Expansion Of TTC Critical

If for no other reason than it would allow City Of Toronto councilors and the mayor to visit some of the surrounding municipalities in the GTA and get a lesson in fiscal restraint.

Hazel sets an example
April 03, 2007

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion should be commended for voluntarily taking a $32,000 pay cut. And other politicians double-dipping into public funds should follow her example and do likewise.

In addition to regular council pay, many local leaders in the Greater Toronto Area collect thousands of extra dollars for being board members at electrical utilities owned or controlled by their municipality.

Serving on the board of Enersource in Mississauga was worth $32,000 to McCallion. That money was in addition to her $164,000 yearly income as mayor and Peel Region councillor. Also reaping a reward for sitting on the hydro board is Mississauga councillor Nando Iannicca.

But Enersource is not some outside company that should have to pay for local politicians' insights. Formerly called Mississauga Hydro, it was created in 2000 and is 90 per cent owned by the City of Mississauga.

In contrast to the windfall gathered at Enersource, the three Toronto councillors who sit on Toronto Hydro's board are paid nothing for this service. And Oshawa Hydro has no councillors on its board.

Mississauga politicians, however, are not alone in cashing in. Payments go to councillors sitting on hydro boards serving Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Ajax and Clarington.

In each case, they collect extra money for doing their city's business on a municipal utility board. That is correctly deemed double-dipping.

Mississauga Councillor Carolyn Parrish moved last week to cut local politicians' hydro board pay to $15,000. That motion was deferred, pending a consultant's review.

To her credit, McCallion did not wait for further study and unilaterally surrendered this payment, conceding it is indeed "double-dipping."

Municipalities should follow Oshawa's example and drop politicians from local hydro boards, or take their cue from Toronto, where serving on such boards elicits no extra pay.

And reform need not take a long time. McCallion's action shows that a principled leader can immediately bring about change simply by doing the right thing.