Time to change face of politics in Toronto

Now that the provincial election is behind us, a large number of activist groups that hope to change the face of politics at Toronto City Hall in the October election are quietly developing plans out of the spotlight.

More than 15 groups, with interests ranging from transit to climate change to poverty, are building their resources so they will be able to support candidates who oppose what they view as an overly conservative agenda led by Mayor John Tory.

Torontonians who view themselves as “progressives” are incensed by projects such as the one-stop subway in Scarborough, the failure to adequately fund a climate change program, and the city’s shoddy treatment of the homeless during bitterly-cold winter months. They believe the general public is not well served.

They also point to some serious problems with council that undermine the democratic process. One is that many councillors are re-elected by large margins because of name recognition and because voters don’t know enough about the other candidates.

Indeed, six councillors have held office for from 24 to 33 years — one of them since before the Internet was widely in use. And in the 2014 election, 37 of 44 incumbent councillors (84 per cent) were re-elected.

The activist movement has some star power. Most notable is Progress Toronto, a public interest group headed by Michal Hay. She has a reputation as a strong organizer after managing the winning campaign of federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.

Others activist groups include the Toronto Environmental Alliance, TTCriders, Cycle Toronto, Toronto Council Renewal Project, and ArtsVote.

The groups hope to take advantage of what they see as considerable dissatisfaction with traditional politics and governments that have been in office for long periods of time.

They point to a few cities around the world — including Montreal — where frustrated voters have defeated traditional politicians, as well as dissatisfaction in the U.S. and the defeat of the provincial Liberals.

They feel they can benefit from a number of changes on City Council. There may be eight openings. Three new wards have been added so they are wide open. Two councillors passed away so their wards may also be possibilities.

But political analysts say the groups will have an extremely difficult time up- ending some conservative members on council. While political parties don’t officially exist at the city level, both Liberal and Conservative members of council call upon large teams of volunteers to help get them elected.

There is a big push to elect women to council. Women Win Toronto, which has provided training for several candidates, points out that less than one third of councillors are women. In addition there there are no Black, Indigenous, transgender or disabled women on council.

Many young people are running for office. While this is a good development, it also brings with it a likely drawback. Most are not very familiar with council and how the city operates. If they take part in a ward debate against a seasoned politician, they’re likely to have a tough time.

And there’s another issue. If two or three “progressives” run in the same ward they are likely to split the vote, allowing a Conservative to win. Some groups are urging candidates where this is occurring to meet and decide that only one of them will run.

With the increase to 47 wards, groups know that the candidates they support will need to win about 25 seats to have much more power on council.