A Must Read For Hockey Moms And Dads.....

...and a should read for those who don't vote in municipal elections in preperation for the next election.

Council is all show - neatly arranged and wrapped in pink

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

Welcome to the asylum that is Toronto City Council.

In the speaker's chair, Sandra Bussin, last in the news when she famously phoned in anonymously to a local radio show to castigate John Tory and sing the many praises of Mayor David Miller, and who, when asked if she worked for the city, denied it.

In the public gallery, at least one loud heckler, who to be fair, had apparently been at city hall all day - ALL DAY - to see council vote on a supposedly wildly controversial billboard/sign bylaw, which, in the end, was deferred until today.

I believe the poor woman was likely driven to the heckling by the sheer crushing inanity of what she had suffered for hours. I can vouch for that: When I walked in yesterday, and caught the last of the now-on-hold billboard discussion, I heard Councillor Pam McConnell droning on about "the right of our children to see the sky."

The billboard issue was deferred so council could discuss the supposedly urgent issue of ice-time allocation at a handful of city arenas which are blessedly not run by these clowns, but rather by local volunteer boards of directors.

(My own declaration of interests in this matter are legion: My late father used to manage one of the independent arenas, North Toronto Memorial Arena, and his successor, Eric Anweiler, is one of my dearest friends. Furthermore, as a city taxpayer, I support the board-operated arenas because unlike the ones the city manages with its own staff, they are run efficiently and in a fiscally responsible way. The smallest of these rinks, Bill Bolton Arena, which is managed by my first former husband, manages to break even despite restricted hours, and is hugely responsive to its local community. The city-run arenas, by contrast, lose money hand over fist and are almost universally regarded as second-rate.) But the issue has no genuine urgency.

It is urgent only because Mayor Miller has been fiercely lobbied by the Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association, which is well-placed to do just that. One of the coaches on its competitive club side, and father of a Leaside player, is none other than Nick Lewis, who as it happens is also one of the mayor's top economic aides, with whom he works closely.

Fortunately, Mayor Miller assured everyone yesterday that "this has nothing to do with who's working in who's office," but is rather an issue of principle. It is always so comforting when those who appear to have a bit of an axe to grind assure the rest of us dopes that it is not so.

Mayor Miller formally got a letter from Leaside Hockey, complaining that the girls were getting the shaft at the eight independently run rinks, on Oct. 30. Within two weeks, the issue exploded on the front page of the Toronto Star in a story by sports columnist Mary Ormsby.

Now as it happens, Ms. Ormsby has a daughter playing in the Leaside league, a fact she failed to mention in that story and another which followed. Like the mayor, however, she is confident in her own ability to be neutral. As she assured me in a recent e-mail, since she also has two sons playing in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and another who used to, "I'm confident I approached the news story with an open mind since our family is involved in both leagues."

In fact, the only actual principle in evidence yesterday is the one which holds that no child should go unused either by parent or politician.

Thus a throng of young girls, clutching helmets and dolls, wearing their Leaside sweaters, filled the chamber.

Mayor Miller, smiling and waving, met some of them as they arrived. Councillor Paula Fletcher, who actually had the floor at the time, burbled, "Oh, the girls are coming!" And Councillor Janet Davis, whose motion about ice time was about to be debated, actually urged the girls to move to a section off to the side, where, she said, "they'd be more comfortable" - and where, presumably, their attractive young faces, all lined up together, might make for a lovely and compelling picture.

There were some nice young boys in their hockey sweaters in the chamber too, but no one on council paid them a whit of attention.

To a rube like me, it sure looked like the fix was in.

Councillor Karen Stintz, God bless her, tried to stop the oncoming train with a motion to refer the matter to a Jan. 8 meeting of the community development and recreation committee so that all those - such as figure skaters and their clubs, old-timers' leagues, long-time users, hockey associations other than the Leaside Girls - could actually have a say. Ms. Stintz, who is on the North Toronto Arena board and one other, actually spoke magnificently, but the mayor and Ms. Davis had their ducks lined up on this one. Ms. Stintz's motion was easily defeated.

The issue was originally scheduled to be heard one morning earlier this week. Representatives from the eight independent arenas, who are fiercely proud of their ability to serve their communities and not cost the beleaguered city taxpayer an arm and a leg, duly showed up in force, hoping to be heard. One North Toronto board member says when he walked in, and saw no one from Leaside Girls Hockey, he wondered where they were. Then they were told the matter had been deferred until last evening; it appears Leaside had been told in advance.

The North Toronto board member stayed that morning just long enough to see the mayor present a petition he'd received from Leaside Girls. It was wrapped up in a neat bow, pink of course - as neatly arranged as this whole thing was from the get-go.

Council will finish its show debate, and vote on the ice allocation policy, this morning.