You Approved Their 9% Pay Increase

Let's see if they earn it!

EDITORIAL: Cheer up, this could be Ottawa

It's time to stick a fork in the Toronto city council pay hike debate. Enough is enough.

The haul for those politicians lucky enough to be re-elected to City Hall is passed, voted on and approved.

Not only by councillors themselves, but by us, the voters, who returned all but one incumbent to their posts. No matter how much we hate it, it's done.

The motion, put forward by Coun. Michael Walker to reopen debate on the issue at the next council meeting is ridiculous and shouldn't be sent back to committee, it should be set on fire. So, take a deep breath and read these numbers. City councillors salaries will jump 8.9% from $87,214 to $95,000. Mayor David Miller's yearly take will increase from $147,856 to $160,000.

If councillors don't want to accept it, be our guest. Hand it back to the city. Take the increase and invest it in your community. Just stop yakking about it.

Things could be worse. This could be Ottawa city council, where councillors return to office with a $25,000 raise, bringing their salaries at the smaller city to $95,000, like Toronto. They'll also waddle to the trough to collect a $6,000 car allowance.

Even more delicious is Ottawa Mayor-elect Larry O'Brien's case. "This is the guy we voted in on a campaign of cost control, expense slashing and an irresponsible promise of a 0% tax increase," wrote the Ottawa Sun's Anne Howland. "It doesn't seem like we're off to a very good start by having a new, unproven mayor immediately leap at a hefty pay raise -- and encourage his councillors to follow suit."

(On Friday, O'Brien flip-flopped on the raise saying he had made a rookie mistake. He declined to take the hefty hike outgoing councillors had voted for and accepted an increase recommended two years ago that will give him a salary of just under $160,000.)

O'Brien was set to collect $172,000, which was a 23% increase over the mayor's previous salary. That's $25,000 more than Premier Dalton McGuinty makes, and $12,000 more than David Miller.

And to make matters worse, O'Brien's new chief of staff is Walter Robinson, former head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The very man who wrote these words: "I can see local union leaders cranking up their wage demands as I write ..." Yeah, so can we.

As for the Toronto raises, they're done.

Now, let's make them earn it.