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92-518: In generic terms and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government with partial or complete consolidation of city and county services. The former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto , 1954-1998, was created by partial amalgamation of the City of Toronto with neighbouring towns and townships in southerly York County , from which the metropolitan municipality

184-423: A convention polarized around the candidacy of former Toronto Food Bank head Gerard Kennedy . In the 1999 election , the governing Conservatives were reelected on the basis of strong economic growth and a negative campaign tightly focused on portraying McGuinty as "not up to the job". A poor performance in the leader's debate and a weak overall campaign hamstrung the new leader, but he was able to rally his party in

276-665: A dynasty which was to rule Ontario for the next 42 years. Ontario politics in recent times have been dominated by the Progressive Conservatives , also known as the Tories. The Liberals had formed the Government for only five years out of sixty years from 1943 to 2003. For forty-two years, from 1943 to 1985, the province was governed by the Tories. During this period, the Ontario Liberal Party

368-540: A filibuster in the provincial legislature, proposing more than 12,000 amendments that allowed residents on streets of the proposed megacity take part in public hearings on the merger and adding historical designations to the streets. This only delayed the bill's inevitable passage, given the PCO's majority. The amalgamation would take place effective January 1, 1998, at which time the new City of Toronto (legal successor of Old Toronto ) came into existence. Originally, members of

460-497: A form of local government with larger jurisdiction than municipalities in Turkey. These may be formed by presidential decree in any province with a provincial population (city center + outlying districts + villages) exceeding 750.000, as per the law governing metropolitan municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities enjoy jurisdiction in provincial borders, whereas "normal" municipalities are only tasked with governing their own district or

552-496: A formal inquiry into forming a metropolitan district. A proposal was made for Toronto to provide several of its services to the suburbs as well. The inquiry died with the defeat of Henry in 1934. In the 1930s, a Liberal Ontario government named the first minister of municipal affairs , David A. Croll , and introduced a draft bill to amalgamate Toronto and the built-up suburbs. The draft bill faced strong opposition in Toronto and

644-537: A growing anti-Catholic sectarian sentiment hurt the Liberals, particularly in Toronto where they were unable to win a seat from 1890 until 1916. The Liberals continued to decline after losing power, and, for a time, were eclipsed by the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) when the Liberals were unable to attract the growing farmers' protest movement to its ranks. Debates over the party's policy on liquor divided

736-576: A hard time winning an election. The Liberals had held office only three times for 13 years since 1900 and the party caucus was not that much different from the time between 1959 and 1963. They failed to get a popular candidate, Charles Templeton , elected in a by-election. They also lost another riding to the PCs when Maurice Bélanger died in March 1964. Thompson would last only two years as leader before resigning due to stress-induced health problems. Throughout

828-415: A key Liberal campaign pledge not to raise taxes, and gave the government an early reputation for breaking promises. The Liberals defended the premium by pointing to the previous government's hidden deficit of $ 5.6 billion, and McGuinty claimed he needed to break his campaign pledge on taxation to fulfill his promises on other fronts. The Ontario Health Premium also became a major issue in the early days of

920-494: A newly constructed Metro Hall at 55 John Street, which was designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects (BBB Architects). The amalgamated council chose to meet at City Hall, though it temporarily met at Metro Hall while City Hall was retrofitted for the enlarged council. Metro Hall continues to be used as office space by the City of Toronto. The following is a list of services that were funded and provided by

1012-549: A poor campaign under leader Lyn McLeod , and was beaten by the Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris . Harris swept to power on a right-wing " Common Sense Revolution " platform. In 1996, the Ontario Liberals selected Dalton McGuinty as their leader in a free-wheeling convention. Starting in fourth place, McGuinty's fiscally prudent record and moderate demeanor made him the second choice of

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1104-427: A separate company and sold outright for up to $ 3 billion. The government pivoted to the left in the lead up to the 2018 election by raising the minimum wage, introducing reforms to employment standards and labour law, bringing in a limited form of pharmacare and promising universal child care. In the 2018 general election , the Liberals were swept from power in a historic defeat that resulted in large gains for both

1196-548: A series of high-profile maulings, the government also moved to ban pit bulls . During early 2005, McGuinty called the Legislature back for a rare winter session to debate and pass several high-profile bills. The government legislated a Greenbelt around Toronto. The size of Prince Edward Island , the Greenbelt protects a broad swath of land from development and preserves forests and farmland. In response to court decisions,

1288-571: A unified system of arterial roads and the creation of a single public transit network. The Board was ineffective. Projects such as a bridge across the Don River Valley and the Spadina Road Extension (the basis for the later Spadina Expressway ) were rejected by the local municipalities. Gardiner, elected as chairman of the board in 1949, wrote to Premier Leslie Frost that only a unified municipality could measure up to

1380-586: Is a regional municipality rather than a metropolitan municipality. As with metropolitan municipalities, sub-regional communities - cities, villages, townships - within the regional municipality retain a degree of local autonomy, with the regional government focusing mostly on shared public services (police, drinking water, etc.). There are six metropolitan municipalities in Nepal , known as "Mahanagarpalika". There are another 11 sub-metropolitan municipalities called "Up-mahanagarpalika". Metropolitan municipalities are

1472-477: The 1988 municipal election , requiring direct elections to Metro Council from all of Metro's municipalities and severing the links between the two tiers. The suburban boards of control were abolished and Metro Councillors were elected from new Metro Wards, which were larger than the city and borough wards. Now only the mayors of the six member municipalities sat on both the upper-tier and lower-tier councils. The first chairman of Metropolitan Toronto, Fred Gardiner,

1564-472: The December 2023 leadership election which elected Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie as the new Liberal leader. On December 2nd, 2023, the Ontario Liberal Party elected Bonnie Crombie , the then-mayor of Mississauga, as the next leader of the party, defeating MP Nate Erskine-Smith , MP Yasir Naqvi , and MPP Ted Hsu . The executive of the Ontario Liberal Party is elected to a 12 to 18 month term at

1656-647: The 1830s and 1840s against the conservative patrician rule of the Family Compact . The modern Liberals were founded by George Brown , who sought to rebuild the Reform Party after its collapse in 1854. In 1857, Brown brought together the Reformers and the radical " Clear Grits " of southwestern Ontario to create a new party in Upper Canada with a platform of democratic reform and annexation of

1748-558: The 1960s and 1970s, the Liberals were almost shut out of Metropolitan Toronto and other urban areas and, in 1975, fell to third place behind the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) under Stephen Lewis . With the NDP in ascendancy in the late 1960s and 1970s, it appeared that the Liberals could disappear altogether. The Liberals remained more popular than the Tories among Catholic and Francophone voters, due to

1840-546: The 2004 federal election, called a week after the Ontario budget. Most believe that the controversy seriously hampered Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin 's bid for re-election. Also controversial were the elimination of coverage for health services not covered by the Canada Health Act , including eye examinations and physical therapy . Other elements included a four-year plan to tackle the deficit left behind by

1932-517: The 2018 election, the party had won every election since the beginning of the 21st century and had governed the province for the previous 15 years. In the 2022 provincial election , the Liberals saw a modest increase in support, finishing second in popular vote, but only winning eight seats. The Liberal Party of Ontario is descended from the Reform Party of Robert Baldwin and William Lyon Mackenzie , who argued for responsible government in

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2024-412: The 48-seat loss in 1943 that began the Tories' long rule over the province. Peterson himself was heavily defeated in his own London-area riding by the NDP challenger. By the 1995 election , the NDP government had become very unpopular due to perceived mismanagement, a few scandals, and because of the severe downturn in the economy. The Liberal Party was expected to replace the unpopular NDP, but it ran

2116-438: The City of Toronto (which was deemed particularly important after being reincorporated as cities), North York and Scarborough built planned city centres: North York City Centre and Scarborough City Centre respectively. This pattern was in contrast to other metropolitan areas like Hamilton-Wentworth , where suburbs such as Stoney Creek had historic cores and whose inner areas were well separated from inner-city Hamilton . As

2208-401: The City of Toronto and the five townships, which at this time were re-designated as boroughs (all but East York were later incorporated as cities). Long Branch, New Toronto, and Mimico were absorbed back into Etobicoke; Weston was absorbed into York; Leaside into East York; and Swansea and Forest Hill, into Toronto, resulting in an unusual final situation where none of the municipalities outside

2300-951: The Federation of the Municipalities in the Toronto Metropolitan Area for Certain Financial and Other Purposes ) to create the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The new municipality would have the power to tax real estate and borrow funds on its own. It would be responsible for arterial roads, major sewage and water facilities, regional planning, public transportation, administration of justice, metropolitan parks and housing issues as needed. The municipalities retained their individual fire and police departments, business licensing, public health and libraries. The council would have its own chairman, selected by

2392-413: The Liberals in the Toronto suburbs. The NDP promised a return to the activist form of government that had prevailed from 1985 to 1987, and its co-operation with the Liberals during that time made it appear more moderate and acceptable to swing voters in the Toronto area. Due to the nature of the first-past-the-post system, the Liberals were decimated, falling from 95 seats to 36. The 59-seat loss surpassed

2484-457: The Liberals to win a historic third consecutive term and to once again form government, albeit with a minority of seats in the legislature. The Liberals won 53 of the 107 seats, just short of a 54-seat majority government. On October 15, 2012, McGuinty announced that he would resign as leader and Premier. At the end of January 2013, the party elected MPP Kathleen Wynne as leader, making her the 25th Premier of Ontario. The June 12, 2014 election

2576-420: The Liberals updated the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples. McGuinty also launched a PR campaign to narrow the politically charged $ 23 billion gap between what Ontario contributes to the federal government and what is returned to Ontario in services. This came as a sharp turn after more than a year of cooperating with the federal government, but McGuinty pointed to the special deals worked out by

2668-643: The McGuinty campaign kept a positive message throughout. The PCs' negative attacks on McGuinty backfired throughout the campaign. The new government called the Legislature back in session in late 2003, and passed a series of bills relating to its election promises. The government brought in auto insurance reforms (including a price cap), fixed election dates, rolled-back a series of corporate and personal tax cuts which had been scheduled for 2004, passed legislation which enshrined publicly funded Medicare into provincial law, hired more meat and water inspectors, opened up

2760-518: The Metro government: In addition, the following agencies were Metro government agencies: 43°42′26″N 79°22′50″W  /  43.7072°N 79.3805°W  / 43.7072; -79.3805 Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party ( OLP ; French : Parti libéral de l'Ontario , PLO ) is a political party in the province of Ontario , Canada . The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses

2852-580: The Metropolitan Toronto Council also sat on their respective lower-tier councils; they were not directly elected to the upper-tier council, and because Toronto councillors often voted in a bloc, inner-city issues tended to dominate. From its inception in 1953 until the 1966 municipal election , Metropolitan Toronto Council consisted of the mayor of Toronto, two members of the Toronto Board of Control (the top two finishers of

Metropolitan municipality - Misplaced Pages Continue

2944-476: The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, and seceded from York County. Metropolitan Toronto Council had its inaugural meeting on April 15, 1953, and was made up of the Metro chairman, Frederick Gardiner , who had been appointed by the province; the mayor of Toronto ; Toronto's two most senior controllers ; nine senior aldermen from the City of Toronto ; and the twelve suburban mayors and reeves . Metro Toronto

3036-460: The Progressive Conservatives and NDP. The Liberal popular vote fell to 19%, almost half their previous result; the party lost 51 seats and were reduced to a rump of only seven seats in a swing that elected a PC majority and made the NDP the official opposition. Notably, the Liberals lost all but three of their 18 seats in Toronto, were completely shut out in the 905 region and won only one seat outside of Toronto and Ottawa. The seven-member rump caucus

3128-512: The Progressive Conservatives, free immunization for children, investments in education and investments to lower waiting times for cancer care, cardiac care, joint replacement , MRI and CT scans. Soon after the federal election, McGuinty hosted a federal-provincial summit on public health-care funding which resulted in a new agreement for a national health accord. This accord allowed the provincial Premiers and territorial leaders to draw more money from Ottawa for health services, and requires

3220-468: The Toronto Board of Control was abolished with the 1969 Toronto municipal election , Toronto's contingent on Metro Council was made up of the mayor of Toronto and 11 senior aldermen – with the nine previous city wards being redrawn into 11 wards. In the City of Toronto the person who achieved the greatest number of votes in a ward was named the senior alderman. The person with the second most votes

3312-644: The UFO. Hepburn was able to build an electoral coalition with Liberal-Progressives and attract reformers and urban voters to the party. The Liberal-Progressives had previously supported the UFO and the Progressive Party of Canada . A "wet", Hepburn was able to end the divisions in the party around the issue of temperance which had reduced it to a narrow sect. The revitalized party was able to win votes from rural farmers, particularly in southwestern Ontario, urban Ontario, Catholics and francophones. It also had

3404-578: The United States. In the 2003 election , McGuinty led the Liberals to a majority government, winning 72 out of 103 seats. The PC government's record had already been marred by a number of prior events, including the death of Dudley George , the Walkerton water tragedy and the government's performance during the SARS outbreak . The PC's election campaign relied on attack ads against McGuinty, while

3496-613: The advantage of not being in power at the onset of the Great Depression . With the economy in crisis, Ontarians looked for a new government, and Hepburn's populism was able to excite the province. In government, Hepburn's Liberals warred with organized labour led by the Congress of Industrial Organizations , who were trying to unionize the auto-sector. Later, he battled with the federal Liberal Party of Canada government of William Lyon Mackenzie King , which, Hepburn argued,

3588-453: The building of hospitals. Following the campaign, however, the McGuinty government allowed "3P" hospital construction deals arranged by the previous government to continue. The Ontario Liberals won their second majority in a row on October 10, 2007, winning 71 of the province's 107 seats. Winning two majorities back to back is a feat that had not occurred for the party in 70 years. In the next general election on October 6, 2011, McGuinty led

3680-459: The central Council Chamber. Eventually this space proved inadequate and committee facilities and councillors' offices were relocated to an office tower at the southwest corner of Bay and Richmond Street (390 Bay Street ), across from City Hall; Metro Council continued to meet in the City Hall council chamber. Finally, in 1992, the Metro government moved out of Toronto City Hall altogether and into

3772-498: The city center respectively. Metropolitan municipalities also take on the duties of the Special Provincial Administrations ( Turkish: İl Özel İdareleri ) that are tasked with providing some municipal services in areas outside municipal limits. District municipalities become subordinate to the metropolitan municipality as second-level municipalities, and the metropolitan municipality takes on the name of

Metropolitan municipality - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-536: The city were ever entities founded as distinct historic urban settlements in their own right. The reorganized Metropolitan Toronto adopted a flag and decal using a symbol of six rings representing the six municipalities. Development in Metro Toronto generally unfurled outward smoothly from the City of Toronto into the surrounding municipalities with little leapfrogging , giving it a core-to-suburb continuum that ignored municipal boundaries, resulting in it having

3956-485: The end the Harris government announced what they saw as a superior cost-saving plan. The six municipalities of Metro Toronto would be amalgamated into a single-tier city of Toronto. This was a major break from the past, which had seen the core simply annex suburbs. Similar amalgamations were planned for other parts of Ontario, such as Ottawa and Hamilton . The announcement touched off vociferous public objections to what

4048-573: The federal government to take provincial concerns such as hospital waiting-lists into account. McGuinty's performance at the summit was generally applauded by the Canadian media. The McGuinty government brought forward a number of regulatory initiatives in the fall of 2004. These included legislation allowing bring-your-own-wine in restaurants, banning junk food in public schools to promote healthier choices, outlawing smoking in public places and requiring students to stay in school until age 18. Following

4140-468: The federal government with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia as compromising the nature of equalization payments . In particular, McGuinty noted that immigrants in Ontario receive $ 800 in support from the federal government, while those in Quebec receive $ 3800. In the 2003 campaign, the Liberals denounced public-private partnerships (also known as "3P" deals) for infrastructure projects such as

4232-413: The figures named in the scandal were Tom Long , former Harris campaign chairman, Leslie Noble, former Harris campaign manager and Paul Rhodes , former Harris communications director. On May 18, 2004, Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara released the McGuinty government's first budget. The centrepiece was a controversial new Health Premium of $ 300 to $ 900, staggered according to income. This violated

4324-515: The final weeks of the campaign. The Ontario Liberals garnered 40% of the vote, at the time their second-highest total in 50 years. McGuinty's second term as opposition leader was more successful than his first. With the Liberals consolidated as the primary opposition to Harris's Progressive Conservatives, McGuinty was able to present his party as the "government in waiting". He hired a more skilled group of advisors and drafted former cabinet minister Greg Sorbara as party president. McGuinty also rebuilt

4416-402: The formation of a Metropolitan government, governed by a Metropolitan Council, to provide strategic functions, while existing municipalities would retain all other services. He rejected full amalgamation, citing a need to preserve 'a government which is very close to the local residents.' The Frost government moved immediately and on February 25, 1953, introduced the bill ( An Act to provide for

4508-429: The four in municipal election) and one mayor or reeve from each of the 12 suburbs, and was presided over by the Metro chairman who did not have a seat. With the 1966 election, as the result of the reorganization of the 13 municipalities into the City of Toronto and five boroughs , representation on Metropolitan Toronto Council also changed and the body was expanded from 22 to 32 seats, with greater representation from

4600-478: The idea of ambitious new programs to lay the capital infrastructure for growth. In 1946, the province passed the Planning Act , which required each urban municipality to have its own Planning Board. A Toronto and Suburban Planning Board was founded, under the chairmanship of James P. Maher, and the vice-chairmanship of Fred Gardiner. The Board promoted specific projects, and also promoted a suburban 'green belt',

4692-475: The issue of free trade . The majority Liberal government of 1987 to 1990 was less innovative than the previous minority government. The Liberals' increasing conservatism caused many centre-left voters to look at the Ontario NDP and its leader Bob Rae , and consider the social-democratic NDP as an alternative to the Liberals. The Liberals went into the 1990 election with apparently strong support in

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4784-606: The job would be "bigger than anything he had tried before." The bill to form Metro was passed on April 2, 1953. The Gardiner appointment was announced on April 7. In Canada, the creation of municipalities falls under provincial jurisdiction. Thus it was provincial legislation, the Metropolitan Toronto Act , that created this level of government in 1953. When it took effect in 1954, the portion of York Township not yet annexed by Toronto, as well as all of Scarborough and Etobicoke Townships were incorporated as part of

4876-560: The media termed the " megacity " plan. In March 1997 a referendum in all six municipalities produced a vote of more than 3:1 against amalgamation. However, municipal governments in Canada are creatures of the provincial governments, and referendums have little to no legal effect. The Harris government could thus legally ignore the results of the referendum, and did so in April when it tabled the City of Toronto Act . Both opposition parties held

4968-415: The membership, forced the resignation of at least one leader, Hartley Dewart , and drove away many reform-minded Liberals who supported the federal party under William Lyon Mackenzie King but found the provincial party too narrow and conservative to support. The party was so disorganized that it was led for seven years (and through two provincial elections) by an interim leader , W.E.N. Sinclair , as there

5060-467: The next two years. Once the accord expired, an election was called and Peterson won a strong majority government with 95 seats, its most ever. Peterson's government ruled in a time of economic plenty where occasional instances of fiscal imprudence were not much remarked on. Peterson was a close ally of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on the Meech Lake Accord , but opposed Mulroney on

5152-616: The next year, leaving the provincial Liberals in the hands of Oliver Mowat . Mowat served as Premier of Ontario until 1896. While the Tories became a narrow, sectarian Protestant party with a base in the Orange Order , the Liberals under Mowat attempted to bring together Catholics and Protestants, rural and urban interests under moderate, religiously liberal leadership. The Liberals were defeated in 1905 after over thirty years in power. The party had grown tired and arrogant in government and became increasingly cautious. As well,

5244-488: The nine wards of the City of Toronto, the mayor of Scarborough and the four members of Scarborough's Board of Control, the mayor of Etobicoke and three of the four members of Etobicoke's Board of Control (the top three in terms of votes), the mayor of York and its two Controllers, the mayor of East York and one alderman, selected by East York council, the mayor of North York, all four members of North York's Board of Control, and one alderman selected by North York's council. After

5336-556: The north, and the Rouge River to the east. Prior to the formation of Metropolitan Toronto, the municipalities surrounding the central city of Toronto were all independent townships, towns and villages within York County . After 1912, the city no longer annexed suburbs from York Township. At times, the suburbs asked to be annexed into Toronto, but the city chose not to do so. In 1924, Ontario cabinet minister George S. Henry

5428-468: The north-west. The party adopted a position in favour of uniting Britain's North American colonies, a concept that led to Canadian Confederation . After 1867, Edward Blake became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. The party sat in opposition to the Conservative government led by John Sandfield Macdonald . Blake's Liberals defeated the Tories in 1871 , but Blake left Queen's Park for Ottawa

5520-410: The number of the ward, name of municipality and the name of the local communities: At its inception in 1953, Metro was headquartered at a six-floor building at 67 Adelaide Street East (now home to Adelaide Resource Centre for Women). When the new Toronto City Hall opened in 1965, one of its twin towers was intended for Metro Toronto offices and the other for the City of Toronto; the two councils shared

5612-475: The party and made it appealing to urban voters and immigrants who had previously supported the cautious government of Tory Premiers John Robarts and William Davis . Peterson was able to form a minority government from 1985 to 1987 due to an accord signed with the Ontario NDP. Under this accord, the NDP agreed not to trigger an election via a non-confidence vote in exchange for the Liberals implementing certain agreed upon policies and not calling an election for

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5704-476: The party elected former Cabinet Minister Steven Del Duca as leader, who defeated five other candidates on the first ballot at the leadership convention . In the 2022 general election , the Liberals finished second in popular vote but gained only one seat, once again falling short of official status by four seats. After failing to win in his own riding, leader Steven Del Duca announced his resignation as party leader. John Fraser returned as interim leader until

5796-482: The party's fundraising operation, launching the Ontario Liberal Fund. He personally rebuilt the party's platform to one that emphasized lowering class sizes, hiring more nurses, increasing environmental protections and "holding the line" on taxes in the buildup to the 2003 election. McGuinty also made a serious effort to improve his debating skills, and received coaching from Democratic Party trainers in

5888-438: The party's support for extending separate school funding to include Grades 11–13. The Tories opposed this extension until 1985, when they suddenly reversed their position. This reversal angered traditional Conservative voters, and may have contributed to their defeat in the 1985 election . The Ontario Liberal Party first broke the Tories' hold on the province in 1985 under the leadership of David Peterson . Peterson modernized

5980-442: The position). As usual in Ontario municipalities, these councils were non-partisan , although in later years some councillors (and candidates) did identify themselves explicitly as members of particular political parties. Metro councillors were elected by plurality . From the inception of Metro Toronto until amalgamation , there were six chairmen altogether: Metro Toronto wards established in 1988 were given names that contained

6072-620: The principles of liberalism , and generally sits at the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum, with their rival the Progressive Conservative Party positioned to the right and the New Democratic Party (who at times aligned itself with the Liberals during minority governments), positioned to their left . The party has strong informal ties to the Liberal Party of Canada , but

6164-497: The problems. In 1950, the City of Toronto Council voted to adopt an amalgamated city, while nearly all of the suburbs rejected the amalgamation. From 1950 until 1951, the Ontario Municipal Board held hearings on the proposal, under the chairmanship of Lorne Cumming. The Board worked until 1953, releasing its report on January 20, 1953. Cumming's report proposed a compromise solution: a two-tiered government, with

6256-583: The province initially, then to be elected by the Council itself after 1955. Premier Frost convinced Fred Gardiner, who still preferred amalgamation, over the metro scheme, to take the job. Gardiner was well known to Frost through the Conservative Party, was well-off, was felt to be beyond personal corruption. Gardiner accepted the position partly due to his friendship with Frost, and he demanded that he retain his corporate connections. He also felt that

6348-611: The province. The city center is then made into its own district or districts, depending on size. As of 2022, there are 30 metropolitan municipalities in Turkey: Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, which were starting to urbanize rapidly after World War II. It

6440-550: The provincially owned electricity companies to Freedom of Information laws and enacted a ban on partisan government advertising. The McGuinty government also benefited from a scandal involving the previous Progressive Conservative government's management of Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One, which broke in the winter of 2003–04. It was revealed that a number of key figures associated with Mike Harris's "Common Sense Revolution" had received lucrative, untendered multimillion-dollar consulting contracts from these institutions. Among

6532-419: The public opinion polls. This support quickly evaporated, however. On the campaign trail, the media reported that the Liberals were met by voters who were angry at going to the polls just three years into the government's mandate. Another negative factor was Peterson's association with Mulroney and the failed Meech Lake Accord attempt at constitutional reform, about which the public felt strongly. The campaign

6624-462: The seats on Metro Council were reapportioned according to population, the council was now dominated by the suburban majority; but it continued to address suburban and inner city issues in equal measure. In the 1995 provincial election , PCO leader Mike Harris campaigned on reducing the level of government in Ontario as part of his Common Sense Revolution platform, and promised to examine Metropolitan Toronto with an eye to eliminating it. However, in

6716-477: The structure of a single city. For example, most of the areas of the small inner boroughs of York and East York, were in effect, extensions of inner city Toronto and gradually transitioned into the more typical suburban areas of the outer municipalities (which also had such inner-city areas where they bordered Toronto). Given that none of the boroughs originated as distinct settlements, they did not have their own downtowns. To give themselves an identity distinct from

6808-401: The suburbs which now had 20 out of 32 seats on the body – up from 11 out of 22 with seats roughly allocated according to population. The distribution of seats was as follows. Toronto (12), North York (6), Scarborough (5), Etobicoke (4), York (3), East York (2). The new Metro Council was made up of the mayor of Toronto, two of the four members of the Toronto Board of Control, senior aldermen from

6900-427: The two parties are organizationally independent and have separate, though overlapping, memberships. The provincial party and the Ontario wing of the federal party were organizationally one entity until members voted to split in 1976. The Liberals lost official party status in the 2018 Ontario provincial election ; they had fallen to only seven seats, the worst defeat of a governing party in Ontario history. Prior to

6992-479: Was Metro chairman from 1953 until the end of 1961. During his tenure, Metro built numerous infrastructure projects, including the opening of the first subway line , start of construction of the second subway line , water and sewage treatment facilities, rental housing for the aged and the Gardiner Expressway , named after Gardiner. Metro also amalgamated the various police forces into one in 1956. It

7084-423: Was a period of rapid development of the suburban municipalities of Metro. The population of Metropolitan Toronto increased from one million to 1.6   million by the time he left office. As a result of continued growth, the province reorganized Metro in 1967. The seven small towns and villages, which were no longer any denser than the surrounding areas, were merged into their surrounding municipalities. This left

7176-435: Was a rural, conservative rump with a southwestern Ontario base, and were often further to the right of the moderate Red Tory Conservative administrations. In 1964, the party changed their name from the "Ontario Liberal Association" to the "Liberal Party of Ontario". In September 1964, the party elected Andy Thompson as its leader. While the leadership election garnered some attention, it looked like Thompson would have

7268-538: Was also poorly run: a mid-campaign proposal to cut the provincial sales tax was a particularly bad blunder. The party had also underestimated the impact of the Patti Starr fundraising scandal, as well as allegations surrounding the Liberal government's links with land developers. In the 1990 election, the Liberals only finished five points behind the NDP in the popular vote. However, the NDP took many seats from

7360-433: Was appointed as interim leader of the party following a vote by caucus members, riding association presidents, and party executives. In the 2018 municipal election later in the year, six of the defeated Liberal MPPs — Bill Mauro , Kathryn McGarry , Jim Bradley , Mike Colle , Granville Anderson and Dipika Damerla — were elected to municipal office as mayors, city councillors or regional councillors. In March 2020,

7452-475: Was appointed by the province; subsequent chairmen were elected by Metro Council itself. The Metro chairman was, for many years, an ex-officio member of the council without having to be elected to Metro Council by constituents as either a local mayor, controller , alderman or councillor. Beginning in 1988, the position of chairman was chosen by council members from amongst its own members (excluding mayors who could vote for Metro councillors but could no longer run for

7544-421: Was commonly referred to as " Metro Toronto " or " Metro ". Passage of the 1997 City of Toronto Act caused the 1998 amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto and its constituents into the current City of Toronto . The boundaries of present-day Toronto are the same as those of Metropolitan Toronto upon its dissolution: Lake Ontario to the south, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to

7636-449: Was composed of the City of Toronto, the towns of New Toronto , Mimico , Weston and Leaside ; the villages of Long Branch , Swansea and Forest Hill and the townships of Etobicoke , York , North York , East York , and Scarborough . Metropolitan Toronto had planning authority over the surrounding townships such as Vaughan , Markham , and Pickering , although these areas did not have representation on Metro Council. Gardiner

7728-460: Was elected in 1943, with a changed policy, intending to promote economic growth through government action. Also in 1943, the first master plan was adopted in Toronto. It recognized that future growth would take place in the vacant land of adjacent suburbs. Planning would have to take into account the whole metropolitan area. Forest Hill reeve Fred Gardiner , who was politically well-connected to newly elected PC premier George Drew , now promoted

7820-402: Was insufficiently supportive of the war effort . The battle between Hepburn and King split the Ontario Liberal Party and led to Hepburn's ouster as leader. It also contributed to the party's defeat in the 1943 election , which was followed by the party's long stint in opposition. The Liberals declined to a right wing, rural rump. The "Progressive Conservatives" under George Drew established

7912-404: Was not enough money or a sufficient level of organization, and too many divisions within the party to hold a leadership convention . By 1930, the Liberals were reduced to a small, rural and prohibitionist rump with a base in south western Ontario. After a series of ineffective leaders, the Liberals turned to Mitchell Hepburn , an onion farmer, federal Member of Parliament and former member of

8004-417: Was one short of the requirement to retain official status in the Ontario legislature, and was also the only remnant of Wynne's cabinet. Wynne herself barely held onto her own seat by 181 votes. Accepting responsibility for the worst showing in the party's 161-year history and the worst defeat of a sitting government in Ontario, Wynne resigned as Liberal leader on election night. On June 14, 2018, John Fraser

8096-420: Was the first to propose a 'metropolitan district' with its own council, separate from the city and the county, to administer shared services. He wrote a draft bill, but the government chose not to act on it. The Great Depression saw almost all of the towns and villages of the county become insolvent. When that happened, they were financially taken over by the province. In 1933, Henry, now the premier, appointed

8188-641: Was the junior alderman. Both aldermen sat on the Toronto City Council, but only the senior alderman sat on Metro Council. With the 1985 Toronto municipal election the Metro Councillor and City Councillor in the City of Toronto were elected separately though from the same ward. The Metro Councillors still sat on both the Toronto and Metro Council, however. The suburbs retained the status quo and still did not have direct elections to Metro. The Province of Ontario changed this arrangement with

8280-556: Was then extracted. Each jurisdiction retained a degree of local autonomy, like the City of London and the boroughs in Greater London, while the Metropolitan government replaced the old county government and supervised metro-wide services, such as police, fire and ambulance. Conversely, a rural area (or a suburban area flanked mostly by rural areas) in which county and municipal functions are wholly or partially consolidated

8372-461: Was triggered by the Ontario New Democratic Party 's decision to reject the 2014 Ontario Budget. The Liberal Party under the leadership of Kathleen Wynne won 58 seats in the Legislature, and formed a majority government. In 2015, the Liberals proposed to sell 60 per cent of the province's $ 16-billion share of the province's electricity distribution utility, Hydro One . Hydro One Brampton and Hydro One Networks' distribution arm would be spun off into

8464-473: Was withdrawn. The government then started its own inquiry into issues of the suburbs surrounding Toronto. Through consensus, it came to the conclusion that a metropolitan municipality was the best solution. The inquiry reported in September 1939, and its conclusions were put aside for the duration of World War II. Two factors changed in the 1940s. A Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PCO) government

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