A legal firm is questioning Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's authority to abandon the previous Transit City plan and invoke his own vision for the city's transit future.

Coun. Joe Mihevc released a legal report on Monday suggesting Ford did not have the right to dismiss the previous administration's transit strategy – one which would have installed light-rail lines across much of Toronto.

The report from Cavalluzzo, Hayes, Shilton, McIntyre & Cornish – a respected Toronto law firm – suggests the mayor did not have the authority to abandon Transit City and move ahead with his alternative plan without a vote from council.

"It is council, not the mayor or anyone else, that makes council decisions on the future of Transit City or any other plan put forth," Mihevc told reporters at news conference Monday.

Mihevc said the legal opinion means that the first announcement made by Ford after taking office in December 2010, and a memorandum of understanding he signed with Premier Dalton McGuinty in April 2011, "have no legal significance until council says that they do.

"Given that council has had no debate or discussion on the matter, it is absolutely correct to say that Transit City is still the policy of the City of Toronto today," he said.

Ford appeared frustrated as he discussed the latest challenge to his transit plan on Monday, saying he was elected to build subways.

"I did what the taxpayers want. They want subways, they don't want streetcars," Ford told reporters. "It's all subways. It is all about subways."

Ford campaigned on a promise to kill Transit City and establish a transit plan based on subways. Shortly after Ford was elected in 2010 he abandoned the former transit plan and launched a new strategy to build a subway line in Scarborough.

His new plan also used previously allotted provincial funding to build an Eglinton Avenue light-rail line underground. Only a stretch across the Don Valley would remain above ground.

The fate of that plan has recently been cast into doubt after a collection of councillors including TTC chair Karen Stintz began pushing for more of the line to run above ground – a plan similar to the one included in Transit City.

Mihevc has questioned Ford's legal right to cancel Transit City in the past and recently solicited a legal opinion on the matter.

Lawyer Freya Kristjanson says her firm found that Ford had no legal right to move forward after signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the province authorizing the new plan.

"It is our opinion that he does not have that authority," Kristjanson said at a news conference on Monday. "This is because of the legal framework, The City of Toronto Act. Like all other municipalities, Toronto has a ‘weak mayor, strong council' system of municipal governance."

Kristjanson said this style of government means the power lies in city council, giving the mayor little independent authority unless it has been specifically delegated to him by council.

She said the mayor's plan remains nonbinding until council has voted for it – a step the mayor did not take at the time of the announcement, despite calls to do so from his opponents.

Transit City has been in existence since 2007, said Kristjanson, and has been the subject of several council votes.

"As such, until changed by a vote of council, Transit City remains the first transit priority of Toronto. There has been no vote to rescind or change these priorities or commitments in the 13 months since Mayor Ford took office," she said.

Coun. Maria Augimeri attended Monday's press conference and said the findings were not new, adding that many on council knew the mayor had not authority to kill Transit City.

Augimeri said Ford was warned by the city's legal department that the April 2011 memorandum of understanding with the province was not a binding document and warned the new mayor that it would not hold up to a legal challenge.

"I don't know why he went ahead and ignored staff – the experts," Augimeri told CP24.

The president and CEO of Metrolinx, the regional transit authority, said in a statement he wasn't able to comment directly on the report because he had not reviewed it.

However, Bruce McCuaig noted said that the agreement signed by Ford states that "it is a ‘non-binding MOU in order to provide a framework' for the revised transit plan and that this plan will be ‘subject to the approval of their respective governing bodies' as stated on page 2 of the MOU."

McCuaig said he didn't want to speculate on any further changes to the plan, and added that: "We want the City of Toronto to land on a single position."