T.O. may chop thousands, including police

Hundreds of officers might be part of possible layoffs by Toronto city hall.

In a desperate effort to cut costs by reducing the number of municipal workers, the City of Toronto might have to lay off hundreds of police officers. Mayor Rob Ford says the city has “thousands” too many employees and is not ruling out layoffs if a staff buyout package fails to eliminate enough jobs.

500 Toronto Police officers and thousands of city workers will be issued layoff notices in January if the mayor follows through on a pledge to shrink the police budget and the city’s workforce.

Police Chief Bill Blair has already delayed hiring 200 officers in order to balance this year’s budget.