As Canadians we have the personal responsibility of keeping ourselves aware of what is going on in the three levels of government that dramatically affect our lifestyle. This is the federal, provincial, and municipal level. There has been a lot of following on the federal level with the new election. Then throughout the year there has been a lot of controversy that has arisen at the provincial level. Looking down now at the municipal level for Ontario specifically for the Toronto area it means taking a look at Mayor John Tory. This Mayor has been in office for a year now and has faced some very key issues and decisions.
One of the biggest factors throughout the year was what was going to happen with the Gardner East Expressway. The conflict here was what was going to be done to restore it and between the mayor and his counsel there were some divisions. It would seem that the final outcome was that they were going to go for the hybrid option so for all purposes that has been settled.
Another big issue that the Mayor faced was the Smart Track this was built on the campaign promise of the mayor where he expected that the project was to be funded both equally with the federal, provincial, and city. It is still up in the air how Toronto itself is going to be able to pay for the remaining amount for this project but there has been some secure funding promises put in place from higher levels.
One of the biggest conflicts that grew throughout the year was the Uber issue. What the mayor wants to do here is regulate UberX while those that oppose him are not in favour of this at all and consider it to be illegal and that this business should be banned from operating in Toronto.
One real shortfall concerning the election campaign promises was that the TTC fare hike that came into play which meant that Mayor Torey did not keep his promise. His explanation there was that he had no choice.
Carding was another issue that the Mayor had to face and started doing so with a revamped carding policy and then had to retract himself on this as he received a lot of opposition that claims carding is a form of discrimination.
The Mayor himself seems to have a positive take on his actions for the previous year believing that one of his biggest accomplishments was on the restoration of the transit service and the Smart Track system.
Torontonians themselves each have their own point of view on just how well or how poorly the Mayor functioned this year, and their opinion is based on how the mayor’s actions affected them personally.