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Mammoliti slams door on councillors

Kristyn Wong-Tam is accusing fellow councillor Giorgio Mammoliti of backroom dealing after he allegedly barred her from a meeting of his child care task force Thursday night.

Wong-Tam and Councillor Janet Davis tried to sit in at the task force’s first meeting at city hall, but were apparently asked to leave by the mayor’s staff before it got underway. Wong-Tam says staff were acting on orders from Mammoliti.

“I’ve never been asked to leave a committee room at a meeting at city hall before, and I’ve been involved with civil society at the local level since the days of Mayor Eggleton,” said Wong-Tam. “I don’t think good government will come from closed door meetings and backroom dealings.”

Shortly after being ejected from the committee room, Wong-Tam unleashed a flood of Twitter messages directed at Rob Ford (below), calling on him to live up to his campaign promise of a more open government and admonishing him for allowing Mammoliti to use the mayor’s staff.

Wong-Tam and Davis were also barred from a press conference held in the mayor’s office three weeks ago.

Mammoliti did not return NOW’s request for comment, but told other media outlets he wanted the first meeting of the task force to be free of any political gamesmanship between councillors.

Wong-Tam says she did not want to play an active role in the meeting, but thought she should attend because she sits on the community development committee, which is responsible for delivering childcare. It’s unclear whether the task force is subject to the same bylaws that mandate other, more formal city hall meetings remain open to the public.

Ford appointed Mammoliti to the child care task force back in July. Its goal is to investigate alternative funding models for the child care spaces the city subsidizes, and many observers believe Mammoliti will recommend privatization. Wong-Tam and Davis would strongly oppose that move.

“Whether or not they agree with my politics or I agree with their politics is not the point,” Wong-Tam said. “The point is we have to respect our democratic civil institutions and the tools that give us good government.”

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