TORONTO - Councillor Josh Matlow says he scored on a bid to lift Toronto’s ban on street hockey.
But despite winning a vote at city council Wednesday, his colleagues were quick to blow the whistle on any notion council has iced the ban.
Councillors voted 36-7 to ask staff to report back on a way for the ban stay in effect on most city streets while giving residents a way to waive the city’s liability for the right to play on low-traffic streets where it makes sense.
“I’m delighted that kids across Toronto are going to be able to get away from the TV screens, get out legally and play ball (hockey),” Matlow said after the vote. “Game on.”
Public works committee chairman Denzil Minnan-Wong — who is a ball hockey fan but supports having the existing bylaw left in place — stressed staff are just writing a report.
“Council still has to make a decision,” he said.
Matlow dismissed the notion the staff report could be a dead-end street as “conjecture.”
“The reality is we gave staff direction today to work on the way to have an exemption for parents who want their kids to be able to be physically active,” he said. “They are going to come back with, not if we are going to do it, but how we are going to do it well.”
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