Tag: Kensington Market

Councillor John Filion arrived running and breathless; Cynthia Lai wore fuchsia and Shelley Carroll will have to be photoshopped into Toronto’s official city council photo for 2018-2022. The veteran councillor said it was his eighth official city council photo, including his service on North York council. This year, as last term, Minnan-Wong was seated in the front row, directly on Mayor John Tory’s right. Rabble rouser Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale High-Park) was consigned to the back row, third from the left, a corner far from Tory, with whom he often clashes. A seating plan is devised ahead of time, but it usually gets switched around in the last minutes, depending on height and what people are wearing, said Bev Kurmey, Toronto’s senior project manager in strategic protocol and external relations. Lista was himself relaxed — he has worked with this group before — he took council’s picture last time. He took Nunziata’s picture when she was mayor of York. Filion arrived on the run, to slow clapping from his peers, taking a place on the far left side of the top row. Three of the councillors in the 2014-2018 picture died during the term, including former mayor Rob Ford, who ran as a councillor after ill health forced him to abandon his effort to seek a second term as mayor. More change is on the way — Toronto has been treading water on important issues like transit for too long, critics say, and it’s time to get on with the business of building the city to better serve residents.