything to do with current rights re: tenancy and eviction.
Councillor Dianne Saxe asks about the potential for geographically-limited permissions for corner stores. Staff say ward-based permissions are possible. "Ward-based is better than city-wide, but it's not good enough," says Saxe. She seems to favour neighbourhood-based rules.
"If I want to run a 24-hour store selling stamps, can I do that?" wonders Councillor Stephen Holyday, as a means to point out that city hall has no control over business operating hours.
Yes, staff say. (I don't think there's much demand for a 24-hour stamp store though.)
Councillor Holyday worries about retail stores that "sell some zany thing that has very little value." He wants to know if council could define a list of what stores can sell.
Staff say they can regulate things like size, noise and property standards, but generally not what stores sell.
@GraphicMatt Councillor Holyday loves wasting everyone's time on purpose
Matt Elliott
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