Amalgamation of Toronto

Map of Toronto with the borders of the former boroughs indicated

The amalgamation of Toronto was the creation of the current political borders of Toronto, Ontario, Canada after amalgamating, annexing, and merging with surrounding municipalities since the 18th century. The most recent occurrence of amalgamation was in 1998, which resulted in Toronto's current boundaries.

1791–1882: Founding of settlements

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Toronto Purchase 1787
Battle of York 1813
Battle of Montgomery's Tavern 1837
First Great Fire of Toronto 1849
Second Great Fire of Toronto 1904
Hurricane Hazel (effects) 1954
First Amalgamation 1967
Second Amalgamation 1998
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1883–1914: Growth, amalgamation and annexation

The city retained the same boundaries until 1883, when it began to amalgamate with the small surrounding communities. This continued until 1914, after which no more expansion of Toronto would take place until 1967.

1915–1953: Growth and sprawl

1954 federation into Metropolitan Toronto

In 1954, the City of Toronto was federated into a regional government known as Metropolitan Toronto.[13] Metro Toronto 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.

The postwar boom had resulted in rapid suburban development, and it was believed that a coordinated land use strategy and shared services would provide greater efficiency for the region. The metropolitan government began to manage services that crossed municipal boundaries, including highways, water and public transit.

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 County south of Steeles Avenue, a concession road and township boundary, was severed from the county and incorporated as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The area north of Steeles remained in York County, which ultimately became York Region in 1971.

The Metropolitan Toronto Council initially consisted of 12 councillors from Toronto (including the mayor), and one representative (usually a mayor or reeve) from each of the surrounding municipalities. Metropolitan Toronto also had planning authority over the surrounding townships such as Vaughan, Markham, and Pickering, although these areas did not have representation on Metro Council.

1967 merger

A round of merging was conducted among the municipalities in Metro Toronto in 1967. The seven smallest municipalities of the region were merged into their larger neighbours, resulting in a six-municipality configuration that included the old City of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York.

Forest Hill and Swansea were annexed by the City of Toronto,[1] Leaside was merged with the township of East York to become the Borough of East York. Weston was combined with the Township of York to form the Borough of York. The Village of Long Branch and the towns of Mimico and New Toronto merged with the township of Etobicoke to form the Borough of Etobicoke. North York township was promoted to the Borough of North York. Scarborough was also transformed into a borough.

1968–1997: Boroughs promoted

1998 amalgamation

Amalgamation occurred in 1998 when six municipalities comprising Metropolitan TorontoEast York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the former city of Toronto – and the regional municipality of Metro Toronto were dissolved and amalgamated into a single municipality called the City of Toronto (colloquially dubbed the "megacity") by an act of the Government of Ontario. This created the current City of Toronto. The new City of Toronto became the fifth most populous municipality in North America after amalgamation, trailing Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

The merger was proposed as a cost-saving measure by the fiscally conservative provincial government under Mike Harris. By the year 2000, the new city realized savings of $136.2 million (CDN) per year from amalgamation, and had incurred one time costs from amalgamation totalling $275 million (CDN). However, in 2007, Barry Hertz reported in the National Post that cost savings never materialized. He also noted that government staff had grown, with the city employing 4,015 more people in 2007 than it did in 1998[14] Before amalgamation 73% of the expenses taken over by Toronto came from Metro Toronto, and were thus already integrated programs.[15] Additionally, municipal affairs minister Al Leach touted it as a measure that would produce a stronger, more unified Toronto better equipped to compete in a global marketplace.

The amalgamation was widely opposed in Toronto and the other municipalities.[16] This amalgamation was despite a municipal referendum in 1997 that was overwhelmingly against amalgamation, which resulted in over three-quarters of voters rejecting amalgamation, with one third of eligible voters participating. Mayor Mel Lastman[17] of North York, and Barbara Hall of Toronto both campaigned against the merger, as did former mayor John Sewell. Subsequently, Lastman defeated Hall in the 1997 municipal election to become the first elected mayor of the megacity. However, the municipalities in Ontario are creatures of the provincial government, which decided to go ahead with the merger despite local opposition. Opposition parties in the provincial parliament engaged in a unique form of filibuster, tabling thirteen thousand amendments to the amalgamation bill,[18] which lasted two weeks, but did not prevent passage of the bill. Each amendment named an individual street in the city, whose residents the government would be obliged to personally consult for input on the amalgamation proposal; one such amendment, granting consultation rights to residents of Cafon Court in Etobicoke, was successfully passed as not enough members of the Progressive Conservative caucus were present in the chamber to defeat it, but the government later tabled and passed another amendment to rescind the Cafon amendment.

Despite amalgamation, many organizations and individuals continue to prefer the names of the old municipalities instead of using "Toronto". For example, Canada Post mail standards use Etobicoke instead of Toronto for addresses in Etobicoke. Similar standards apply for addresses in the former Scarborough and North York. When dealing with utility companies, one often has to give the name of one of the six municipalities when inquiring about service. This was done because amalgamation resulted in duplicate street names that are disambiguated only by referring to the former municipalities.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 "Toronto Chronology". Ontario Genealogy Society – Toronto Branch.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "A Provincial Centre, 1793–1851". City of Toronto, Arts Heritage & Culture.
  3. "Toronto:A place of meeting" (PDF). Toronto Public Libraries.
  4. "City Tour: Toronto Highlights". National Geographic.
  5. "A short history of Toronto".
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 R. L. Kennedy. "A brief history of Toronto and its railways".
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Parkdale and Brockton".
  8. Royson James (October 29, 2004). "Chalk up a sweet win for Weston". Toronto Star.
  9. "An Industrializing City, 1851–1901". City of Toronto, Arts Heritage & Culture.
  10. "The Town of North Toronto and its waterworks".
  11. "The Town of Leaside".
  12. "The Village of Forest Hill".
  13. Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act, Government of Ontario (2000). Retrieved on Dec. 29, 2006.
  14. Michael R. Garrett. "Building the new City of Toronto:
    Three year status report on amalgamation
    January 1998–December 2000"
    . City of Toronto.
  15. Michael Garrett. "Building the New City of Toronto Status; Report On Amalgamation; January 1998 – June 1999; Executive Summary".
  16. "Toronto's Struggle Against Amalgamation". Maclean's Magazine.
  17. Jeffrey Cohan (September 20, 2004). "MetroVisions: Toronto stumbling six years after huge mergers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  18. "Legislative Reports". Canadian Parliamentary Review.