Executive committee votes for BMO Field expansion, defers councillor pay donation option

The city’s executive committee has voted in favour of giving Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment $10-million to expand BMO Field.

MLSE is spending $120 million to renovate the home of Toronto FC this summer, but is looking for help from all levels of government. MLSE will be responsible for all cost overruns.

Mayor Rob Ford was the only one to vote against it.

The company wants to add 10,000 seats to the stadium, improve amenities inside the stadium, add a partial roof and a longer field to allow it to host the Toronto Argonauts. It would be a potential site for a major event like hockey’s Winter Classic.

Construction is expected to begin in September 2015 and take a year to complete.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong joked that he was going to make the deal conditional on the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup but decided against it.

Click here to read the agenda item.

Also during the meeting, the executive committee voted to defer indefinitely the mayor’s motion calling on councillors to donate their raises for the remainder of 2014 to the city.

Councillors already have the option to reject their raises if they choose.

The 1.5 per cent raise amounts to just over $1,500 added to their $104,000 salaries.

Click here to read the agenda item.

Click here to read the full agenda.

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