Judge won’t rule on 2018 city vote

A Superior Court judge has refused to weigh in on Toronto’s request for direction on how to run the 2018 election.

Justice Katherine Swinton said in a three-page ruling released Friday she was declining to make that kind of declaration. Swinton earlier tossed an attempt by Councillor Justin Di Ciano and Davenport-area resident Tony Natale to appeal the council-approved decision to increase the number of wards to 47 from 44. Di Ciano and Natale’s lawyer had raised a concern at that hearing that the city had not passed the necessary bylaw setting out how many councillors should be elected in each ward.

The city’s legal team said the necessary bylaw was passed as part of the ward boundaries decision. In December, the Ontario Municipal Board affirmed council’s ward boundaries decision following an appeal from Di Ciano and others. The changes were recommended by independent consultants after a nearly four-year review. The city’s current 44ward structure has a vast imbalance in population sizes. The goal of the review was more effective representation for residents, including the premise that all votes should have equal weight.

The city will proceed with an election where the city is divided into 47 wards with one councillor elected per ward. With the mayor, there will be 48 members of council. The period for candidate nominations begins May 1 with election day on Oct. 22.