Kelly claims meeting with Wynne not symbolic of shifting power at city hall

Above: Premier Wynne meets with deputy Mayor Norm Kelly. Jackson Proskow reports. 

TORONTO – Tuesday’s closed-door meeting between Kathleen Wynne and Norm Kelly was not symbolic of shifting power at city hall, Kelly said.

The two politicians met for approximately 30 minutes at Queen’s Park Tuesday. It’s the first meeting between Wynne and a municipal representative since councillors politically neutered Mayor Rob Ford last month.

Kelly told reporters after the meeting that he wanted to signal to Wynne the city was a “stable, reliable partner.

“At city hall we now have a stable, calm and reasonable government that is looking forward to working with each other,” he said.

The two would not give details about what was discussed apart from “transit and housing” issues.

The premier would not answer whether she would meet with the elected mayor, Rob Ford.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“I’m here and had the meeting with deputy Kelly because he is the representative of Toronto city council,” she said. “I’m meeting with the deputy mayor because he is the representative of Toronto city council and the relationship between the province and the city council has to be with the city council where the decisions are made.”

Wynne did however say her office had tried to schedule a meeting with Ford prior to council’s rebellion against him but wasn’t successful.  The mayor said Tuesday he had tried to schedule a meeting with Wynne last month but wasn’t able.

Watch: Wynne, Kelly hold joint press conference following meeting

In November, council voted to urge the mayor to resign while also stripping him of his powers, much of his budget and staff and transferring it to the deputy mayor.

But Ford’s being the mayor in name only didn’t stop him from criticizing the meeting at Queen’s Park.

He sent a letter to Wynne’s office on Monday urging her to meet with the “elected Mayor of Toronto.”

And Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother, criticized the meeting as “politics.”

“It should be the mayor. He was democratically elected by the people and right now you have an unelected premier meeting with a unelected de facto mayor,” he said. “It’s not the people that have decided to do this, its 35, 36 councillors down here with their own political agenda and you have an unelected premier with her own political agenda.”