If the first all-nighter at city hall back in July had a fun slumber party atmosphere, the executive meeting currently dragging on into the night is municipal politics in all its gruelling drudgery.
The second time around, there has been no giddy, up-all-night feeling in the halls, no cheeky citizens showing up in pajamas with their teddy bears in tow as there were at the “people’s filibuster.” Instead we’ve seen only a grim but determined parade of Torontonians urging Rob Ford not to gut city services, unsure if he or any of his councillors are listening.
The committee’s first order of business was to reduce the speaking time of each deputant down to two minutes from the normally allotted five, meaning that speakers had to race through their prepared speeches.
At lengthy meetings like this, councillors usually give the impression of only half listening to deputants (perhaps understandable given the sheer volume of speakers), but the way speakers were forced to rush through their remarks Monday made it difficult to view the proceedings as an exercise in dialogue. More like an exercise in let’s get this over with and go home.
Twice the meeting couldn’t continue because less than half the members of the executive had left the room.
Ford’s role was reduced to time-keeper in chief, and throughout the day he stuck to his promise to cut people off at the two minute mark no matter what. In seven hours of deputations, he didn’t ask a single question of a deputant.
One deputant, Miro Wagner, summed up the feelings of many of those who came to speak. “I’ve had to cut out a third of my deputation,” he told the committee. “That’s a preposterous attack on democracy.”
But the mayor defended the process, saying, “How much more democratic can you be? I think this is our tenth meeting.” He cited a figure brought forth by his lieutenant Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, who said a staffer told him 25 per cent of the people who had shown up to speak had already addressed earlier meetings. Mammoliti said executive shouldn’t be forced to listen to the same deputations multiple times.
Arguably, the more interesting action was going on away from the deputations. With Ford’s hopes of carrying out his cost-cutting budget plans resting on a handful of centrists and his ability to maintain unity among his allies, there were hints that the mayor will not be able to avoid making concessions to his opponents.
At the lunchtime media scrum, Ford made a show of unity by posing at the podium flanked by his executive committee. Notably absent were Councillors Michelle Berardinetti and Jaye Robinson, both members of the executive who have recently openly criticized the mayor’s plans for the Port Lands.
Berardinetti and Robinson both told me they were in meetings at lunch and couldn’t make the brief appearance in the mayor’s office, but neither have expressed strong support for Ford’s budget proposals.
There’s reason to believe Ford’s core group of councillors is getting cold feet about backing service cuts.
Robinson said she doesn’t believe the councillors on executive will accept the current raft of cuts without some amendments, and she plans to introduce some amendments of her own.
The mayor himself softened his stance Monday, declaring that he won’t support the closure of libraries, or getting rid of the windrow snow-clearing service for the end of driveways.
The executive meeting is expected to last at least past midnight Monday.
