Jennifer Pagliaro of the Toronto Star tells how City staff — plus the Mayor and Deputy Mayor — seem to have outflanked Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam on an 80-storey tower at Bloor and Yonge. It will rise where Stollery’s stood for so many decades. The surprise sudden demolition of that historic old building is just one of the high-powered moves employed in the scheme to build The One. Behind it all is the presence of the Ontario Municipal Board. The OMB is the ultimate reality that the municipalities in Canada are the creatures of the provinces. Cities — even enormous ones like Toronto –need a Big Daddy it seems to make sure they are not unfair to developers.
