Raise the Hammer

The broken Ontario municipal system, that pits areas against each other in a "Municipal Government" means that cities (Hamilton, Toronto, London, any central core) do not control their space.

These core downtown areas are controlled by artificially constructed "councils", composed of disparate representatives from surrounding suburban and rural areas. There is no local representation. It is a disenfranchisement of urban people, who should be controlling their space.

In Ontario, it does not matter how well this kind of thing is presented. Your arguments are sound, but you present them to deaf ears. The outer areas will always out-vote the inner areas.

This is how Ontario thinks municipalities should work.

Outer lying areas want cars, because they know about nothing else. They do not have bicycles, and do not walk anywhere. They drive.

Yes, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, and Berlin all changed. That is because there was political will and real local representation. It's not because they are better or smarter. It's because they have functioning municipalities. The Paris suburbs have no say in the governing of the main city. Only representatives of the actual physical city have a say.

Look at Hamilton. Look at Toronto. No representatives of the actual physical cities can do anything without seeking leave from representatives far outside the actual urban centre. It's absurd, and gives us the situation today.

Until cities in Ontario are controlled by their local populations, who actually live in them, it is going to be very difficult to reverse automotive domination. Every municipal council in Ontario is controlled by non-core rural and suburban constituencies.

You want urban change? You need urban government. That has not existed in Ontario for twenty years, and likely will not for another twenty, until the young people get annoyed enough to do something about it.