link — Comments Off on The Mayor might be too busy to march in the Pride parade
09
May 11

The Mayor might be too busy to march in the Pride parade

The Toronto Sun’s Don Peat asks Rob Ford if he’ll be marching in the Pride parade this year, and the Mayor responds with a hearty….

“I have no idea what events I’ll be in and what events I’m not going to be in,” Ford said. “I can comment when we are closer to that date…I can’t commit to it now, I don’t know what my schedule is like.”

via Ford won’t commit to marching in Pride parade | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun.

That’s weird, because the version of the Mayor’s schedule released last week revealed that he had a ton of free time.

Related: Since 2006, the Mayor of Toronto has officially proclaimed every May 17 as “Day Against Homophobia in Toronto.” Last year, it became “Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in Toronto.”

The language used in these proclamations is essentially the same every year, with a little bit added about the year’s theme. This sentence appeared in every proclamation from 2006 to 2010:

Toronto has taken a leadership role in the fight for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and is committed to equal treatment of all people and their right to live in conditions of dignity, respect and peace.

This year, it appears again, but slightly modified:

Toronto is an active participant in the fight for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and is committed to equal treatment of all people and their right to live in conditions of dignity, respect and peace.

From a ‘leadership role’ to an ‘active participant.’ Weird, right?

P.S. Don’t read too much into this. I have no idea who writes these proclamations. They could come from outside agencies — perhaps, in this case, Foundation Émergence — and I doubt anyone at City Hall gives them a lot of thought. I just thought it interesting that someone, at some point, decided to alter the text this year.

link — Comments Off on Will anyone care about Ford’s campaign financing problems?
09
May 11

Will anyone care about Ford’s campaign financing problems?

I have to give kudos to the people who have been digging into the irregularities found in Rob Ford’s reported campaign expenses. John Lorinc at the Globe & Mail has been lighting it up with well-researched articles that ask tough questions. And Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler and Max Reed have produced a remarkably comprehensive and well-written complaint, which has now been submitted to the city’s Compliance Audit Committee. It should get results.

Still, though, I’m not sure any of this will amount to much in the long-term. These allegations, if proven, will probably result in a fine. And that’s good — and fair — but I doubt a monetary penalty levied against the mayor is going to arouse much attention from the general public. I also doubt anyone could argue that Ford’s conduct with regard to campaign financing dramatically altered the outcome of the election.

The underlying theme to these stories seems to go something like this: Rob Ford is reckless. He has no time for technicalities or process. He tosses aside the rules in favour of going with his gut. He acts first and thinks later.

But none of that is surprising. We already know all these things about Rob Ford. Hell, for some of his supporters, these are the reasons they like him so much.

feature — Comments Off on Police contract sets the tone, 2012 budget hole gets deeper
09
May 11

Police contract sets the tone, 2012 budget hole gets deeper

The Toronto Star’s Robyn Doolittle:

Mayor Rob Ford’s “rookie mistake” of awarding the police association a 3.19 per cent salary hike could end up costing the city more than $50 million annually, his critics charge.

“This is going to drive every single essential service contract in the city. The city has said it can afford to pay 3 per cent a year. Not only are the firefighters going to get it, but who else is going to now that they’re an essential service? The TTC,” said left-wing councillor Adam Vaughan.

“This will have a ripple through the largest employee groups in the city.”

via Ford’s costly police deal a ‘rookie mistake,’ critics say – thestar.com.

In 2008, an arbitrated settlement between the Police Services Board and the Union saw a new contract with awarded pay raises of just about 10% over three years. 2005 was similar, with a three-year raise of 9.85%. This contract, which didn’t go to arbitration, comes in at about 11%.

Lots has been said about this already — notably by the Posted Toronto Political Panel — but I think it’s important to point out how this deal will highlight the folly that was essential service legislation for the TTC. We have now told transit workers — operators, ticket takers, all of them — that we can’t live a single day without them. As a result, they’re worth more now. Probably a lot more.

That sound you hear is the 2012 budget hole getting deeper.

Is the agreement with the police union necessarily a bad deal? It’s hard to say. An appointed arbitrator may well have awarded the same contract, or an even better contract. With some of the lowest residential property taxes in the GTA, an impartial observer is unlikely to accept that the city can’t come up with the money.

But, coming on the heels of the TTC essential service designation, it definitely makes for a bad situation.

It also will screw with other police boards as they negotiate with their unions. The Ottawa Citizen’s Randall Denley writes about the ripple effect the Toronto deal will have not only in his city, but also provincially when the OPP contract comes due:

The Toronto deal will cost Ottawans more at the provincial level, too, because it will drive up the OPP contract cost. The provincial police have an unusual deal that gives them a raise of 5.075 per cent in the first year, followed by a two-year wage freeze. That doesn’t sound too bad, but there is a special clause for the fourth year that ensures that the OPP will be the province’s highestpaid police service at the end of the contract. The Toronto agreement will add roughly six per cent to the OPP deal.

In Ottawa, every one-percent increase in police wages adds $2 million in costs, so a deal like the one signed in Toronto would cost taxpayers more than $22 million a year by the end of a similar contract.

via Toronto police increase costs us | Ottawa Citizen.

Conservative politicians often talk about how they will get tough with unions, but that rarely materializes. It is far easier to quietly concede, avoiding the damaging political impacts that result from protracted labour disputes. The added cost of the new labour contracts will be partially recouped through service cuts later this year.

feature — Comments Off on 70% of Toronto loves Rob Ford
09
May 11

70% of Toronto loves Rob Ford

From last week, The Globe & Mail’s Patrick White:

As Mayor Rob Ford heads into a contentious period of labour strife, spending cuts and possible job losses, a new poll suggests he has political capital to burn.

The survey of 913 Torontonians, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Toronto Real Estate Board, found that 70 per cent approve of the mayor’s performance and 65 per cent support the way city council is handling tax dollars.

via Mayor Rob Ford’s approval rating rises to 70 per cent – The Globe and Mail.

A couple of points about this.

First, while not invalidating this poll’s methodology, this whole thing was commissioned by the Toronto Real Estate Board with an intent to show public support for repealing the land transfer tax. Their press release practically drips with excitement: these people are downright jazzed at the thought of the mayor eliminating this tax:

“The public’s support for Mayor Ford and the current direction of Toronto City Council is high, and it is clear that moving forward with repealing the Toronto Land Transfer Tax will help to keep it there,” said [TREB President Bill] Johnston.

via Realtors Take Public’s Pulse on GTA Issues, Including Toronto Land Transfer Tax.

That 68% of the public wants to repeal a tax isn’t surprising. Nobody likes taxes. But it’s hard to be sympathetic to the TREB when there’s not really much to indicate that the Land Transfer Tax has had a negative impact on home sales. We still have a healthy market.

Second: I don’t know how anyone could reasonably expect Ford’s approval rating to be much lower. As far as the public is concerned, he’s done only a handful of things as mayor, most of them popular proposals he laid out when campaigning last year. He’s killed the car tax, frozen property taxes for the year, eliminated the threat of TTC strikes, ‘cleaned up’ TCHC, and started the process of privatizing garbage collection, eliminating that threat as well.

It’s actually surprising his approval rating isn’t higher. That he’s not riding David Miller-style approval numbers in the 80% range shows that the mayor is still fairly divisive.

Council-watching nerds know that Ford’s record since taking office is more complex. There have been TTC route cuts, attempts to eliminate oversight and consultation, a bizarre campaign to sell the waterfront, short-sighted fiscal maneuvers and just downright embarrassing moments.

But the general public is unlikely to have felt any of these things. Many of them are still largely conceptual: ideas that have been floated to the media or voted on, but not implemented.

Will the public ever tire of Mayor Rob Ford? I think so. Eventually. The Ford Team has shrewdly — if somewhat short-sightedly — removed the two major obstacles that hurt David Miller: transit and garbage strikes. That should help him. But I don’t believe Miller ever faced budget circumstances as tough as what we’re looking at for 2012.

We’re just getting started.

feature — Comments Off on What does the Mayor want from the Federal Government?
06
May 11

What does the Mayor want from the Federal Government?

So the federal election happened. I’m over it. Municipal politics are way more fun and important anyway. How interesting can a government chamber be when you always know how everyone is going to vote?

But before we can move on, we’ve got to acknowledge the Ford Nation, and whatever impact it is they had in Monday night’s outcome.

Here’s what Doug Ford, presumably speaking for his brother, had to say about the results:

“What is good for Toronto is good for Canada,” Ford said Tuesday, adding that for the first time in a long time, Toronto will have a say in the federal government.

“We have a friendly voice in Ottawa right now,” he said. “We never had a voice in Ottawa for a number of years…we have numerous strong voices now to represent us in Toronto and Ottawa knows we are going to be a strong voice coming from Toronto now.

“It’s always nice to be able to pick up the phone and have a direct line to Ottawa, day in and day out.”

via Election good for Toronto, Councillor Ford says | Decision 2011 | News | Toronto Sun.

Okay — but what is it that the Ford Brothers want from the federal government? The line in the endorsement was about the Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure fund, but that at most represents a $300 million dollar commitment and isn’t going to be anything close to the magic bullet the city needs to actually make this Sheppard subway extension happen.

So what is it? What should the federal government do for Toronto? Ford had a laundry list of demands for the provincial government earlier this year. And other mayors across Canada have certainly made it clear they need more direct funding for infrastructure.

But so far Toronto’s mayor hasn’t asked the prime minister for much more than a handshake. He voted against sending a letter to the federal government that would condemn cuts to immigration services in Toronto, something that negatively impacts thousands of people, including many who supported Ford. At the last council meeting, the mayor was one of a group of five councillors to vote against asking the federal government to provide support to businesses who suffered damage or lost business during the G20 weekend.

If the mayor is so sure that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is going to be good for Toronto, he needs to define what “good for Toronto” is. It has to be more than token support for a P3 subway line and the meagre funding the city gets from the gas tax.

We’re facing an 800 million dollar hole in our operating budget next year and our combined capital budget requirement for transit and other infrastructure over the next decade totals into the tens of billions of dollars. Surely the federal government — who receive more than 50 cents of every tax dollar you pay — can do something about that.

Wouldn’t that be good for Toronto?

link — Comments Off on What has Waterfront Toronto done for us anyway?
06
May 11

What has Waterfront Toronto done for us anyway?

Last week, John Lorinc interviewed David Crombie about Toronto’s Waterfront, in the wake of all the stupid debate we’ve heard over the last month.. Here’s what the former mayor had to say:

When I hear people say they’re impatient about development on the waterfront, I don’t want to be unkind, but they are people who don’t go there. If you start at Mimico Creek and go straight across to Victoria Park and the Bluffers, the change is enormous. No, I’m not impatient with it. I’m impatient with those whose impatience is going to rush us to judgment.

It’s going now. Does it need to be done better? Anything can be done better. But, boy, this is a ship that is going. Want to improve it? Do that. But don’t blow it up.

via Crombie still sees magic in Toronto’s waterfront – The Globe and Mail.

But blowing it up might solve our short-term budget problems!

To add to that, a poster on the Urban Toronto forums (EnviroTO) put together a quick list of all the projects recently completed or currently under development projects undertaken by Waterfront Toronto:

Completed
– Flood prevention landform that allows development on most of the land to occur is complete.
– Sewer system through West Don Lands complete.
– HtO Park complete.
– Port Union Waterfront Park complete.
– Marilyn Bell Park and Western Beaches Watercourse complete.
– Mimico Waterfront Park Phase I complete.
– Sherbourne Common south complete.
– Waterfront Edge at Harbourfront complete.
– Three wave decks complete.
– Sugar Beach complete.
– Corus Quay complete.
– Cherry Beach renovation complete.

Under Development
– Union Station second platform project under construction.
– George Brown college under construction.
– Canada Square under construction.
– Bayside Development contract signed.
– Parkside Development contract signed.
– Queens Quay LRT and street makeover EA complete.
– Cherry LRT EA complete.
– West Don Lands neighbourhood study and EA complete.
– River City Development contract signed.
– Pan Am Games development in advanced planning.
– Don River Park under construction.
– Underpass Park design complete.
– Keating Channel precinct plan complete.
– Mouth of Don design competition and EA complete.
– Lake Ontario Park master plan complete.

via Waterfront: East Bayfront – Sherbourne Common & Sugar Beach | UrbanToronto.ca.

All this and Doug Ford still calls it “the biggest boondoggle the feds, the province and the city has ever done.” Go figure.

link — Comments Off on Stintz versus Stintz, on Presto
06
May 11

Stintz versus Stintz, on Presto

Councillor Karen Stintz, August 2010:

The Province would like to implement a smart-card system across the GTA and currently the TTC is the greatest roadblock. While the TTC should be working closely with the Province to embrace the smart-card, it works against the Provincial initiative by promoting open-payment.

via Open Payment System || Karen Stintz.

TTC chair Karen Stintz, April 2011:

The Presto fare system could vanish from the Toronto Transit Commission unless the cost gets down well below $200 million, TTC chair Karen Stintz said Thursday.

“The cost to the TTC cannot be $200 million, period,” Stintz said.

“Because we don’t have it and it’s not on the table,” she said.

via Presto pass could vanish | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun.

What a difference nine months makes. Adam Giambrone, on this item, we give you permission to feel smug.

link — Comments Off on Rob Ford’s schedule a closely held secret
04
May 11

Rob Ford’s schedule a closely held secret

The Globe & Mail’s Patrick White reports on the latest FOI-driven release of Rob Ford’s weekly schedule. It contains “three entirely blank pages in his weekly calendar.”

Ford’s often invisible, but not generally thought of as lazy, so what’s the deal?

White tells us:

A more likely explanation for the empty schedule is a quiet shift in the way Mr. Ford’s appointments are recorded.

In March, a release of the mayor’s schedule tracking his activity from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31 laid out an exhausting list of up to 14 appointments a day. That version of the calendar caused alarm in the mayor’s office after media outlets began investigating some of the people the mayor met, including developer Mario Cortellucci and businessman Jonathan Vrozos.

The mayor’s office has deliberately withheld names from subsequent calendar entries.

via Ford’s schedule reveals little activity – The Globe and Mail.

Respect for Taxpayers. As long as they don’t know what I’m doing and who I’m meeting with.

feature — Comments Off on Council Scorecard Update: How did your councillor vote on city boards, bottled water and service reviews?
04
May 11

Council Scorecard Update: How did your councillor vote on city boards, bottled water and service reviews?

TO Council Scorecard - April 30, 2011

It’s that time again — the City Council Scorecard has been updated with items from the council meeting which took place on April 12 and 13. (For a full blow-by-blow, read Jonathan Goldsbie’s minutes over at OpenFile. They’re so good.) The City Clerk was a bit delayed getting the motions and votes posted for these items, likely because everyone is working overtime attempting to figure out the full ramifications of the infamous Adam Vaughan amendment.

This update includes three votes, two that are interesting because they were actual losses for the mayor — albeit small ones — and one that represents the critical first step toward achieving one of his most important objectives.

  • EX4.7, Motion 8 — Moved by Vaughan, its intent was to guarantee council representation on the city’s agencies, boards and committees. A staff report had recommended some changes to the structure of these bodies. Ford’s “quarterback” Giorgio Mammoliti whipped this vote, but enough councillors ignored the whip that this was a loss for Team Ford.
  • GM2.16, Motion 2 – Moved by Mammoliti, this was an attempt to use the debate over healthy snacks in vending machines to rescind the earlier council direction to phase out the sale of bottled water on city property. Vote was also whipped, and again resulted in a loss for Team Ford. Notable historical fact: the original request for the bottled water ban in 2008 was moved by Ford ally and budget chief Mike Del Grande. He excused himself from the vote this time, and is recorded as ‘Absent.’
  • EX4.10 – This is the item that will begin this summer’s service review extravaganza, which is where the gravy-carrying trains will be identified and eliminated. Or so the story goes. Only six councillors voted against this, which shows that council’s left is not as obstructionist as some would have you believe.

Trend watch: The 18-24 vote on the bottled water item serves as a good indicator of how council could break down against the mayor. Both Jaye Robinson and Michelle Berardinetti continue to show a tendency to ignore the whip and vote with their conscience. If they became more firmly aligned with council’s middle, Ford will see real challenges when it comes to service cuts and other contentious items.

Questions about the Council Scorecard? Read my notes on methodology. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

 

feature — Comments Off on What did and didn’t happen in Toronto last night
03
May 11

What did and didn’t happen in Toronto last night

Yesterday’s federal election is mostly beyond the scope of this blog, but since the mayor saw fit to involve himself I guess it’s all fair game.

Last night in Canada, the Conservative Party won 167 of 308 ridings, forming Canada’s first majority government in a decade. The Conservatives accomplished this despite seeing very little success in Quebec, long considered the major electoral barrier standing between Party Leader Stephen Harper and his long-desired majority. The difference-maker was, by all accounts, Toronto.

‘Fortress Toronto’ has been breached. The Conservatives won several supposedly ‘safe’ Liberal seats. The kind of seats that have been red since Confederation. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was himself defeated in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

It was a really bad night for the Liberal Party.

Here’s what didn’t happen last night: Rob Ford’s endorsement didn’t make much of a difference. Rob Ford, in his current role as the  Toucan Sam of populist conservatism — selling us cereal that is both healthy and tastes like candy –, did not significantly impact these results.

Further, Toronto did not display its newfound love for all things Conservative. Toronto is not the new Alberta.

So what did happen? Some ill-timed electoral calculus. A split vote like none other. The wave that took the NDP to record heights across Canada had some unintended consequences when it hit Toronto. Our longstanding support for the Liberal Party made for a bedrock group of voters in most ridings who were unwilling to switch to the Orange team. They’re the fortress in ‘Fortress Toronto.’ But enough soft Liberal voters did go NDP to create the perfect conditions for Conservative candidates to take their ridings.

Take Etobicoke Centre for example, where Conservative Ted Opitz was elected. The Cons were up 4% in that riding over their 2008 result. The Liberals were down 8%. The NDP was up 6%. Opitz won by only a handful of votes. In Don Valley East, the Liberals were down 14% while the NDP rose 12%. Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ignatieff’s seat, saw the Libs down 11 points while the NDP was up 9.

The same trend is evident in a number of other suburban Toronto ridings: The Liberals bled support, a little bit to the Conservatives and a lot to the NDP. Bled just enough to ensure a string of Conservative pluralities across the 416.

If you want to read anything more into the Toront0-area results from last night, start with this: Like they did this past October with George Smitherman, Toronto has once again rebuked the all-things-to-all-people flavourless brand of politics that defines today’s Liberals. Voters don’t want their politicians to be above ideology. Voters crave ideology. They crave character. They want to be inspired. They want to feel like they’re part of something. That they’re standing up for something. That, by supporting a candidate, there’s something to win.

 

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