Toronto city council fires parking authority board

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Brad Bradford said it was done under the “cover of darkness.” Stephen Holyday said it was “strange” and “bizarre.”

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Frances Nunziata, however, insisted there was nothing “underhanded” about sacking the board of the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA).

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At around 9 o’clock Thursday night, Bradford gestured at the dim windows and empty seats behind him. He had urged council, unsuccessfully, to put the vote off for a month “to do this the right way.”

“This is not about budget pressures, and Torontonians and the public don’t exactly know what this is about, because they’re not being honest and transparent. They’ve taken us to the cover of darkness and waited for most of the media … they left, and they did that intentionally.”

Five members of the public who serve on the TPA’s board were dismissed via a motion that Mayor Olivia Chow brought forward only that day. Chow’s sparsely worded motion, which called for “efficiencies” at the TPA, said the matter was urgent because a review now “will optimize savings in the 2026 budget year.”

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Only city agency generating revenue

“Colleagues,” Bradford told the few councillors still in the chamber, “what we’re missing here today was the mayor moving a motion to completely dismantle, blow up a board, of a city agency under the guise of, quote, ‘efficiencies.’ And as we heard from the city manager and the CFO, this is literally the only city agency that generates a revenue.

“This is a profit centre for Torontonians, not a cost centre.”

He said the TPA is not only doing its job well – and running the city’s Bike Share service – it also keeps supplying money to the municipality even as city hall takes away its assets, the parking lots, and uses them for housing.

“And then, building very little housing on them. It’s a joke!” Bradford said.

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The motion replaced the board members with five high-ranking City Hall bureaucrats: The city manager, chief financial officer, one of the deputy city managers, the executive director of the environment division, and the general manager of transportation services.

In an apparent concession, Councillor Paula Fletcher said she and Nunziata, who also serve on the board, could be removed as well, which the original motion did not require.

The vote passed 15-4, with seven councillors absent. Bradford, Holyday, Jon Burnside and Vincent Crisanti voted no.

Bradford pushed for a chance to question Chow, who returned to City Hall mid-debate after appearing at the Chief’s Gala, a fundraiser at Exhibition Place. (“The minute I finished speaking, I ran out the door and came right back,” Chow, now in jewelry and a black dress, said.)

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Nunziata, the Speaker, at first insisted council was “not doing a second round of questions.” That prompted a rare vote on a challenge – and while it failed, Chow later spoke on her motion and ultimately did answer questions.

No TPA staff present to answer questions

Early in the debate, Holyday stood to ask questions of TPA staff, only to be told no one from the authority was in the council chambers.

“Why are they not here, Speaker?” Holyday asked. In the short exchange that followed, Nunziata at one point simply replied, “No.”

“I’m just reading some of the budget submission from the Toronto Parking Authority: $180 million in revenue, $135 million in gross expenditures and a net income of $45 million with 326.5 approved positions – 326 workers – in a organization that is being reconsidered on a walk-on motion at the end of council,” Holyday said. “And a deferral was suggested, and it was heartily voted down.”

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“Being considered at the end of the council meeting where I asked to speak to staff from Toronto Parking Authority and was denied by the Speaker. I want to make sure that that’s in the minutes, and if it doesn’t make it, it’s on tape,” Holyday added. “Among the most strange, bizarre things I’ve seen here in a very, very long time – which makes me double down on questions and care in what we’re doing.”

Fletcher said the drastic move was necessary to give City Hall’s bosses “governance authority” at the TPA. The CFO, and to a lesser extent the city manager, she said, need “to be able to look at finances in a way that is impossible for them to do outside of this approach.”

Nunziata said there are “a lot of efficiencies we can find,” such as bringing IT in house.

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“This motion was not underhanded,” she added.

TPA president’s salary raised eyebrows

Chow was asked about the timing. Interestingly, a post by the IntegrityTO account on X gained some traction this month when it pointed out that TPA president Scott Collier made some $485,000 last year – well more than either Chow or Premier Doug Ford. (A TPA document disclosing executive salaries put Collier’s at $485,665.99.)

“Let me be precise, and I don’t do things without thinking things through, OK? I looked at this year’s budget, it’s a tough budget,” Chow said. She brought up the recent loss of revenue from speed cameras. “We have to find money.”

Chow said the chairman of the TPA board resigned the day before her motion was brought to council. She said he left for a role with the LCBO and his departure was “not at all connected” to her motion. (An LCBO web page says Hartley Lefton, TPA chairman since 2019, has been with the liquor board since June.)

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“So capital budget, for example, the debt,” Chow said, “if we decide to have and use the corporate debt, our way of dealing with capital budget, you can’t do that as an arm’s-length agency. It’s not whether the board, whether it should be on the board or who’s on the board, whether the board exists, whether there’s anything wrong with the board – that is not what’s in front of us. The question is: Should this agency be an arm’s-length agency, or should it be operated by the City of Toronto?”

Hearing this, Bradford asked if the idea is to bring the TPA within City Hall. Chow replied: “We don’t know that at this point.”

jholmes@postmedia.com

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