The council passes municipal legislation (called by-laws), approves spending, and has direct responsibility for the oversight of services delivered by the city and its agencies.

[4] The City of Toronto Act lays down the division of powers, responsibilities and required duties of the corporation.

The council is the only power able to enact Toronto laws, known as by-laws, which govern the actions of the corporation and/or matters within its jurisdiction, such as administration of the Canadian Criminal Code within its borders.

[7] It also forms several committees, including the Board of Health and "Community Councils", which hear matters relating to narrower, district issues, such as building permits and developments requiring changes to zoning by-laws.

[10] The city's revenues include 33% from property tax, 6% from the land transfer tax, subsidies from the Canadian federal government and the Ontario provincial government, and the rest from other revenues and user fees.

[9] The council has set the limit of debt charges not to exceed 15% of the property tax revenues.

[15] The City of Toronto was incorporated in 1834, succeeding York, which was administered directly by the then-province of Upper Canada.

After World War II, an extensive group of suburban towns and townships surrounded Toronto.

Change to the legal structure came in 1954, with the creation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (known more popularly as "Metro").

The new metropolitan government built highways, water systems and public transit, while the thirteen townships, villages, towns, and cities continued to provide some local services to their residents.

To manage the yearly upkeep of the new infrastructure, the new Metro government levied its own property tax, collected by the local municipalities.

The community councils (unique among Ontario's cities) of Etobicoke–York, North York and Scarborough meet in their respective pre-existing municipal buildings.

The passage took place during the ongoing election campaign and spurred a number of lawsuits by potential candidates and a referral to the Ontario courts of the act's constitutionality.

Ostensibly introduced to allow the passage of bylaws that would increase the supply of housing in Toronto, the act received considerable criticism as anti-democratic.

The mayor at the time, John Tory, supported the law[21] and pledged to continue to act by consensus.