Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Deputy Mayor Amber Morley: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1953

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

In this 1953rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Deputy Mayor Amber Morley about her first term as counsellor for Ward 3 Etobicoke—Lakeshore and why she thinks she deserves to be re-elected in October. A version of this podcast without programmatic ads is available to all Toronto Mike'd Patrons at patreon.com/torontomike.Toronto Mike'd, an award-winning podcast, is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca.If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's up, everybody, is counselor Amber Morley, and I am so thrilled to be rejoining my friend Mike here at the Toronto Mike podcast for my third visit. And let's get into it. Third times a charm. We hope. We'll soon know. I'm in Toronto where you want to get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you want to get a city love. Welcome to episode one.

5953, 1953 of Toronto-Miked, an award-winning podcast, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great Lakesbeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh,

homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pits this summer. No ticket required. Fusion Corps own Nick Aienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline.

And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto-Miked, it is indeed Deputy Mayor, Amber Morley.

Welcome back, Amber. Thanks, Mike. Really glad to join you. Remind the dummies out there. I know everything. You know that. But there are some people listening who are like,

what does deputy mayor mean? Can you remind us? Yes. So I was very proud to be elected to represent a Tubico Lake short as the counselor back in 2022. And when Mayor Chow joined council about a year later, in 2023, she appointed her four deputy mayors throughout the city.

One is a statutory deputy mayor, which would be a counselor and deputy mayor, Osama Malik, in the downtown area. And I am really proud to be representing Etobico as a deputy mayor. Okay, does this come with privileges? Like, do you get to skip the line at Toronto City events? Like, what does Deputy Mayor mean exactly? No line skips, no free lunches. But it's largely ceremonial.

Well, hold that thought I have a free lunch for you in a minute. But keep going. I love pasta. Yeah, no, it's largely ceremonial. So I have the great honor of representing the city council and the mayor at events throughout the entire area of Atobico, which is quite a large one. Well, over 300,000 people just in our little west end. Wow.

Okay. Well, do you get a sash or anything? like a... A ribbon? No bonus. Nothing really extra other than, you know, again, just the ability

to advance the work in a really good way. Okay, so, as you can imagine, since this is your third visit, I will quickly like let the listenership know about the first two times you drop by the basement.

But I'm going to, it's going to be all killer, no filler, because we only have an hour and I have a lot of questions and ground I want to cover. But because this is episode 1953, I need to give you and the listenership

a Toronto historical fact from the year 1953. Okay. So in 1953, you taking notes over here, Amber? The Metropolitan Toronto School Board, this is a school board with a federation of 11 school boards. It was formed. So that happened in 1953. Fantastic. Love a little Toronto history. This day, and you can use that at your campaign stops. Okay. Great. All right. Where do I want to begin? Let me just tell everybody that

The first time you visited, you were not yet elected to Toronto City Council. It was August 19th, 2022. It was episode 1101. So you can imagine almost 900 episodes ago. Yeah. At the time I wrote Mike Chats with Toronto City Council candidate, Amber Morley, about how difficult it is to defeat an incumbent in municipal politics. We talked for an hour.

That gentleman's name is Mark Grimes. You won that. election, Amber. I did win that election, and it's crazy because it's literally almost four years to the day that I came for the first time. Tomorrow will be the anniversary. It's not amazing. Kismet. It's meant to be. How much credit do I get to that victory? You've definitely been a big supporter of mine. I appreciate it. I actually got bad intel earlier this summer. And remind me, Amber, is Friday the deadline if somebody wants to register to write? That is correct. August 21st is when the actual nomination period closes. So anybody interested in? and representing any area of our city has literally up until Friday this Friday. So if you want to run for Council of Ward 3 at Tobico Lake Shore, you've only got a few days left. Do you have, like, I'm going to tell you about my bad intel, but do you have any better intel that suggests any surprise people might enter by the deadline on Friday? Like, do you anticipate anyone else joining the race? In my ward?

In yours, yeah. You know what? I'm focused on my own election, my own reelection. And I'm quite excited and confident about all of the great work we've done in the last four years since our first visit. So that's really where my focus is. You know, we do sort of pay attention to what else is going on, but we are very focused on running our race. Well, it's my job to focus on all this noise. There you go.

And I grill you about it when you drop by. Aren't you lucky here? So the bad intel I got, and I think it's bad. We're on Tuesday, August 18, and you mentioned the 21st is a deadline. There's only hours left to register to run in this election, this municipal election. But I actually got bad intel that Mark Grimes might run again. And that would have been round three, because you lost to Mark Grimes two elections ago. And then you beat the incumbent Mark Grimes last election.

And then I was all like, wow, like Grimes versus Morley. Like this will be the rubber match. But this did not materialize. I had also heard. that same room. I think one of those siblings is blabbin. And then for whatever reason, probably for the best, Mark Grimes has changed his mind. Well, you know, at one point we were certainly gearing up for a potential rematch, which would have been exciting for sure. We did actually have a higher voter turnout, I think, than citywide average in 22, which I think speaks to the sort of excitement

of the race that we did run. But yeah, we're a couple days out and we have yet to see that come to fruition. So we'll know by end of day Friday. Yeah. The drama is killing me. I think it's too, we'll see. He's a known entity. So the deadline is less important to a person who's known to the electorate. So we'll find out. Okay. So that was August 22. You did, and it's worth noting when you were running, you kind of came solo. Like you just kind of waltzed over and we had a great chat. But then in December 2024, this is episode 1605, you came by. You were an already deputy mayor. of Toronto. And we talked about your first two years in office, how they were going. We talked about a topic that I'm going to ask you about in a moment. The bluer bike lane. We asked about a shelter

in New Toronto, which will come up again in this episode. And we talked for another hour. So we're doing the third hour now, but you did have somebody with you. I did. But now you get two people with you. I do. The team is growing. Are you adding every visit you're going to add a new body? You know what? The work is so intense. It really is. And, you know, the first time I was here, I had had some proximity to it as a former staffer. But I had never run an office the size that we are currently responsible for running in the post-2018 world of 25 counselors. And so, yes, my second visit, I had my right hand in chief of staff, usley with me, who's also here today. Yes, she is.

I really just tease her at this point. She's a real boss and she keeps me under trouble. And we also have our colleague, Mohamed, who's joining. and Muhammad has been leaning into our comms a lot more in the last little bit. Certainly doing the work is very all-encompassing and takes a huge amount of energy and effort from not just myself, but certainly a team. But also as a politician telling the story and showing the work seems to be, you know, just as important of a task in our office.

So, you know, we've worked really hard, got a lot of our citizens. systems and processes set up and our core function, which is serving our residents, being responsive, supporting people through navigating city-related issues, and then, of course, building policy, setting a vision for the city and working towards it. So we've been really working on all of that stuff. And now we're leaning more into sharing that work and telling the story. So Mohammed's been really helpful and instrumental in our work in that regard. So now that you've cleaned up the processes, et cetera, is it safe to say, should you

be reelected that you can hit the ground running this term where maybe the bulk of those first couple of years were building the appropriate infrastructure to get shit done? Absolutely. I think that's perfectly articulated. Even the shit part? Yeah. Literally even that part. But I think that was our problem. That was one of my biggest missteps out the gate was trying to hit the ball running or hit the ball running. Hit the ground running. You're thinking of baseball. Exactly. You got the book in front of me. But yes, no, it was, you know, from October 22nd, 24th, sorry, was Election Day. We started taking on casework that night. And we had about 300 files just out the gate before we even got into the office or got an email set up.

So that in and of itself was a bit of a misstep, looking back, you know, in hindsight. And that, I think, really led to a year of more chaos and trying to sort through things. before we had the infrastructure in place. We now confidently have that infrastructure in place. It's been a steep learning curve, but I think we've done a really good job to come to the other side, feeling confident and feeling strong. So I will pepper you with some questions I personally have about specific things,

and then there'll be a more general discussion about, you know, why you feel you should be reelected and all that important stuff here, right? But I kayak the Humber River every week. That is to say, I have seen the change. the change kayaking the Humber River because the Humber River Yacht Club is closed. Can you tell us what happened there?

Every time I row by and I realize, oh, I don't have to worry the wake from these boats and the aggression. You know, I'm only on a kayak, right? I think, oh, I've got to ask Amber, like exactly what went down and how did this happen? I'm personally very happy with this change. Tell me what happened.

So the city, of course, As a landowner, we have about 20 leases with yacht clubs around the city. There was one such lease that was situated not on a waterfront location, which was, in fact, the Toronto Humber Yacht Club. Again, these leases only come up once every 20 years, so they're not, you know, often up for debate or discussion and things like this. And the vast majority of our boating clubs are in good standing. They're great stewards, great partners to the city, and they do a really good job. managing the city lands that they occupy and, you know, providing stuff for their memberships. In this case, since I got into office, actually, four years ago, we had been having consistent

complaints and concerns coming through the office and into the city related to this one particular club. So, of course, we had been doing work to try to understand and address, you know, our role in responsibility as a city in that issue. And of course, these leases coming up became really an opportunity for us to do a deeper dive with city staff on the current status of things over at the Toronto Humber Yacht Club, as well as really having a hard conversation and a frank one, frankly, about the future of it there. So the combination of things between some of the bad behavior that was long documented well over eight years of notices to comply, notices of violation and other issues that were being shared with that club, a lack of responsive or

collaborative sort of engagement with the city to address those issues. Then when the lease came to, it was coming up for a conclusion, it was pretty clear to me that, you know, between the community's voice and the lack of compliance and ongoing issues with this club, as well as, not to mention, the very sensitive ecological reality of the Humber River, which you know well as a paddler. I'm sure you've seen the deer down there, all the wildlife and all of the, you know, incredible creatures that also share it and call it home. There was a decision made at council that this was not a desirable location to continue a motorized boat club use, not only for all of the underlying issues that I've just described,

but also for just, you know, would we make this decision now for the next 20 years? We wouldn't because of the ecological sensitivity and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority who does oversee and have to ultimately grant permissions in these kinds of areas did also agree with the city and had some concerns about continued use there. So that is what sort of got us to the conclusion of that lease. Okay, so I think you misspoke because off the top, you said it was the only club of that nature that wasn't waterfront, but you mean lakefront? Lakefront, sorry, yes, yes.

Yes. But that's a bit of a mind blows. So that's the only one in the city that doesn't isn't on Lake Ontario. Correct. Correct. Thank you. Okay. Well, listen, I'm here to make sure we get the record straight here.

Okay. Well, let's move on to a topic that I'm already fired up. I'm going to check my Garmin watch. My heart rate is rising. I'm rising right now. What can you tell us like about, I guess, how do I phrase this question? It's the bluer bike lane. Okay.

And there was a recent decision made like an appeal where they basically said let the legislation decide and that was Doug Ford and his provincial, well, the PC party and he's the premier and they have a majority and it was essentially if they want to rip up these bike lanes they can and if we don't like it we can vote that party out next election essentially, okay? I'm going to hear from you. Where are we at with the bluer bike lane? Like how imminent is, do you know what's going on? Is there anything we can do to save the bluer bike lane, particularly west of South Kingsway?

Speak up. Use your voice. Speak with the province directly. I would say is a really important place to start. As a creature of the province, the city is largely having to respond to, adapt, and receive the direction from the province in many, many regards. This is a big frustration, obviously, a big kind of disappointment,

to say the least, because this has been a really tough file that we have inherited, but certainly have done our best to steward. And we're not clear, frankly, this is the second time that we find ourselves in the situation where the bike lanes originally were newly implemented. The province came out with this decision or with this legislation, and we were already scrambling, right? Okay, what does this mean? Who's going to pay?

What does that look like? What kind of disruption for construction and all the rest of it? Are we now then going to have to go through, et cetera, et cetera? So I actually had an all staff with my team this morning, and we are reaching out to our colleagues in the Transportation Services Division responsible for the cycling network, just to get any high-level insights from them as well. But one of the challenges that we've noted with governing and doing our work in the last four years is the ways in which the province conducts itself and the lack of a collaborative,

communicative approach to their work. We often find out through media releases or things of that nature like the rest of the public and then the public service at the municipal level is forced to scramble, adjust, adapt, etc. So it's really not an efficient way to do city building and governance, in my opinion. And so, you know, we continue to navigate that reality. I think last time you were over, we talked about, we agreed that the provincial government, this was encroachment, like leave the bike lanes to the municipality. Ironically, sorry to interject, but like,

Ironically, I thought I had seen something with the news that came out where the provincial government said, well, yeah, the courts should be respecting the elected officials. And it's like, well, maybe keep that same energy for the municipal elected officials because we're the ones ultimately responsible for the road networks, municipally. And this was a decision of said elected body. So, you know, it's unfortunate to have this feeling that we have so much responsibility, so many obstacles to navigate. navigate and we continue to have the province often acting as an additional obstacle as opposed to a real partner, which is what I think our constituents need and deserve. So make noise with the provincial government because they're the ones doing this. And basically, if I'm reading between the lines, so we can't, on a municipal level, there's really nothing we can do. Like maybe you and I can chain ourselves to the bluer bike lane somehow.

I don't know. But this is just, they have the power. They have the power. And there's been... Like G-Man over here. Yeah. I actually just watched that movie last night. Oh, the new one?

Yeah, he did. I'm afraid to watch the new one. I'm an OG guy. You know what? You might not be disappointed. It was kind of cute. But I was I just going to say, sorry. Totally lost my talk of that.

Basically, we don't have the power here. This is a provincial decision. There's nothing we can do. Right. There was a report that came through executive committee at our last meeting in July of a working group that was looking at a charter city. And there's been a whole bunch of work and conversation around what would it look like for a municipality like Toronto to have its own independent charter so that some of these

decisions ultimately wouldn't be able to be taken out of our hands. Anyways, it ended up being a bit of an interesting debate. But there is work ongoing with respect to that. Ultimately, though, should that happen, the province or provincial government would need to be on side and sign off for such a thing. So, you know, we again continue to navigate barriers. It is, I find it frustrating because, as you know, our MPP is from the Liberal Party. That's right.

Right? I find it frustrating because Toronto seems to be at the will of this premiere, but very few, I don't know how many seats the PC part, maybe in northern Etobico, maybe a couple here. There's not many Toronto seats that went to the progressive conservative party. Like, we as a city are already voting out the progressive conservative party. That's right. I find it very frustrating. And more on that in a minute. I share your frustration.

Okay, you share my frustration. Can you give us an update on that ridiculous lawsuit? You were being personally sued because of the bluer bike lane. Active and ongoing. Okay, no comment here. It's active and ongoing. Your team all got, they all started listening again when I asked about that. Oh, they're listening.

They're just multitasking. Okay, lots going on. Lots going on over. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, we do expect actually next month that there will be some movement on that. Okay, the mayoral... I can... I'm not editing this. I'm just warning you now.

Okay, sorry. I can unmute that mic if you wanted... I'm just going to... No, I was just asking a question about something related to the lawsuit if it was something that I could safely share publicly, but I'm just going to err on the side of caution. You'll beg me to edit it. Because I like you, I might actually do that.

So let's not say anything like that. Okay. Keep it. Mayoral race for a moment here. And then we'll bounce back to our ward here. If I didn't disclose it, I live in your ward. Okay, here we are.

So, Brad Bradford, he, uh, currently a sitting, uh, city councilor himself. So he, this is a quote from Brad Bradford's press release, but this was actually issued like just before that ruling, the appeal that, uh, Doug Ford's progressive conservative party won. So like maybe a day or two before that ruling came out. Brad Brad Bradford issued a statement. So I'm going to read it. As mayor, I'll take the bike. lanes on Bloor Street West, from

South Kingsway to Resurrection Road out in my first year and restore the vehicle lanes. And I'll build cyclists something better than a painted line on an arterial road, a real network of trails in our ravines and hydro corridors,

plowed in winter, and roots on quieter streets. Okay, so I read this. But Brad and I, I like to think I have a very good relationship with Brad Bradford. Much like you, he comes to TMLX events. There's one coming up at the GLB Brew Pub. It'll give you a gift regarding that in a moment.

But I know this, I know this neck of the woods, like the back of my hand. And I don't know this, this alternative or what does he call it? He calls it, what does it quieter streets? Like this alternative to Bluer. If you were, let's say you are at like Islington and Bluer or Royal York and Bluer and you need to get to anywhere east of Jane and Bloor, let's say. This alternative doesn't exist unless you want to go all the way down to the waterfront trail or all the way up to Egglington.

I don't know of this. So maybe I'm just complaining out loud here. But it frustrates me to no end and I want to talk to him about this because just draw a red line on a map and show me where are you going to move the bike lane to? Can I agree more? Okay, because it doesn't exist. And I keep saying this, but then I wonder, like, you know, it's red meat for the anti-bike lane base there. But it's just not possible.

There is no alternative to Bloor Street. We have, we don't, we're not a grid. Yeah. I think that's a really important consideration. And obviously one that the city took into account when initially designing and implementing this particular stretch of cycling network. The other thing that we're focused on in our ward is we know the level. of density and growth where under is extreme and very intense, particularly around the Bloor corridor where we have existing transit.

We hear often about the concerns and complaints related to transit and its reliability, and that's an area that we're really investing in and we're really taking seriously because we know that good transit is a backbone to a good, healthy urban city. The reality, however, is we do also need multimodal transportation options, and we want to make sure that our roads are safe for all road users. That is what our vision zero is all about. It shouldn't be a contemplating, taking your life into your hands to get from A to B in a good way, right? In a healthy way that addresses actually minimizes congestion, et cetera, et cetera.

So along that corridor, we have significant growth and density coming. So even in an event where we rip out those blur bike lanes today. Right. In five years, in 10 years, with two lanes of traffic, everyone's going to be sitting in congestion. if the province continues to advance the level of, you know, density requirements on us as a city and certainly with the urgency with which we are, you know, again, being asked to address that. So, I mean, it's all good and gravy to talk about our comforts and conveniences today

that are quite expensive and that will themselves create huge disruption. And ultimately, doesn't solve anything. It really doesn't solve anything. And maybe you can't speak to this, but I sure can. At some point, the Liberal Party in this province will have a leader. They're currently leaderless. They're pull better when they're leaderless, by the way. That's a fun fact.

Maybe you should not run for city councilor and maybe, you know, although our MPP is in the running to be the liberal leader. She's fantastic. We love her for that. So where was I going with that? Just that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to have them. Eventually, eventually we'll vote out this government, and we're going to have to put these right back in these bluer bike lanes.

That's right. It's such a political, it bothers me how politicized cycling has become. Me too. It's really unfortunate. Okay. Now, speaking of politicized happenings in your ward here, I know we talked about this in the past, but we need to re-address this, because I know there's some miscommunication. So this question came in from Shane Gates. Okay.

This is on Blue Sky. Shane Gates wrote, How do you, Amber Morley, deal with the visceral hate regarding shelters when you are just trying to do what is ethical, moral, and sane? So I'm going to tag on to that.

So that's Shane's words. But I don't believe there's any, I don't believe you had a say in any of this, right? Can you clarify for the record? What's happening with 66 3rd Street? And what was your role in a shelter going in at 66rd Street? Thank you for the question. And thank you, Shane.

as well. I really appreciate the framing of that because that is certainly my reality. So in terms of my role, the city, I did vote to support the city's homelessness strategy, which included 20 new shelters over the next couple of decades, et cetera. And the first six were announced that were chosen by staff through delegated authority. When you say, wait, when you say chosen by staff, though, this isn't council. No. So council, in its wisdom, a number of years back, did move a motion, did put in place a policy called delegated authority as it relates to citing locations for shelters. And the reason that that happened was because there was a long history of shelter locations being chosen and the

project's not being implemented or moving forward because of political intervention and pushback. And so obviously we have all watched our homelessness crisis continue to grow. row. We've all seen encampments in every corner of this city and our parks and our, you know, bus shelters, you name it. And so the urgency of this issue has not gone away. It has only increased. And again, every time we have an opportunity to move something forward, if it's getting, you know, pushed back or canceled, that just creates a cycle of, you know, lack of anything. So a delegated authority came into play a couple of years before this all actually happened, is my understanding. And so staff brought forward, did their due diligence, that these are the six sites.

One of them's in your word. It's at 66 3rd Street. So we found out about that. I want to say about a couple of years ago when all of this came fairly close to when it came, was out publicly. Right. And of course, as an office navigating encampments and trying to support our unhoused residents and seniors getting pushed out of housing and all the rest of it, we are keenly aware of the need for additional services and supports for the most vulnerable, particularly those navigating this issue. And so we took a supportive posture of this shelter,

though, you know, it's a small site. We absolutely, you know, can appreciate that. Is it perfectly ideal? Is anything in life perfectly ideal? Not in my experience, but what my position has been to make the best we can with what we have. And we have been consistently walking that talk ever since this announcement. I've put in a huge amount of time and energy to make sure that this is, in fact, a positive and beneficial thing for our community and everyone who is in proximity to it. I recorded an episode of Toronto Mike. It was episode 1638 in which Bruce Davis came over, and I just peppered him with questions

about 66 Third Street Shelter. And I just urge anyone who's curious about, you know, how this cake gets baked, check out my convo with Bruce Davis. Great. I actually also need to check out that combo. Forget me. I miss it. How dare. I know.

It's been like, been my whole focus for so many years. But yes. 1638 with Bruce Davis. And can you tell us, though, the current, like, I heard it was a senior shelter. What is the definitive current decision regarding what type of shelter will be at 66 third street? So it is decided. It will be a senior's shelter. And in the unhoused community, the seniors population is considered 55 plus.

I'm almost there, Amber. Listen, but luckily, hopefully you're well, you're situated here. You got your roots deep, got your nice home. County my blessing. Yes, it's an important thing for us to start our days with. But yes, so it will be 55 plus seniors only. And it will be 50 beds as opposed to the originally announced 80. both of those are really, really important interventions that we facilitated in order to ensure that what it was going to be for our community was in fact reasonable and manageable.

And we felt that the original suggestion was just a bit too much for that site for the location. But that certainly we felt good about 55 plus seniors only. We have a Toronto Senior's Housing Corporation Building right next door. We've actually had two really intensive and deep conversations with the residents there. We've done significant canvassing, door knocking, you know, answering questions to help bring them on the journey. And we've also actually facilitated a meet and greet with the shelter operator, which is Kank, the Christy-Ossington Neighborhood Center. They've been operating shelters in the city of Toronto for well over 35 years. So they are a really good partner, which again, we were very intentional to pick amongst the best.

And people who understand that when they come into this neighborhood, they will be a neighbor and they will be expected to act as a good neighbor, regardless of what services and supports are on offer in their building. And they understand that deeply. It's part of their ethos. And it's something that I'm feeling encouraged and confident based on some of the conversations we facilitated with them and local community, including here in New Toronto, the New Toronto Residents Association, held space for Kong to chat with, you know, residents here as well. And so those are the kinds of relationship building and connections that we're making well in advance of us getting the shelter doors open. So I'm going to quote Shane Gates again. He calls it a visceral hate. Can you maybe just open up a little bit on a

personal level? Like what kind of, I'm using his word, hate, are you getting from constituents regarding the fact that you're putting up a shelter and maybe they're in their neighborhood. We also have a lawsuit on the shelter issue. Right. So that is also active and ongoing. That's the one that's coming up, I believe, in the next few weeks, early September. Okay, but wait, if I may, and I know you can't maybe speak to this as well. I'll check out your people here, what kind of looks they give you.

But if you, if counsel doesn't vote on where to put a shelter, I don't actually understand this lawsuit. It would be ridiculous regardless, but it doesn't make sense to me. Is it just ignorance in terms of how sites are chosen? I will be mindful of how I say, but I would say it's not ignorance because we have hosted space. We've held space. We've had meetings. We've explained at length.

We've put out communications. We've really tried to do everything that we can on our. our end to not only be crystal clear about, you know, what we're navigating and how we're trying to navigate it, but also receiving people's feedback and input. There was a whole host of additional alternative addresses to, you know, that the community, some members of the community wanted the city to look at. We did or, you know, we went back and forth with staff. So there's been a lot of back and forth. I don't think it's a matter of a lack of information or access to information. On the hate. That's always fun.

Yeah, no, my team's great. You know what? I've been so focused on my work. My head's really been in the sand these last four years, and I am hyper-focused on delivering for our community. I ran in 22 on a community for all, and I meant that with my whole heart. You know, and when I'm out doing the work in spaces, I say it with my whole chest, and I mean it. And so for the people that are hating out there or the haters that think this job is easy or think that they have better ideas, God bless. We are always happy to hear from you. You know, if there's something you think we could be doing better, that's great. But one thing that I try not to let myself get deterred by are people sitting on the sidelines with critiques versus those that are pitching in to solve the issues that we're all sharing and navigating one way or the other. As some of us feel more close proximity to them than others. But my job is to be a bridge is to stay focused on the mission, again, which is delivering good services. healthy communities and doing the work that it takes to get us there. Okay, well, we'll return to this sentiment, I promise you.

But there's one more thing I want to ask you about before I give you some gifts and then I get a little more general. The pasta. You're going to get some pasta for sure. All right, not in your ward, not in your ward, but the island airport. Okay. So people were celebrating because it was understood that Mark Carney is a liberal party. You know, he's the prime minister.

Did you know that? I met him the other day. Oh, did you? I did. A housing announcement, $2.7 billion for housing in the city of Toronto. Well, I wish you had just, maybe you did, but he needs to squash this because people were celebrating, okay?

Like literally, like free ferry rides. We did it, we did it. The island airport won't be expanded, even though Doug Ford's government wants to do that. But then it was like, oh, wait a minute here. Like Mark Carney is maybe he's left a little, the door open a little bit. Maybe it's not dead yet.

What do you know about the island airport? Or is it completely squashed? I think we need a definitive statement from Mark Carney where there's no opening. Ambiguity. Yeah, it's ambiguous. Yeah, I feel the same way. This is why we can actually.

Drop by more often. We have a lot of shared sentiments and thoughts. Just squash it, Mark. Yeah, that's actually, we had a really well-attended Billy Bishop Town Hall in our award at the Mimico Cruising Club, one of our great clubs in good standing. Doing great work in the neighborhood. That was organized by a whole bunch of our waterfront community residents associations,

Humber Bay Shores, Mimico, New Toronto Long Branch. And we had our federal representative there. I was clearly obviously there. And Lee joined us virtually as well. And that was honestly something that I've been angling for and that I said pretty clearly in my remarks at that event was that we need a definitive statement from the federal government on this. We thought we had it. And then it wasn't so obvious.

Government's tricky. There's always lots of, you know, fires in the oven or whatever, you know, the expression I'm trying to get at. There's things in the oven. Things in the oven. And then, of course, we came to hear about and learn, again, through the news and media, about the alto and whether or not there was sort of a bit of an agreement around that. And so, yeah, the conversation continues. The saga, you know, the saga is ongoing. our communities have been crystal clear,

I think with the federal government strongly, strongly, strongly opposed to this proposal. Over 87,000 Torontoians responded to the federal government survey. And so they have, I think, clear feedback from us and how they integrate that into their future plans is TBD. Mark, I almost called them James Maloney. James Maloney, I know, I know, wrong guy, okay.

James Maloney got a very strong. strongly worded email from Toronto Mike regarding the island airport. And his reply was, what's your number? I'm calling you, basically. And then we got that announcement. I saw him there and I'm like, okay, good. You know, I did it.

I did it. Another victory for me. And then the ambiguity, as we discussed, is really irking me here. So we can move on, but we're aligned here. We're aligned here. We're aligned here. And we'll keep our eye on that file as well. We're very passionate about it.

I know you love your Italian food. So it is my honor and privilege to give you yet another delicious lasagna from Palma pasta. Yay. They're actually delicious for real. And as a very, very big working woman, yeah, I don't, like, I think I might have shared this with you last time, but I have mastered cooking some of my favorite comfort foods,

lasagna being one of them. But I can't even tell you the last time I made one because of the way my work life is set up and my schedule. So anyways, I'm going to bring this and enjoy it. You're taking it home with you. So Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville, we got to get a South Etobicoe location there. Come on. Let's get that.

But there is. I mean, they literally brew the delicious fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery in your ward. They do. Right in our backyard. We love it. They sent over some fresh craft beer for you, Amber. Thank you to our friends at JLB. Thank you to GLB.

And I saw you at a TMLX at GLB a few years ago, too. That's right. And I won something because I had the funest fact. Shout out to, yeah, you did win. You won big. Okay. Redley Funeral Home is also in your ward. And that's a family-run independent funeral home.

There's not many left in this city. That might be the last one. They're excellent. We might have one or two others actually in our ward. But we love Brad and the team at Ridleys. They do incredible, incredible work. They're such a wonderful community partner. So big shout out to them.

Yeah, they do great work at Franklin Horner, for example. That's true. And they, I think Franklin Horner, they make the grilled cheese for the grilled cheese challenge, all this good stuff going on at a Ridley funeral home. They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking, and they sent over a measuring tape for you, Amber Morley. I think I still have my measuring tape from last time. So I'll give this one.

Re-gift this to a team member. You can never have enough measuring tapes here. Recycle myelectronics.com. That's where you go. Amber, if you have old electronics, old cables, old devices, I don't want you throwing that in the garbage because those chemists. chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and stick in your postal code and find out where you can drop it off to be properly recycled. Perfect. And you can also visit a city of Toronto Community Environment Day to also dispose of said waste.

Sorry if that's a issue for your sponsorship. We don't have any more this year, but every year we have a couple of environment days. Stay tuned. Stay tuned here. Do you know, because you didn't overlap as counselors, but are you friendly at all with Karen Stints? I was a staffer when Karen was a counselor and I believe commissioner on the TTC. I was in Councillor Peter Milchin's office at the time. Okay, well, she just wrote a little book called Beyond Good Enough and she's going to be a guest on Nick. She was a guest on this podcast. Gave me a copy I'm looking at right now. Did you read it?

I did a like what I call a quick read to extract some pointed questions for Karen. So we did that here. So, you know, Karen pointed out because you're in Amber. and Amber is a beautiful name and there's no negative connotation to it but Karen now has a negative connotation and I was asking her like is that tough now like you were born of this name

it was a fine name and now it's a slur of some nature and she's like the worst part she says is she cannot complain to the manager like if she's getting screwed over by a big box store like she can't say may I speak she can't be that person because she's literally a Karen but I brought up Nick Iini's because he stepped up

to fuel the real talk and his show is called Building Toronto Skyline and I'm looking forward. I think it's Friday we're going to record with Karen and Nick Iienes. So thank you, Nick. Okay. Do you know the name Michael Longfield? Yes. Okay. I'm going to chat with him later today. Cycle T.O. Of course. Yeah. So I'm going to ask him like, you know, because he's part of the reason that they need the appeal because of the injunction. So they're really in the mix here. And I got lots of questions for Michael. I'm going to talk to him later today, actually. Amazing. But unrelated to the bike lanes, believe it or not, he writes, what do you know now? What do you know now?

What do you know now that you wish you knew going into this? You did allude to this earlier with processes and hitting the ground running, but is there anything else that you wish you knew in 2022 when you were first elected to city council? That's a great question. Thank you, Michael. What do I know now that I wish I knew then? I don't know. I don't have a good answer for that question.

I don't say how difficult it would be. But is it is it like how because when you came over the two year mark you did talk about how you needed to find a better you know life work balance. Yeah. It was going to burn you out. Yeah. Did we strike that balance? Feeling the burn after. We did not strike the balance.

Okay. Because you know you're trying to go for another four years here. I am. I am. And I think that's really been my big, uh, the last few months particularly as I've been really thinking about obviously putting my hand up again and thinking about the next four years of service. What does that look like? for me as well as for my team and for our community. So there's a lot to contemplate and consider as it relates to putting your hand up for a public-facing

job like this. So I've been going through all of those, you know, considerations. And yeah, I think I would have known not to take 300 cases out the gate, things I would have known, you know, like to take my time and pace myself from the start as opposed to trying to hit the ground running so hard. because it ended up feeling like a lot of just like constant catch-up versus feeling like really firmly grounded. And so that's just been a lot to kind of manage and lead. So yeah, I think that would have definitely been pace myself, pace myself, pace myself, is I think the big lesson learned.

What, Rome wasn't built in a day? That's right. But, you know, try to deliver miracles. You know, the bike lanes weren't built in a day, but they could probably tear them out in one. I want to be surprised. Will you get a heads up? That's a depressing topic. I know.

We're going to go on for bike lanes. I'm, only just because we're in, you know, it affects me the most day to day, to be honest. But will you get a heads up? Like,

will this Toronto get a courtesy notification that, okay, next week we've got a crew ripping this up? I believe there will be some level of communication. Will you let me know? I will do my best to keep you positive when we find out. But yeah, we'll have some information.

Well, again, I'll get more from Michael, long field later today. I was going to say I'm actually very curious as to what Michael has to say because he might have more insights frankly than I do about all the processes and other opportunities. My first thing was like, can you appeal and appeal?

Like, you know? Well, no, this is my, of course, these are exactly the question. I'm literally at 4.30 today I'm talking to Michael. Yeah, okay. Amazing. You let me know if you find anything else that I need to put to city staff. You know, if there was any more room on your team, I might join it. I mean.

Because, you know, and we'll get into the new new term new us. Yeah, like. Anything's possible here. You never know what's going on. But was there a moment? Because you obviously registered to run and here you are campaigning. You're back on the ballot.

There's only four names right now on the ballot, by the way. We'll get to that in the moment. But was there a moment, Amber Morley, when you were thinking, you know, let me do something else. Like how close were you to thinking, maybe I go back to the private sector or whatever? I've actually never really been in the private sector. I've always been in community service. That's right. And that's what I've learned.

But no, my heart is, unfortunately, I'm a diehard public service gal. And, yeah, I mean, certainly there was moments, you know, after having 700 people crush you about a bike lane, you know, or whatever, right? Having, like, holding space for these really contentious, really difficult conversations that I obviously care deeply about and I'm like right down into the weeds on. but to have to, you know, face folks that are really not understanding, not on side, not able to kind of hold space for, you know, any kind of a dialogue and just don't like my position or whatever.

You know, those are difficult things. I'm a little sensitive soul. So it does take a lot for me to continue to be resilient in the face of the challenges that are presented through this work. But I think that my focus, my passion, my vision. for what leadership should look like and what our city can be when we put our best feet forward is what keeps me going and is why I decided to put my name forward again. I've done so much good work in the last four years and planting seeds and, you know,

getting things on a good track for our community, right? Delivering great public spaces, investing in our transit, getting affordable housing actually built. you know, people are able to move into it. These are all things that I, as a Torontoian, am proud of and want to continue to see more. And frankly, I think I'm quite competent. Proven my competence and capacity. You feel you've earned another term.

Yeah, you know what? I think I have, but also that will be ultimately up to our community. I have a record to stand on now that they can judge me by. Okay, so I'm quoting you now, you've done so much good work over the past four years. Okay, so over the past four years, your first term, what are the accomplishments, your accomplishments that you're most proud of? I think that delivering and staying consistent with the vision that I articulated in my first two,

frankly, campaigns is what I'm most proud of. I came to be a leader for all people and to ensure that our city is moving forward in a good way where people don't get left behind. And so, you know, whether it's work around, again, green spaces in a Tobacco Lake Shore, we're moving forward with turning a former hydro corridor into a active green space. We're expanding, you know, I don't know, are you a volleyball player? I don't know if volleyball is in your wheelhouse, but we're expanding volleyball courts. In my past, I've played a game or two.

Yeah, we're expanding volleyball courts down in Marie Curtis. You know, we've been fixing up our waterfront along. in partnership with TRCA in terms of erosion. We've invested in stabilizing, you know, the Toronto Police Service and those conversations. We've implemented, you know, at the board there, a strategic plan for the next five years. So there's a lot of foundational work, I think, to how our city functions and how our city grows in a good way that I've been really proud to have my fingerprints on, including our affordable housing initiatives and the city moving into a public builder model. for decades, literally three plus decades,

we have not seen any new, net new public housing built whatsoever, which has contributed to our housing challenges. And for the first time, we've seen this current municipal council getting the province, getting the federal governments to the table, and actually shovels and ground and buildings open. So we've got well over 2,000 units, I believe, of affordable housing, just in a tropical lakeshore alone. Okay, okay, this erosion work,

on the waterfront, which I know is very important work. Will it ever be finished? Yes, it'll be done. It'll be done, I promise. Of course you know this. But the Sam Smith bike trail gets closed from 9 to 4 every weekday. I know. I know my niece and nephew were down over the weekend when it was opened back up, exploring the new rocks and all of the things. So yeah, this is part of the work that we do is future-proofing, right, for the next generation.

So this is making sure that our parks are viable and vibrant for the next 52-100 years. And that work has been ongoing, you know, all along the waterfront. So Humber Bay Shores, you know, all the way down through to Sam Smith, as you noted. Yeah, yeah. And then at fifth, well, fifth and sixth at the lake, which is a great view of the skyline. That's the best. But there's been a fence up there for a couple years now. So at some point that work does finish, right?

Trying to get the grass back and then it has to grow. Yeah, there's steps. It's process, just the process. But yeah, we try to stand up a bit of it. is what you're telling us. That's it. Nothing happens overnight. We don't have a magic wand, unfortunately, but we do stay on top of it.

It's no magic wand. If you did, I would hope you'd be in council forever. Well, eventually you'd be mayor, I'm sure. But eventually maybe you'll be Prime Minister if you keep your progression going. But maybe we'll close up that. Prime Minister, Amber Marley. But so you talked about why you're running and it's in your blood. You can't go cash out in the private.

it sector here. It's not in your DNA here. But I mean, what I hear is I hear people hate you for the shelter, they hate you for the bike lane, you've got some, you can't speak to it, but there's some ongoing lawsuit against you personally for the bike lane in

South Atobico and Bloor Street. And then, of course, there's some lawsuit regarding the shelter at 66 3rd Street. Are you sure it's worth the hassle? Serious question from a friend. A topocle nature will always be worth it for me. No, I'm a little bit of a glutton for torture, unfortunately.

That's the way that, that's my jam. I like to navigate hard things and see what's possible and show what's possible. I think, honestly, my whole life has been about making lemonade with lemons, and I think it's a special gift of mine. And something I'm happy to put on offer for our community because I know what a special place it is. Well, I've been served by it and that I can. can use my gifts, skills, passions, and insights to continue to be of service in a good way. And I do call this place home.

I'm raising my nieces and nephews here. I hope to raise a family here myself one day. And it matters to me what goes on around me. I can't help but care. And so I like to put my care and consideration into action and, yeah, building something better. But you used the word earlier describing yourself, you used the word sensitive. Delicate or sensitive? I can't remember because I didn't take a note.

Sensitive. Highly. Developing the calluses, though, like is that skin thickening because you are such an easy target for nimbie people in this neighborhood. Yeah, I think I have a, and this isn't the interesting thing with me is I have a very soft interior, but I have a very hard shell. I'm a cancer. I am too. I know another reason we get along. Well, I don't know if I have that soft interior hard shell.

Very hard shell. Okay. And I'm kind of stubborn, so it makes my shell harder. Okay, we're talking about TMNT here. Heroes and a half-shell here. What's your relationship like with fellow FOTM, friend of Toronto, Mike, Diane Sacks. Diane and I are neighbors on the floor of council on the second floor. And I've actually really enjoyed working with Diane over this last term of office.

We both sit on the Infrastructure and Environment Committee. And as you know, Diane has had a storied career as a former environmental commissioner. Legendary, honestly. We, I would say, are both deeply passionate about our stewardship of the environment and our responsibilities of that as elected officials. And so we've jammed together a bunch on IEC on a couple of really good items and opportunities, including tree protection stuff, including ravine cleanups and all kinds of really cool stuff. I've been learning a lot from her and have enjoyed working together. Well, it was a bad day in her campaign office yesterday. Was it what happened?

I missed it. Well, not that they were blindsided by this, but Mike Layton had decided he's going to run again for his old ward, which is currently occupied by Diane. He took a term off, but he's running again. And I'm just, I mean, again, I like Diane. You know, her dad is a legend. Yes, he was like the first. Great Morty Shulman. Yeah.

Was he the first or just a former corner? Chief Corner or something like that. I don't know. He was definitely the corner. Definitely an elected an MPP. But for my interest, he hosted the Showman files on City TV. Oh, cool. It was a big deal.

Just ask Peter Gross. Yeah. You know what? We tried to get together. Every council, the second day of council, the women on council get together for lunch. And I learned about a little bit of this history. Well, you got to listen to her. So of Toronto Mike Danber.

We talked all about it. Yes. Like clips of Morty Schulman. We talked about her dad. Amazing. Yeah. Check it out for sure. I produced her podcast.

You know what? I saw the announcement with Mike Layton coming back to council, but I don't know why I didn't click through. I thought it was a different word. I would say, I think she was prior to Mike Layton entering the race. Again, I'm just armchair prognosticator here. Enlist here. But I would say Dan Sacks was on her way to be in reex.

elected. Okay. It wasn't going to be easy, but I think she was going to be reelected. Now I would say in the, I don't, I don't think, I don't think there's a snowballed chance in heck that Diane Sacks will get more votes than Mike Layden in that award. And I'm in. We'll see what happens. I've been wrong before, everybody.

I've been wrong before. I thought Grimes was entering this race. It seems to it was wrong there. But that's tough news for the Sacks camp because, and then I don't know. the future for Mike Layden. But I would guess this is a bit of a possibly, possibly like a succession plan of sorts. Because Olivia Chow, of course,

is trying to get re-elected. She only had the three years, not the four years. And if she hopes to win and beat Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander and whoever else is on that ballot, but then at some point she will retire or not run. And her stepson, Mike Layden, would then run from there. As you said, anything is possible. Anything is possible.

Your staffers are taking notes over here. Yeah, you never know. You never know. You never know. And I was thinking selfishly, because Green Economy Heroes, a show that I developed and produced with Diane Sacks, went on hiatus because she was so darn busy as a counselor. Makes sense.

Maybe if when Mike Laden wins, should he win that election, maybe we'll do more episodes of Green Economy Heroes. Yeah, it's always tough when you've got multiple. candidates that you like in a race but hoping for the best for the community and yeah So that's how we're closing here Okay so again to timestamp this

As we speak there is no Mark Grimes On the ballot You'd beat him anyways but You know you beat him last time You'd beat him again okay but he's not on the ballot But you're I suppose there's There's a lot of anti-bike lane candidates On this ballot this really concerns me

But Ted Orpitz Who is I believe your biggest competition And then this guy Cody McCr Gray, who is a pretty anti-bike lane guy. So I don't know if you're going to tell me some BS campaigning answer, but how you're hyper-focused on, you know, what you're going to do for the community. But that's your competition. Ted Orpitz is your primary competition.

You feel okay? Feeling really good about my hard work over the last four years. And honestly, I think this is what I love most about democracy. It's incredibly nerve-wracking. running as an incumbent counselor for your first re-election. And I'm feeling a lot of that angst. Last couple of times around, I had the benefit of a lot of time

to really pour into setting a strong foundation for my campaign, whereas now I'm a sitting counselor, and it's an all-encompassing times two jobs. So, you know, it's a whole different game, whole different arena, again, as an incumbent counselor. But one thing that I've been really consistent on I've said to my team every step of the way is that I didn't come here to be a politician's politician, and I don't make decisions, nor are we as an office going to make decisions solely based on

re-election or re-election prospects. I don't believe in that. I think that that's what compromises good leadership in our systems and institutions. And so I have been very consistent in that, even when it was tough, right? Even in face of shelter, even face of bike lanes, we've doubled down and tried to do the hard work of improving these things. And so that's what I'm about. If you want more of that, go to vote, ambermorely.ca. We're really looking for our community to show up. If you're someone like Shane who sees the comments and sees the hate,

but also sees the work and the vision that we're working to, you know, bring to life here in a Tobolakola Lakeshore, leaning into our strengths and leading into each other as a community, we'd love to have your support. So again, go to vote, Amber Morley, M-O-R-L-E-Y. CA, you can make a donation, sign up, join us for a canvas, and help share the good word of our record and our desire to be back to continue the good work. I'd throw in a flip-it line about how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent in municipal politics,

but you just did that in 2022. That's right. But I wish you continued success. Enjoy your lasagna, enjoy your GLB, brood right here in Southern Atobico. and good luck in October. Thank you for having me, Mike. Appreciate you always. And look forward to coming back once I'm reelected.

Well, when you're reelected, we did talk about a annual visit. Yes. I think you should check in once a year. Sounds good. Look forward to it. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 1,953 episode, 1953. Wow.

Go to Torontomike.com for all your Toronto mic needs, whatever they may be. And much love to all who made this possible. Again, Great Lakes Brewery. They're hosting us at TMLX23 at the GLB brew pub at Jarvis and Queens Key on September 28th. Palma Pasta, they're going to host us. I think it'll be like late November or early December.

We'll be at Palma's Kitchen for TN. MLX-24. We'll do a live recording there. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Get your butt to Christy Pitts. That's actually Diane Sacks' ward. Christy Pitts. You've got a book there on the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team. Great baseball. No ticket required. Phil the Hill. Nick Iini's. I mentioned he's recording with Karen Stints later this week for Billing Toronto Skyline. Recycle MyElectMyElectronics.ca. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home. Brad Jones and the good people at Ridley Funeral Home.

They live, they work in your ward. So I'm talking to Michael Longfield later today. I'll probably drop that tomorrow morning. But if I venture over to my calendar, let's see what's going on in the Google calendar here. Subdivisions. Okay, Eric Vallette's going to come on and talk about Toronto theaters, past and present.

This is going to be a great history episode. And then on Thursday morning, Chris Potter, he's a meteorologist. You know him from CP24. He's with the Weather Network now. He's going to make his Toronto make debut. Lots going on. See you all. Then.