Toronto's council is actually about the right size (shock horror!)

Doug Ford's contentious plan to slash the number of councillors that represent the city of Toronto from 47 to 25 halfway through a municipal election campaign has incensed the majority of people, from politicians to electors, and has prompted protests, court cases, and a general condemnation from anyone even slightly left of hard right.
What's interesting is if one looks at the populations represented by each councillor, and how that compares to other cities in Canada and elsewhere. Toronto's 47 councillors represent a diverse city with a population of 2.73 million, giving a population of about 62,000 per councillor (this is based on the increased council size this year, changed to accommodate new population increases and distributions). Under Mr. Ford's scheme, the 25 councillors would represent an average of 109,000 citizens.
Internationally, this compares with:

• Chicago, which has a very similar population and a council of 50 members, or about 54,000 per councillor on average; 
• Brisbane, Australia, which has a slightly smaller population of 2.35 million and 26 councillors (about 90,000 in each ward); 
• Rome, Italy, which has a population of 2.87 million and a council of 48 members (60,000 per ward); 
• Madrid, Spain, with a population of 3.14 million and 57 councilors 55,000 per councillor); 
• Osaka, Japan, population 2.67 million, 87 councillors split between 24 wards (31,000 per councillor). 

Within Canada:

• Ottawa, population 934,000, has 24 councillors (about 40,000 per ward); 
• Winnipeg, population 705,000, 14 wards (50,000 per ward); 
• Calgary, 1.27 million, 14 councillors (82,000 per councillor); 
• Vancouver, 647,000 and 10 councillors (65,000 per councillor); 
• Edmonton, population 899,000, spread over 12 wards (about 64,000 per councillor);
• Montreal, population 1.7 million, 46 councillors and 18 borough mayors (37,000 per councillor, or 26,000 depending on how you calculate it).

So, generally speaking, Toronto's current councillor load is about normal, or if anything slightly high. In none of these examples are councilors expected to deal with populations of over 100,000, as Mr. Ford is suggesting. Tellingly, the only comparison Ford made was with Los Angeles, which has a population of about 4 million and just 15 seats on its council (about 267,000 per councillor!), although the city also has a system of 90 semi-autonomous neighbourhood councils.
Conclusion: leave the city council as it is; get rid of the loose-cannon Premier.