Councillor Josh Matlow Newsletter
- Hillcrest Village BIA
- Sep 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 1
In This E-Newsletter:
My family and I wish our Jewish community a happy Passover. May your Seder tables be filled with the love of tradition, learning, and the warmth of family and friends. Chag Sameach!
To everyone in our community celebrating Easter, my family and I hope this joyful and blessed time of year brings renewal and happiness to you and those you love - we look forward to finding some chocolate easter eggs!
And to our city’s Muslim communities, I enjoyed joining several iftar dinners during Ramadan and celebrating Eid with you last week. Thank you for so warmly welcoming me as we broke bread and ate dates together.
Toronto to Intervene at Supreme Court to Protect Ontario Place and Defend our Democratic Rights
Council has adopted my motion to apply for intervenor status at the Supreme Court in the case brought by the Ontario Place Protectors to challenge the constitutionality of the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, 2023 (ROPA).
The stakes are high. This is not just about saving our waterfront, it’s about protecting the rule of law in our city and province. This legislation is a direct threat to our democracy. It strips away the public’s rights, eliminates transparency, and shields government decisions from legal accountability.
ROPA immunizes the government from any “remedy in contract, restitution, tort, misfeasance, bad faith, trust or fiduciary obligation, any equitable remedy or any remedy under any statute” and exempts the government from any responsibilities under the Environmental Assessment Act, which many suspect would reveal catastrophic impacts of the Therme spa on the natural environment, infrastructure and traffic.
Intervenor status permits parties with an interest in the outcome of a case to make submissions that provide important additional information and context for the Court to consider in their verdict. Other applicants for intervenor status in this case include several other provinces and the federal government. Toronto’s participation would ensure that the municipal perspective is represented in this case which will have significant implications for the public lands not only in our own city but across the province.
Torontonians deserve to be represented in this case. And when residents are willing to show leadership in defending our city’s interests, they deserve to know that City Hall has their backs.
Defending the Waterfront and the City of Toronto’s Seat at the Table
Council last week adopted my motion to seek emergency legal advice on the options available to the City to defend Toronto’s interests, including ownership interests, in waterfront lands.
We must fight back against Doug Ford’s bullying and chaos.
His latest move is a case in point: Ford has decided there will be jets at Billy Bishop airport. Within a month, he’s gone from endorsing the idea to announcing his intention to exclude Toronto from the tripartite agreement that governs the airport, just to get his way.
This is a serious escalation for a proposal that will have far-reaching consequences for our city. Toronto’s waterfront is among the most valuable pieces of land in the country, and it will play a vital role in our economic future and quality of life. Removing Toronto’s voice from the process, eliminating all legal and regulatory oversights and trading public consultation for internal polling might make the process smoother at the start, but it will only delay the inevitable reality check.
We’ll ultimately have to come to terms with the impacts a significant expansion of the island airport will have on downtown traffic congestion, housing projects, noise (and its effect on property values) and the continued appeal of waterfront attractions such as the Toronto Islands, open-air Blue Jays games at the Rogers Centre and concerts at the RBC Amphitheatre. Jets will also necessitate the construction of huge blast walls on Lake Ontario.
Whether you agree that Billy Bishop should be open to jets or not, we need to ensure that the decision is made carefully and that Toronto has a seat at the table.
Saving Pickleball at Yonge-Rosehill: Beautifying and Animating Vacant Development Sites
Across Toronto, a growing number of approved development sites are sitting idle as the condominium market stalls, with many remaining vacant for years on end. Vacant properties diminish the vibrancy of our main streets, reduce the sense of safety in neighbourhoods, and provide no economic benefit to the city.
Interim uses including community-oriented activations such as public courts, markets, and pop-up programming, offer a practical and effective solution. Where they have been implemented, they have demonstrated significant benefits by animating main streets, improving safety, and supporting economic activity.
However, a critical policy gap penalizes these interim uses. When a vacant development site is activated through a new interim use, the Province’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, may reclassify the property from its prior residential or industrial classification to a commercial one. This reclassification then triggers a substantially higher municipal tax rate.
In our community, the activation of public racket courts on a development site at Yonge and Rosehill through a partnership between the developer and Fairgrounds was a major success. However, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation recently reclassified the subject site commercial, triggering an unsustainable property tax increase that puts the courts at risk of closure.
That’s why I brought forward a motion at City council that requests staff to identify solutions to promote the uptake of developers using their lands for interim uses including by analyzing the feasibility of policy tools including Community Improvements Plans as a solution.
My motion also requests urgent action to address the immediate classification issue facing the Yonge and Rosehill site, including by advocating to Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and the Province, to allow this location, which is enjoyed by thousands of people in our community, to continue operating.
Celebrating Little Jamaica and Supporting Small Businesses Across Eglinton in New Crosstown Stations
While the Eglinton Crosstown LRT has finally opened to the public, residents quickly noticed that there was no acknowledgement or commemoration of Little Jamaica in any of the new stations or nearby infrastructure. Little Jamaica is one of the communities hardest hit by the years of construction as hundreds of businesses were forced to shut their doors, and residents were never properly compensated for their losses. The least Metrolinx could do is to respect and reflect Little Jamaica in the naming, station art, or other placemaking initiatives along the line.
As Metrolinx owns the LRT stations and infrastructure, I moved a motion at City Council alongside my colleague Mike Colle to request Metrolinx to devise a Cultural Placemaking and Public Art Plan to protect and promote the cultural heritage of Little Jamaica along the Eglinton West corridor. The motion also requests that Metrolinx, in collaboration with the TTC, establish a Little Jamaica advisory committee comprising local BIAs, residents, and representatives from the Afro-Caribbean community to co-design the themes and heritage elements of these stations.
This motion also helps ensure that BIAs and local business districts are reflected in new Metrolinx stations.
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