Jane Pittfield For Mayor - Round One

Take the time to read where she stands.........

Mayoral debate gets personal

Miller claims success in new deal
Pitfield says he failed on budget

Sep. 19, 2006. 05:57 AM

JOHN SPEARS AND DONOVAN VINCENT

CITY HALL BUREAU

They both turned up in midnight blue suits with their blond hair perfectly in place, but mayoral candidates Jane Pitfield and David Miller disagreed on just about everything from the start of the initial debate at Innis College last night.They sparred over transit, crime, garbage, incineration, homelessness and the waterfront. It was the first mayoral debate heading into the Nov. 13 municipal election.And it got personal.Pitfield slammed Miller's term as mayor as "a wasted term.""Three years has been long enough to get things done," she told a packed house of more than 200. "It's been three years of stopping things and fighting things.""The issues of 2003 are the issues of 2006," she said, arguing that the city is no safer, cleaner nor better serviced than when Miller took over.Pitfield said Miller had broken his central promise of cleaning up the city — which Miller symbolized in the previous campaign by flourishing a broom."Nepotism, personal interest and hidden agendas continue to be rampant in the city," Pitfield charged.She also criticized Miller for the way he handles civil servants."I will not find a backroom way of eliminating senior staff who disagree with me," Pitfield vowed.Miller enunciated a much more upbeat view of the city he has headed for the past term."I promised to clean up the streets, to clean up city hall, and to clean up the waterfront," Miller told the crowd."We've made a strong beginning on all these things."Miller said the city has made progress in working with the federal and provincial governments toward a new deal for cities.But he said a national transit strategy, better revenue sharing arrangements with the other levels of government, and persuading the province to take back responsibilities it dumped on the city in the 1990s are still needed.Pitfield argued Toronto needs "thermal technology'' a type of incineration, saying the city must form "partnerships'' with the 905 region, adding that Peel has had incineration for 15 years. She also pointed out there are new technologies that produce no dioxins, a fear stressed by critics of incineration."I oppose long-term storage in landfill,'' Pitfield said to applause.Miller told the audience he's opposed to incineration, calling it unsafe because it releases dioxins.He said the city has made "incredible'' strides in waste diversion, noting that the number of trucks hauling garbage from the city to Michigan has dropped from 143 a day to 80. He credited the city's green bin organic waste program, as well as the blue and grey box programs, and said that even with incineration the city will still need landfill sites because the ash from incineration has to go someplace.Pitfield rebutted saying Michigan — where Toronto ships its garbage — is "watching our every move.'' The province recently signed a deal with Michigan legislators to stop sending Ontario garbage across the border by 2010.She called for bag tags, saying that if residents had an extra garbage bag to throw out they'd have to wait a week, or drive to a local transfer station and pay a dollar for the bag."When you hit people's pocketbooks people will stop and think about what they are throwing away,'' she said.Miller opposed the bag-tag idea, saying Toronto residents are already recycling and don't need another form of taxation.Miller disagreed with Pitfield that the city is stagnant. The city has the largest fleet of bio-diesel buses in the country, which help keep the air cleaner, he said.And the city has put another 450 police officers on the street in the past three years, Miller said.The city has also pressed Ottawa for a ban on handguns, he said, and following the shootings at a Montreal college last week "it's clear we need a ban on handguns."Miller asked his audience to think big:"Great cities are about a shared vision, shared hope and shared pride," he said. Toronto needs to be a city of "opportunity for all, that's safe and clean," he said.Pitfield criticized Miller for the fact that there have been two TTC fare increases during his term.Pitfield complained the Toronto Transit Commission has become expensive, dirty and unreliable.""I don't like raising fares, either," Miller responded. But he said the solution is to get the Ontario government to return to its former policy of funding 50 per cent of the system's operating subsidy. Provincial subsidies were slashed during the 1990s and have been only partially restored.Pitfield criticized Miller for neglecting outlying parts of the city in favour of the city core in the new megacity."Every part of the city is equally important," she insisted.But Miller said some parts of the city have greater needs than others because their people lack jobs and opportunity. He cited the case of a 16-year-old boy he'd met who had never been outside the Malvern neighbourhood during his life in Toronto. Addressing that inequality of opportunity is crucial, he said.They both turned up in midnight blue suits with their blond hair perfectly in place, but mayoral candidates Jane Pitfield and David Miller disagreed on just about everything from the start of the initial debate at Innis College last night.Pitfield slammed Miller's term as mayor as "a wasted term."

`Nepotism, personal interest and hidden agendas continue to be rampant in the city' Jane Pitfield

'I promised to clean up the streets, to clean up city hall, and to clean up the waterfront. We've made a strong beginning on all these things.' Mayor David Miller

"Three years has been long enough to get things done," she told a packed house of more than 200. "It's been three years of stopping things and fighting things.""The issues of 2003 are the issues of 2006," she said, arguing that the city is no safer, cleaner nor better serviced than when Miller took over.Pitfield said Miller had broken his central promise of cleaning up the city — which Miller symbolized in the previous campaign by flourishing a broom."Nepotism, personal interest and hidden agendas continue to be rampant in the city," Pitfield charged.She also criticized Miller for the way he handles civil servants."I will not find a backroom way of eliminating senior staff who disagree with me," Pitfield vowed.Miller enunciated a much more upbeat view of the city he has headed for the past term."I promised to clean up the streets, to clean up city hall, and to clean up the waterfront," Miller told the crowd."We've made a strong beginning on all these things."Miller said the city has made progress in working with the federal and provincial governments toward a new deal for cities.But he said a national transit strategy, better revenue sharing arrangements with the other levels of government, and persuading the province to take back responsibilities it dumped on the city in the 1990s are still needed.The rivals never let up revealing more of their platforms as they head to the Nov. 13 municipal election.Pitfield argued Toronto needs "thermal technology'' a type of incineration, saying the city must form "partnerships'' with the 905 region, adding that Peel has had incineration for 15 years. She also pointed out there are new technologies that produce no dioxins, a fear stressed by critics of incineration."I oppose long-term storage in landfill,'' Pitfield said to applause.Miller told the audience he's opposed to incineration, calling it unsafe because it releases dioxins.He said the city has made "incredible'' strides in waste diversion, noting that the number of trucks hauling garbage from the city to Michigan has dropped from 143 a day to 80. He credited the city's green bin organic waste program, as well as the blue and grey box programs, and said that even with incineration the city will still need landfill sites because the ash from incineration has to go someplace.Pitfield rebutted saying Michigan — where Toronto ships its garbage — is "watching our every move.'' The province recently signed a deal with Michigan legislators to stop sending Ontario garbage across the border by 2010.She called for bag tags, saying that if residents had an extra garbage bag to throw out they'd have to wait a week, or drive to a local transfer station and pay a dollar for the bag."When you hit people's pocketbooks people will stop and think about what they are throwing away,'' she said.Miller opposed the bag tag idea, saying Toronto residents are already recycling and don't need another form of taxation.Miller disagreed with Pitfield that the city is stagnant. The city has the largest fleet of bio-diesel buses in the country, which help keep the air cleaner, he said.And the city has put another 450 police officers on the street in the past three years, Miller said.The city has also pressed Ottawa for a ban on handguns, he said, and following the shootings at a Montreal college last week "it's clear we need a ban on handguns."Miller asked his audience to think big:"Great cities are about a shared vision, shared hope and shared pride," he said. Toronto needs to be a city of "opportunity for all, that's safe and clean," he said.Pitfield jumped into the mayoral race early this year, but ran a low profile campaign in the months following her announcement.One of her biggest criticisms of Miller has been that the mayor has failed to get city spending under control.Pitfield has pledged to bring in a team of forensic accountants to go over the city's books if she's elected, in order to find out where the city's money is being spent.She also said the city has too many employees, although she pledged not to institute "massive layoffs."On the controversial $700 million Bombardier contractfor new subway cars to be built in Thunder Bay, a plan that has come undercriticism over the issue of sole sourcing,Miller said Torontohas to be a "good neighbour.''He said the Thunder Bay plant is the only one in Canada that builds subway cars."I'm proud to stand up for Canadian jobs,'' he said to cheers."We're doing the right thing by the workers in Thunder Bay,'' Miller said.Saying spending is "completely out of control'' Pitfield argued that $100 million could have been saved by going with a competitor, money that could have been used for more busesor transit infrastructure.Shereferred to the report of Madame Justice Denise Bellamywho said public officials shouldn't be involved in procurement, referring to politicians sitting on the Toronto Transit Commission."The TTC hasbecome so political that we're not thinking about taxpayers and spending their money wisely.''Miller said Bellamy also said it was appropriate to make public policy decisions that save money, and the mayor added thatOntario Premier Dalton McGuinty agreed with thechoice of Bombardier for the subway car contract.