Newsletter,September 28, 2026
September 28, 2026
Dear City Council Candidate,
There is currently a critical gap in the City’s treatment of complaints about noisy gas-powered leaf blowers. The City’s current approach is that daytime noise exceeding 55 dB(A) from sources such as stationary equipment, residential air conditioners and amplified or musical instrument sounds may be investigated. Yet the noise generated by gas-powered leaf blowers—typically 95–110 dB(A)—is not tracked in the same way simply because their daytime use is not prohibited by a noise bylaw. A gas-powered leaf blower raises the physical sound intensity by a factor of over 316,000, cutting safe exposure time down to a few minutes.
We believe the City must establish a reliable system to track, identify, and report 311 Service Requests (SRs) concerning the noise, air pollution, and environmental impacts of these machines during daytime hours.
Just because a leaf blower operates during hours permitted by the current Noise Bylaw does not mean residents are unaffected by its significant noise and toxic emissions. Because daytime complaints are not tracked as distinct, individual Service Requests, City Council lacks a clear picture of the scale, frequency, and geographic concentration of this problem.
For a detailed backgrounder on the adverse impacts of leaf blowers, please visit www.gasbusters.ca.
With the municipal election approaching, candidates and councillors need access to meaningful, ward-level data about these community concerns. Therefore, we are asking for your commitment to hold public consultations with residents and City staff to develop a practical reporting framework, even when complaints fall outside existing bylaw enforcement provisions. This initiative does not require rewriting the current bylaw; it simply ensures that residents' voices are counted so Council can make informed, data-driven policy decisions.
If elected, will you support initiatives to consider phasing out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and related equipment in Toronto? Over 200 municipalities across North America, including Vancouver and boroughs of Montreal, have already successfully restricted or banned gas-powered leaf blowers. The case for phasing out this equipment in Toronto is clear.
Our members—comprising over 700 individuals and 19 Toronto resident associations—are eager to know your position on this critical health and environmental issue. To ensure your views are accurately represented in our pre-election e-blast to our membership, please reply to this email to indicate whether or not you support our campaign's initiatives described above, or send an email to gasbusterstoronto@gmail.com.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at gasbusterstoronto@gmail.com.
Thank you, and best wishes with your campaign.
The Gasbusters Team
