You could be charitable and say Doug Ford chooses his battles.
Last Thursday the Etobicoke councillor chaired the budget consultation at the Scarborough Civic Centre, and observed a sea of unhappy deputants, mostly without making a peep. It’s interesting what he did react to, though.
He was shocked, for example, to learn that there are no outdoor hockey rinks in the area. “I’ve been saying for years that the people of Scarborough have been ignored, they won’t be ignored anymore,” he said departing from his general silence.
So what about everyone else who came with a beef?
About 50 Scarberians took the mike and made pleas for Transit City, preserving arts funding and better childcare. Some were well-received, particularly by attending councillors Shelley Carroll, Paul Ainslie, Ron Moeser, Janet Davis and Adam Vaughan, who asked a myriad of questions.
Major opposition was raised against Rob Ford’s plan for subways, service cuts to the city’s underused bus routes (many of which are in Scarborough), and a severe chop to the Tenant Defense Fund.
Walied Khogali, a young activist, argued strongly in support of transit city and light rail because “it’s been years in the planning and it’s an allocation of our taxes in an efficient manner.” He pointed out that, according to the Metrolinx report, the LRT will serve 600,000 riders, while the proposed Ford plan would only serve a tenth of that.
Deputants also stressed that low-income residents, shift workers and those with multiple jobs are the people who use transit outside of rush hours and they will suffer most from service reductions.
“Many of these routes are in places where there are no subways, so it’s important to keep these routes intact,” said the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians’ (CASSA), Neethan Shan.
Shan also argued against proposed cuts to community housing funding and a $100,000 cut from the Tenant Defense Fund. “Many low-income families are living as tenants and have limited access to legal or financial support to challenge the landlords,” said Shan.
Other residents, like Colin Hughes, from the Children’s Aid Society, highlighted service cuts throughout the budget.
“Proposals to freeze grants to community and arts programs, increase recreation user fees and add users fees in 21 low income neighbourhoods and move homeless adults from shelters to motels all look like service-cutting and not at all like cutting waste,” said Hughes.
There were also some innovative proposals for city resources that have outlived their local usefulness. Samuel Getachew – who ran for council in Ward 43, Scarborough East, but lost to Paul Ainslie – suggested the city sell used ambulances so they could be transported overseas to countries like Ethiopia.
“There are so many countries that really deserve and need an ambulance from the city of Toronto. To be an immigrant in this country is to have a responsibility to go back to your roots and make a difference. I hope we can save lives as much as we want to save money,” he said.
Getachew found a supporter in Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker – who has previously done development work in Ethiopia. “So, instead of selling a used ambulance for $5000 to the junkyard, we would sell it to you for $5000 and the city taxpayer wouldn’t lose any money. Instead of melting the car down for its irons, you would raise your own money to ship it to Ethiopia,” he offered.
Childcare got airtime, too, as the Toronto Coalition for Better Childcare’s Jane Mercer pointed out that 18,000 parents are currently waiting for a subsidy, and just as many for an actual space.
“We are in danger of losing childcare subsidies next year without immediate intervention from McGuinty’s government and we will continue to support the city in its request for provincial funding in the spring budget,” said Mercer.
But tempers flared when deputant Mai Cheng implied the city was padding its share of employees compared to the province and proposed cutting the city’s 45,000 staff members by one-third.
She got a scolding from a heated Carroll. “The province doesn’t deliver city services, such as the Ontario works program, transit, police, fire services, water services, emergency medical services, transportation and snow removal,” the councillor retorted.
And then there was Ford who emerged from his state of passivity to address Scott Harrison, president of the Scarborough firefighter’s hockey league, here to complain that city-run facilities were unaffordable.
“Thank you very much for your services as a firefighter,” Ford threw out there.
There was one final remark from the chair.
Joe Mandat, an elderly Scarborough resident – and former immigrant himself – angered some audience members with his unabashed criticism of the current “immigrant problem.”
“Canada started because immigrants came here and worked, there were no handouts or benefits, and we didn’t have computers and cell phones to waste time on,” he said.
“[Now] you have no examination, they come to Canada with problems, no sooner they step on our land, you can’t get rid of them,” said Mandat.
“Do we have to listen to this shit?” an audience member shouted.
Doug Ford tried to settle the room down – but instead of remaining neutral, he offered his sympathy to the old man:
“Thank you, we hear your passion,” he said. “We understand this is how the country was built. Some folks think there’s a printing machine that prints money down at city hall.”
