Shoot The Messenger

That is the message Comrade Miller and his flunkies is sending......

Frugality probe goes ahead

May 25.

Everything that is wrong with Toronto's city council was encapsulated in the 24-14 vote that approved an investigation into the frugal spending habits of Councillors Doug Holyday and Rob Ford. Arguments that the low use of the annual $53,100 office budget allocated to each councillor by these two councillors might potentially conceal some form of corruption or permit a wealthy councillor an unfair advantage are stunning and defy common sense.

If a city councillor chooses to reach into his or her own pocket to carry out the duties of a councillor, we should be thankful for such generosity rather than trying to demonize such individuals. If a city councillor chooses to spend only a small portion of the annual office budget, we should be grateful that we have politicians who demonstrate an understanding of the need for fiscal responsibility.

Our city faces real challenges and real problems. However, with the launching of this probe, it is clear that we do not have a city council that is mature enough to solve those challenges and problems. Taken to its extreme, the probe into the expenditures – or lack thereof – by Holyday and Ford could be widened into an examination of the personal expenditures of every elected official. In such an investigation will be found, perhaps, a possible corruption needle in the haystack of a politician's personal expenditures. Every time a politician patronizes a particular store, there could be the potential that he or she is engaged in "vote buying."

Such a probe would be ridiculous, of course, but given the decisions coming out of city hall, this kind of investigation could be around the corner.

Stephen Thiele, Toronto Party, Toronto