Follow Kawartha Lakes’ lead

Re Kawartha Lakes council stands by vote to cut jobs, boost wages, Jan. 16

Kudos to Kawartha Lakes’ mayor and council to have the courage to implement an overhaul of their municipal-service delivery model and reduce their size of council. I wish Toronto would follow suit.

Toronto’s 44 wards (soon to be 47) create an unwieldy lot in the council chamber that struggles to apply proactive, cohesive and strategic solutions to our city’s transportation, homelessness and other pressing concerns.

You only need to review Toronto community council and city council meeting minutes to see how our elected representatives’ time is wasted on debating routine items, such as front-yard parking allowances, tree-removal permits and parking regulations.

Council should entrust city staff with the responsibility to apply their strategic vision in these areas and allow council as a whole to be more forward-thinking to address overarching, longer-term city concerns.

By cutting the size of city council in half and increasing their salaries by 50 per cent, the calibre of candidates would be improved, along with injecting fresh thinking and a broader city view into our municipal politics.

Our current council’s size and composition are ineffective. Toronto deserves better. Brian Scholz, Toronto