Climate Voting Records Toronto
To track and show how climate-related items are being voted on within Toronto City Council.
Pitch
To track and show how climate pol icies are being voted on by the Mayor and Councillors in Toronto City Council.
Get Involved
If you’re interested in learning more about the project or want to get involved, please reach out to us at any time!
To get involved visit https://votingrecords.climatefast.ca/get-involved/
If you would like to stay in touch and receive updates about the Voting Records website and other ClimateFast initiatives, you can join our mailing list by emailing newsletter@climatefast.ca.
About
Climate action is urgent. The city has a target of reducing emissions by 65% below 1990 levels by 2030 - and we are struggling to even meet the 2025 target of 45% below 1990 levels. We need councillors to know that their constituents want to see meaningful climate action and that we want them to vote in favour of bold new measures to achieve net zero by 2050.
Climate Voting Records Toronto is an interactive website that tracks how Toronto’s City councillors are voting on key climate and environmental policies. The goal of the site is to provide more transparency, enabling constituents to better hold members of City Council accountable for their votes within policy areas such as transit, energy, cycling, climate justice, housing and more! This 100% volunteer-run and community-based initiative brings together individuals passionate about climate activism, coding, UX design, art, and public policy from all across the GTHA. Volunteer researchers at ClimateFast update the site monthly with new climate voting records.
Scope
The climate-related items tracked on this website are items voted on by City Council that help address the climate crisis and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a guide, we reference the TransformTO Strategy to define the scope of items related to climate. This includes items that support green electrification, transit infrastructure, bike lanes, flooding prevention, social policies, and more. However, not all policies that have a positive impact on the environment and align with the City’s net zero goals are not currently on the website. The scope of social policies may also be limited. As the website evolves, we plan to expand the definition of climate-related items to align more fully with TransformTO, the City’s Resiliency Strategy, and policies that impact consumption-based emissions.
Methodology
This website uses data from Toronto Open Data on the City of Toronto website. The availability of this data allows us to more easily track the voting results of councillors and the mayor in real time on a larger scale. The data is available in Excel form and exists for votes made by City Council as well as committees.
A councillor can either vote in support (vote “Yes”), against (vote “No”), or be absent for an item. In some cases, “Absent” can also indicate that a member chose not to participate in a vote because they declared an interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
A team at ClimateFast rigorously evaluates and sorts through all the items in the dataset to see which ones are “climate-related”. We begin by doing a key terms search based on a list of selected terms and scan the item titles that contain the key terms. After that, we research and analyze the item to see whether the item helps reduce GHG emissions or aligns with the goals set out in TransformTO. To research the item, we go to Toronto Meeting Management Information System (TMMIS).
Read more from the Project Summary Report PDF via Google Drive