As ball fumbled at city hall, mayor tackles Ford
Toronto city councillors spend so much time muddying each other with gutter politics that they miss the leaching away of precious revenue.
Reporter Paul Moloney reveals in today's Star that huge amounts have been lost at city hall because finance officials sat on development fees – $42 million last year – instead of placing them in an interest-bearing account.
The interest revenue would have topped $1.5 million last year, enough to keep skating rinks, recreation centres and libraries open, even in tight financial times.
"With that kind of money you could ice a lot of rinks – even in the summer," said Councillor Brian Ashton.
The revelation about money management is studiously hidden in an impenetrable report approved at city council this week. So obtuse is the finance document, most councillors probably still don't know what it is they approved.
It took steady rookie Adrian Heaps, struggling to remain unencumbered by the partisan alliances that mark city council, to discover the lost opportunity and get it fixed.
But while Mayor David Miller and his backers were busy yesterday lambasting one council adversary for an obvious faux pas, they might have spent the time looking for more millions presumably buried in the $8.2 billion budget.
Miller lit into Councillor Rob Ford yesterday – smashing the gadfly with a rhetorical bazooka because Ford made ham-fisted comments about "workaholic Orientals," comments some found offensive.
During council debate Wednesday about store openings on statutory holidays, Ford bolstered his pro-shopping views by pointing to what he said was the legendary working habits of Asians.
Meaning it as a compliment, no doubt, Ford said: "Go to the Orient ... go to Hong Kong, okay... you want to see workaholics? Those Oriental people work like dogs. They work their hearts out ... that's why they're successful in life ... I'm telling you, Oriental people, they're slowly taking over ... They're hard, hard, workers."
Now, it's politically incorrect and archaic to say Oriental instead of Asian; and to say "they're slowly taking over" is a no-no to most clear-thinking individuals, much less a city councillor in diverse Toronto.
But was Ford being malicious or racist? Unlikely.
When Ford intends to harm, he's usually excruciatingly impolitic and direct – a trait that inexplicably endears him to some constituents, but earns him disrepute elsewhere.
Remember his "waste of skin" put-down of one colleague? Or the slur against an Italian councillor? His drunkenness and profanity at a Maple Leaf hockey game required a public apology. In other words, you don't have to go looking for reasons to slam the guy.
However yesterday, some councillors, including the mayor, couldn't resist. After all, Ford can't resist pointing out their wasteful spending habits.
"Outrageous and absolutely unacceptable," was how Miller described Ford's comments, a day later. "It's wrong. An elected official should know better. He has to start by profusely apologizing. It's unacceptable in this city."
It is understandable that the majority of councillors hate Ford and salivate at the prospect of finding something to discredit the man. But piling on needlessly when the maverick meant no harm is misplaced anger.
Of course, the boorish Ford and his supporters only added fuel to the fire yesterday when humility would have been the appropriate response. He can't help himself. Wish that council could help us by looking after our (millions of) loonies.
Royson James usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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