He added, “The only politicians that are concerned are the ones that are going to lose their job.”
The move would save taxpayers $19.1 million (25 million Canadian dollars), Mr. Ford said proudly. That is a driblet in the city’s mammoth operating budget of $8.5 billion (11.1 million Canadian dollars).
But the potential political and symbolic benefits are plentiful, particularly as many voters outside of Toronto resent the attention the big city receives.
“It plays to the conservative notion that too many politicians exist and that politicians waste money,” said Martin Horak, an associate professor of political science at Western University in London, Ontario.
In Canada, cities do not have charters. They remain constitutionally the children of provinces, which can decide to make changes to their structure and powers. The Ontario government forced Toronto to expand geographically in 1998, absorbing six nearby boroughs, while cutting the number of politicians to 45, including the mayor, from more than 100.
“We’ve been debating this for the last 20 years,” said Frances Nunziata, a former ally of Mayor Ford’s, and one of a dozen right-wing city councilors who applauded the premier’s announcement on Friday.
Ms. Nunziata also said, “You could never get councilors to support eliminating their job.”
The election is set for Oct. 22, and the deadline for submitting nomination papers was Friday afternoon. But the province’s new municipal affairs and housing minister said the deadline would be extended to Sept. 14 — enough time, presumably, for Mr. Ford’s team to find its own candidates to enter the race.
If Toronto’s City Council is reduced to just 25 seats, it will be only slightly larger than that of Ottawa’s, the nation’s capital, which is a third the size of Toronto, with about 934,000 people, but has 23 councilors.
Source : Nytimes
