For every municipal election since we started Spacing, we’ve published a special election-focused issue in advance of the polls. This year, we decided to do something a little different. Rather than look into the policies around key city issues, we’ve cast our gaze on the people and organizations who influence those issues. It’s a bit like the “power” issue put out each year by another Toronto magazine, but ours is focused less on the bigwigs (though we do touch on those) and more on the grassroots people who devote their time to making the city a better place for everyone.
While they may not make conventional power rankings, the people and groups we profile in this issue make a fundamental difference. They will shape the discussion during the election, bringing up vital issues for candidates to address. And they will also shape the direction of Toronto’s government once a new city council is elected, influencing the decisions, motions, and votes of both new and returning members. This issue will, we hope, be a useful reference for not just election season, but the next four years of the council we will collectively choose in October.
Some of our influencers have a regional or even national scope, others are focused on just a neighbourhood. But each focuses on some particular passion – we haven’t looked at broad ideological lobby groups like Progress Toronto on the left or ABC on the right. We wanted to dig deeper to profile names that might be less well known, but are shaping the discussion on specific files.
One unending issue we decided not to delve into is governance. As I write in my introduction to our election cover section, Toronto’s governance situation is perpetually unsatisfactory, with endless micromanaging interference from the Province and councillors who serve, sometimes, for decades and who now represent wards the size of small cities.
I can’t help contrasting that with my mother-in-law, who is one of six part-time town councillors in a Nova Scotia town with a population in the four digits, able to deal with issues in detail and be in contact with a significant portion of her constituents. While that setup would obviously not be practicable in a metropolis, one has to wonder if some kind of closer governance would not be possible. But both the Constitution, which makes cities a mere creature of the province, and practical politics suggest that little change will happen, and we’ll just have to keep muddling through.
Fortunately, there are more than enough other issues to explore in our bailiwick. We’ve called on our writers to explore congestion and movement, transit, housing, the public realm, the waterfront, the environment, services, and safety – issues that impact our daily lives in the metropolis and that our municipal representatives can directly shape through their decisions.
Meanwhile, in the front of the magazine, local historian Jamie Bradburn marks two anniversaries – the 70th anniversary of the province’s blue plaques program, and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the CN Tower to the public. We also are pleased to welcome science writer Dan Falk to our magazine, who for his part marks a loss this year – the demolition this spring of Toronto’s long-shuttered planetarium. And we are honoured to include an excerpt from a new book edited by two of our favourite people (both featured in past issues), Zahra Ebrahim and Jane Farrow, who have compiled the self-explanatory anthology Women, Walking.
Even as the world around us roils with conflict, climate change, trade disputes, and intemperate leaders, the everyday life of the city continues. As we worry and try to act to address those big issues, we can still find the time to pay attention to our immediate urban environment, try to make our city a better and more welcoming place, and celebrate and enjoy the good things we have created. We hope this issue will be a guide both to your decisions in the election, and to observing and getting involved with how the municipal government we choose evolves over the next four years.
This issue is available now at the Spacing Store at 401 Richmond St. W., and soon at fine book and magazine stores, as well as arriving soon in subscribers’ mailboxes.
