New rules from Toronto's integrity commissioner to fight nepotism at city hall were approved by Mayor David Miller's policy and finance committee yesterday.
Under the rules, which go before city council next week, councillors in most cases would not be allowed to write letters of reference for anyone applying for a city job. As well, the city would not be allowed to hire any spouses or offspring of councillors for certain senior posts.
The recommendations were made after a cronyism scandal last fall in which two senior officials were fired.
It also emerged that deputy mayor Joe Pantalone had three relatives on the city payroll, although nothing improper was alleged.
Councillor Jane Pitfield (Don Valley West) urged the committee to ban councillors' children or spouses from working for the city.
Such a ban could open the city to a human-rights code challenge, the integrity commissioner's report says. The committee agreed to have the city's lawyers look into Ms. Pitfield's idea.
Jeff Gray