Mayor John Tory and 17 councillors urge Marc Garneau to act on slew of concerns ignored by previous government.

April 6

Jessica McDiarmid

The Toronto Star

This July 6, 2013 file photo shows smoke rising from railway cars carrying crude oil after derailing in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec. The disaster killed 47 people. Photo: PAUL CHIASSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Mayor John Tory and a coalition of Toronto city councillors are taking their fight to bolster rail safety in the city to the recently elected federal government.

The mayor and 17 councillors whose wards rub up against the busy CP rail line that traverses the city’s core signed a letter sent to Transport Minister Marc Garneau on Monday, urging the Liberal government to introduce further safety measures.

The municipal coalition calls for an overhaul of regulations pertaining to safety management systems, the oft-criticized procedures by which the railroad industry, to some extent, regulates itself.

The councillors want a faster phase-out of older-model tank cars used to carry dangerous goods, currently set to be off the rails by 2025. They call for slower train speeds in urban areas, consideration of alternative routes to bypass densely populated regions and tighter rules surrounding insurance to ensure complete coverage in the event of a disaster.

April 5

Peter Kim

Global News

Lars Baron / Getty Images

TORONTO — A recent auditor general’s report reveals that missing information within the water collection database and a lack of procedures for prioritizing high-value overdue accounts is partly to blame for the more than $26 million dollars yet to be collected from businesses and homes in Toronto.

“You’re absolutely right if you’re suggesting that it’s quite remarkable that so much money is in arrears to the city,” said Councillor Josh Matlow, who sits on the Audit Committee.

“It just seems like we’re not just leaking water, we’re leaking money.”

Council orders staff to look at whether subway could be built above ground.

March 31, 2016
Shawn Jeffords
Toronto Sun

Mayor John Tory at press conference on the Scarborough subway Thursday January 21, 2016. (Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun)

The City of Toronto is now studying whether the Scarborough subway could be built above ground.

Amid a slew of transit planning measures approved by city council Thursday. Councillor Josh Matlow got council to agree to having city staff and Metrolinx study the feasibility of running the subway extension “at-grade” entirely or in portions.

Matlow told council he wants transit planning to be done from with all options examined by experts and costed appropriately.

“What I hear from reasonable people, who’ve not been manipulated by those who perhaps didn’t tell them the whole story, is that want us to do it in a way that is based on evidence and facts, that’s honourable and honest,” Matlow said.

March 20, 2016

Faiza Amin

680 News

A photo showing a camel in a tight pen, surrounded by his feces has prompted a petting zoo operating in Toronto to make some changes.

On Sunday, the owner of Tiger Paw responded to concerns that animals weren’t being taken care of at his petting zoo.

In a statement to CityNews, Tim Height said, “A camel doesn’t move around a lot, they like to lie down. To us it’s not an issue, but if we find out the public has an issue, we don’t mind changing it.”

The city took another step towards tolling the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway last week, but there's no consensus on who should have to pay.

March 16, 2016
Luke Simcoe
Metro Toronto

Traffic jams the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto in this April 8, 2000 photo. PHOTO: Torstar News Service

Tolls could be coming to the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway, but it may not be a pay-one, pay-all system.

Some believe tolls should only be paid by those commuting into Toronto from other cities.

“Given that so many people who drive into Toronto every day use infrastructure paid for solely by Toronto taxpayers, it's a reasonable question to ask,” Coun. Josh Matlow said.

Kitchener deferred motion to call on province to limit scope of Ontario Municipal Board

March 9, 2016

Kate Bueckert

CBC News

Photo: Colin Butler/CBC News

Several municipalities are calling on the province to change the way the Ontario Municipal Board operates. Guelph city councillor Cathy Downer says "bold reform" is needed.

In January, the Town of Aurora passed a motion calling on the province to limit the scope of what the OMB can address to matters of law and process. The OMB is a tribunal that hears applications and appeals under various land use planning laws and operates under the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario.

Employee on jury duty break didn't return to work.

March 7, 2016
Maryam Shah
Toronto Sun

Councillor Josh Matlow. Photo: tan Behal/Toronto Sun files

TORONTO - A city councillor says he’s baffled by how a city employee was able to miss work for 44 days during a break in jury duty before being fired.

“It seems like people can disappear around here and there’s no accountability for where they went and when they’re coming back,” Councillor Josh Matlow said Monday.

Staff released 369 pages worth of studies on Thursday night ahead of requesting council endorse a new multibillion dollar plan to build out a transit grid.

March 4
Jennifer Pagliaro and Tess Kalinowski
Toronto Star

Some key information is expected to be provided to Toronto council just two weeks before they are set to approve a multibillion-dollar network of new transit. Photo: MARCUS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Toronto city council is being asked to endorse a network of new transit lines worth billions of dollars without essential information needed to justify those plans.

On Thursday night, city staff posted 369 pages worth of studies about the new network which mostly deal with how many people are projected to ride those lines.

But the studies consider a transit map that’s already been redrawn. Updated numbers aren’t expected until June — just two weeks before council will be asked to approve building that map, to be built out over the next 15 years, and long after public consultations have already wrapped up.

Councillor Josh Matlow said it’s not good enough that those numbers will be provided at the “11th hour.”

“That’s not a responsible way to plan transit, to spend billions of dollars, and it’s not fair to councillors or the public we serve,” he said.

Unlike most development sagas in the neighbourhood, this one has a happy ending

February 27, 2016

Eric Emin Wood

Town Crier

MORE GREEN: Building additional towers on this Dunfield Avenue property will actually result in more greenspace, plus daycare and other local benefits, after a successful consultation process, say residents and councillor. Photo: Google Maps

What could have been another controversial development application for the Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood turned out to be anything but, as the developer behind a pair of towers proposed for 45 and 77 Dunfield Ave. collaborated with city planners and residents.

The results are a new 6,060-square-metre green space, a subsidized daycare to accommodate at least 52 children, and what Ward 22 councillor Josh Matlow called “arguably the most successful agreement in history” for the hundreds of tenants, many of them seniors, who live in the two apartment buildings next door.

‘Bold change’ needed, agency boss concedes — but effect on bottom line is unknown.

February 23, 2016

Tess Kalinowski

Toronto Star

A passenger exits the UPX terminal towards Union Station. Photo: STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR

The province has slashed the fares on the struggling Union Pearson Express, conceding — nearly nine months after its launch — that there were too few riders to meet the train’s targets.

“We should have started with a lower price to introduce more people to (UPX). We had to build more awareness faster,” said Metrolinx chair Robert Prichard after a special Tuesday board meeting where the dramatic price reductions were unanimously approved.

It remains unclear, however, what the implications of lower prices will be on the UPX’s break-even prospects, the amount of provincial subsidy it will require, or even how the new fares — about half the original ticket costs — were arrived at.