Council Scorecard Final: How often did your councillor vote with Rob Ford?

It’s all over.

Toronto City Council wrapped up the last meeting of the 2010-2014 term on Aug. 28, which means I can finally wrap up this term's City Council Scorecard. For four years I’ve been tracking the results of all major votes in an attempt to track councillor support for Mayor Rob Ford. You can read more about how the scorecard works by clicking here.

Now that the numbers are final, it’s time to assess the data. The big winner: Coun. Gord Perks. Or Coun. Doug Ford. That depends on how you want to define winning.

Perks comes out of this term with the lowest Ford Nation percentage, having voted with the mayor just 1.72 per cent of the time. Coun. Doug Ford — now running for the top job — had the highest percentage, voting with his brother on 98.18 per cent of major items.

As you’d expect, both Doug Ford and Perks were opposed on the three debate items added to the scorecard from the August 2014 City Council meeting, though Ford missed one of the votes. Those items were about a new practice facility for the Toronto Raptors at Exhibition Place, a bus garage in Scarborough the TTC says it desperately needs, and the potential relocation of the Cornerstone Shelter.

Here’s how the votes came down.

EX44.3 saw council give approval to a deal proposed by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to locate a Raptors practice facility at Exhibition Place. Councillors were generally in favour of the deal — which provides for various community uses — but Mayor Ford threw a wrench into the proceedings by attempting to amend the deal to include a request that 10 per cent of the community hours be devoted to TCHC residents.

There were many reasons why this was an unnecessary change, but Ford pushed for it anyway. Eventually, with Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly’s Motion 4b, the whole notion was referred back to staff on a vote of 24-15. We’ll probably never hear of it again. Both Fords ended up voting against the entire MLSE deal.

PG35.23 was all about the proposed McNicoll Bus Garage, a facility the TTC needs to fund and build if they ever want to improve bus service across the city. Though the Scarborough site has been owned by the city since 2005, was always planned as a bus garage and sits on a parcel of land zoned for heavy industrial uses, nearby residents are concerned about the impacts and want the TTC to find another location.

The TTC submitted a letter with the item warning that any delay could cost as much as $13 million per year. Still, some councillors wanted to delay approval and search for another site. Motion 1a was an attempt by Deputy Mayor Kelly to do just that. It failed 12-27, with several Scarborough councillors and Mayor Ford voting in favour.

CD31.7 was similar. Soon after Cornerstone Place announced they would be relocating their homeless shelter to the intersection of Vaughan Road and Oakwood Avenue, nearby residents started raising opposition. Citing a lack of proper consultation, Coun. Josh Colle — who represents the area — sided with the residents and attempted, with motion 3a, to refer the item to city staff with instructions to find another location. The attempt failed 6-35.

Trend Watch

Mayor Ford continued to have trouble getting councillors to vote with him in 2014. He was on the winning side of just 24 per cent of votes tracked by the scorecard. That compares to 70.59 per cent in 2011, 31.82 per cent in 2012 and 36.84 per cent in 2013. His average for the entire term is 42.86 per cent.

Only three councillors saw their Ford Nation percentage increase between the end of 2011, when Ford really started to lose control of council, and now: Coun. Anthony Perruzza (+2.7), Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker (+1.5) and Coun. Ana Bailão (+0.6)

The biggest decline in Ford support between 2011 and now goes to Coun. Paul Ainslie, who dropped an incredible 35.1 points. Close behind him was Coun. John Parker (-34), Coun. Michelle Berardinetti (-26.9), Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong (-25.2) and Coun. Michael Thompson (-22.2).

Though Coun. Gord Perks takes the title of Top Anti-Ford, it’s worth noting that Coun. Janet Davis was just 0.02 points behind him.

On the other end of the spectrum, no one came close to Doug Ford’s score of 98.18 per cent. The next closest was Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti with 92.5 per cent.

Speaking of Mammoliti, he managed to be recorded as absent for 30.25 per cent of major votes this term, beating out Coun. Ron Moeser who missed 27.73 per cent — both of whom battled serious health problems.

On the other end of the spectrum, Perks missed 0 per cent of scorecard votes, while Ainslie, Davis, Coun. Mike Layton, and Coun. Mary-Margaret McMahon missed fewer than one per cent.

This post was originally published at http://www.metronews.ca/views/toronto/ford-for-toronto-matt-elliott/2014/09/19/council-scorecard-final-how-often-did-your-councillor-vote-with-rob-ford.html on 2014-09-19T00:00:00.000Z