Where's Waldo...

George Smitherman’s slippery stance: Levy

While Rocco Rossi offers some meat to chew on, Furious George sneaks around in the fog

By Sue-Ann Levy

Just before noon Wednesday, the George Smitherman for Mayor campaign released a statement saying he was prepared to look at outsourcing some city services to the private sector to help solve Toronto’s fiscal crisis.
At least that’s what I presume the perceived frontrunner meant after coming out of his self-imposed exile to tell another newspaper his policy platform — whenever he deigns to unveil it — will include the dreaded “O” word.
You can say one thing about Smitherman: Whatever he lacks in policy — and believe me the stuff he’s offered up so far has been thin gruel indeed — he makes up for in chutzpah.
Knowing full well that his opponent, Rocco Rossi, was about to unveil his five-point plan on how to make Toronto debt-free to a Board of Trade audience of 800 Wednesday, Smitherman tried to upstage him with a few crumbs of his own — delivered to his official mouthpiece.
Never mind that during his namby-pamby maiden speech to a similar board luncheon last Dec. 11, the closest reference he made to doing business differently was about looking at Alternative Financing and Procurement to help pay for infrastructure renewal.
He muttered something about taking a “hard look at what the city does, why it does it and whether it should continue to do it” during the subsequent press scrum.
But there was no mention of outsourcing unless it was hidden in his promises to make “job creation” in Toronto his top priority.
So Rossi was right on the money when he remarked Wednesday that he was happy to “welcome the recent conversion” of Smitherman to his way of thinking on the outsourcing issue.
Where’s Waldo?
“It’s interesting that we’re here at the Board of Trade because this was one of the last confirmed sightings of George in his ‘Where’s Waldo Stand on the Issues’ campaign ... today he got religion,” Rossi said to boisterous applause.
That’s the point.
While Rossi’s bones may need some more meat, his language somewhat erudite and some of his assumptions a tad naive, at least he’s delivering some meat to citizens who are turned off by the David Miller regime and have tuned out City Hall.
At least he’s offering a platform of change to those who are fed up with the city’s crushing debt and seven years of fiscal negligence and overspending.
At least he’s treating this campaign as a 10-month job interview, instead of riding on the coattails of his self-perceived record.
Which is more than I can say for Smitherman to date. If I were the former deputy premier, I’d be very careful about pushing his record too much, given his direct oversight of the $1-billion eHealth scandal.
In fact there was very little I could argue with about what Rossi had to say to reduce the city’s debt. Many of the proposals were those I’d raised in the past few years.
Hiring freeze
He promised to immediately introduce a hiring freeze — not the kind of hiring freezes put in place by City Hall that have seen pages and pages of “necessary” jobs posted on the city’s online job board each month.
He talked about opening up city services, like waste collection, not just to outsourcing but to managed competition — where the unions compete with the private sector. He said that would help create the pressure needed to bargain hard in contract talks.
Rossi spoke about tackling the city’s Fair Wage office, which mandates that all those firms doing business with the city have to pay union wages. I’d like to hear more about that.
He also said he’d “clean house” at City Hall, wherever that’s needed.
“If you don’t do that, you tie both hands behind your back,” he said.
At least he’s raising the bar in this mayoralty race.
Which is more than I can say for Waldo.
George Smitherman, are you listening?
sue-ann.levy@sunmedia.ca

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