(Arianna Perricone)
File it under be careful what you wish for.
Rob Ford asked Torontonians to come down to City Hall and tell him their priorities. Today they did just that, showing up in droves. According to the final speakers list provided by the city clerk, nearly 350 deputants are scheduled to make deputations at the Executive Committee today.
Some councillors, including Giorgio Mammoliti and Denzil Minnan-Wong, have already cast some doubt on the whole public consultation process, suggesting these kinds of sessions attract a self-selected group. But at a press conference today, Ford said he’s listening to all deputants.
“They’re all taxpayers,” Ford said during a lunchbreak presser in his office, but then he went on to observe, as his brother did earlier in the day, that “there are a lot of union folks.” So what kind of deputants has Ford’s open invitation attracted so far?
Out of 343 deputants, only eight are clearly identified as representing a union or labour organization, including the TTC and Toronto Public Library unions. There are nearly 20 speakers who are identified as belonging to educational institutions, including student groups and university presidents. The meeting was not moved to council chambers despite two overflow rooms full of deputants and spectators, and seating in City Hall’s foyer.
Prior to today’s meeting, Ford had already targeted grants such those provided under Toronto’s Community Partnerships and Investment Program as one place to start cutting. He confirmed this today, saying, “I’ve never been in favour of handing out free money. If you don’t have $50 million, you can’t hand out $50 million.”
The possibility of cuts to the city’s granting program is what attracted deputants from the Toronto HIV/AIDS Network and Jeff Melanson, the mayor’s own arts advisor. Melanson said there’s a problem of perception that leads to grants being called free money.
“If you’re reviewing a billion dollars [in the city budget] most of it is direct line items for things the city is doing. Then there’s money that you’re giving it away to other organizations,” he said. “Cities have created this arms-length relationship in how they disseminate grants and it creates a vulnerability in a situation like this, because city staff isn’t the one deciding who gets funding.”
In his deputation, Melanson pointed out that for every dollar the city gives in the form of grants to arts organizations it creates $17.75 in economic activity. He recommended the city maintain the current level of arts grants and strike a task force to review the theatres it owns.
Deputants who brought their children or have disabilities were given priority this morning. One of the most impassioned deputations came from Emily Green, a blind woman who spoke about the difficulty of using transit.
“Wheel-Trans discriminates against the blind and the deaf-and I’m fed up,” she said, since Wheel-Trans does not offer service to blind people. She suggested that instead of a Metropass administered by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind monies be redirected simply to make the TTC more accessible.
Sue Robinson spoke in defence of the Toronto Public Library. She got choked up during her speech, as she talked about how books helped her escape a difficult childhood.
“Mr. Mayor, I’m sure there’s a book in a library somewhere that helped make you who you are today,” she said.
The public gallery broke out into raucous applause at a few moments during the deputations. One of the warmest receptions went to Mary T. Hynes.
“I’m a senior. I live in North York and I have some modest proposals,” she said, delivering a deadpan satire calling for the closure of all libraries, the removal of streetcars and other car-impediments. When Hynes was finished, Councillor Adam Vaughan asked, “That was some great creative writing: are you Margaret Atwood?”
Hynes smiled, “Yes.”
The meeting is ongoing in Committee Room 1. Follow The Toronto Standard’s @matthewkupfer for the latest.
