Frances Nunziata hoping to keep her job as Toronto Council Speaker
Re-elected in Ward 11 (York South Weston) last month, Frances Nunziata says she’s hoping to resume her other role, as Speaker on Toronto Council, once the new council is sworn in next month.
Re-elected in Ward 11 (York South Weston) last month, Frances Nunziata says she’s hoping to resume her other role, as Speaker on Toronto Council, once the new council is sworn in next month.
"Well I’ve been around for a long time and I would like to be Speaker again," said Nunziata.
"That’s one thing I want and I believe in the past four years I have done a good job considering what we have been through... all the challenges and different council meetings, the outbursts at council. I’ve been able to control it and we’ve been able to move the agenda forward."
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Nunziata made the comments as the new city council waits for word from Mayor-elect John Tory’s transition team as to what role they might have in the new administration.
Tory will have to choose an executive committee, comprised of chairs of various standing committees and others, and also his deputy mayor.
Nunziata said that she believed that the mayor was responsible for appointing the speaker — however, in 2006 the city implemented a procedure in which the speaker is appointed by a majority vote of Toronto Council.
The speaker is responsible for leading monthly meetings of Toronto Council, ordering the agenda and ruling on procedural matters. Nunziata held the job for the entirety of the Ford administration — during which she dealt with protesters, unruly and sometimes abusive city councillors, and Mayor Rob Ford and his brother city councillor Doug Ford.
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For most of the term, Nunziata was among Rob Ford’s most loyal supporters, although she abandoned that support during the last year as the mayor’s drug and alcohol abuse became more difficult to deny.
As of November 12, Nunziata had yet to speak with Mayor-elect Tory.
"He’s left a message on my cell and my office spoke to him personally," she said. "He’s left a message on my cell and my office spoke to his office on Monday and scheduled an appointment for me on the 26th of November," she said.
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