All 44 city councillors will be keeping their jobs for now.

They voted 25 to 13 in favour of rejecting a petition asking them to cut council in half.

Mayor Rob Ford has been very passionate about the issue, he even campaigned on it.

The petition was brought forward by the Toronto Taxpayer’s Coalition to reduce the size of council to 25. The group wanted the city’s wards to reflect provincial and federal ridings.

Ford says taxpayers want less politicians out there. He says if council shrinks, he would be for increasing council salaries to reflect the increased amount of work they’ll have to do and more staff they’ll have to hire.

However, Councillor Gloria Lindsay-Luby says a smaller council would be a dictatorship.

Councillor Michelle Berardinetti says councillors can’t be compared to MPs or MPPs, given what they do is different. She says she deals with a lot of issues, many of them smaller than other levels of government – like parking pads, traffic sign situations and potholes.

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