Justin De Ciano
There’s a questionable aspect to the dealings of the City’s planning and growth committee to permit residential and commercial construction within just nine metres of the Toronto-Hamilton rail corridor. The decision to ignore a City planning recommendation against such development was spearheaded by Ward 5 Councillor Justin Di Ciano. That was last Wednesday and the vote was 4 to 2. Councillors Di Ciano, David Shiner, Christin Carmichael Greb and John Campbell voted to support Di Ciano’s amendments. Councillors Kristyn Wong-Tam and John Filion voted to support the original recommendations by City planners. Now CBC News says Mr. Di Ciano and his twin brother, Julian, have ties to the developer, Dunpar Developments. Some say this connection should have been revealed at the committee. Councillor Di Ciano was also the leader of an unfortunate City Council decision in October 2015 to reverse itself on its previous commitment to introduce ranked ballots at the next election Mr. Di Ciano said the system would be too complicated and he persuaded Council 25 to 18 to go back on its decision. Readers may see who voted in favour and against that motion here. Toronto councillor pushes for planning changes that benefit developer despite ties to company CBC
