I’m not sure if that was amazement or stunned denial on the faces of the mayor’s supporters in the council chamber Tuesday morning (March 8). But no one saw this coming: Rob Ford’s first notable defeat on a vote at council.
It’s not quite the Ides of March for Ford. The vote in question was on a procedural matter, a motion by Ford’s deputy, Doug Holyday, to bring the matter of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) and the highly publicized resignations of its board last week over some $100,000 in spending irregularities before council.
As a last-minute add-on to the council agenda, Holyday’s motion to oust the remaining members of the board – two tenant reps and Councillors Raymond Cho and Maria Augimeri are refusing to resign – required a two-thirds majority vote to officially be tabled for discussion. It lost 26-16.
The Ford team moved quickly to contain the brush fire the vote sparked among media types.
Maybe the vote wasn’t such a surprise to the Ford forces after all. Councillor Pam McConnell noted that members of the mayor’s staff were making their presence felt in the council chamber, perhaps trying to whip some votes on the issue – not a success, apparently.
But a plan was quickly hatched to put Holyday’s motion before an emergency meeting of the executive committee later in the day. When deputants signed up by the dozens to make deputations there, the rules were changed again by Ford Co. The matter of the TCHC board would be tabled before a special meeting of council Wednesday (March 9). At press time, the vote on the Holyday motion to abolish the current TCHC board had not been taken. But it’s unlikely the mayor would lose in the new normal at City Hall these days.
Buoyed by polls showing him at higher approval ratings than even during the election, the mayor’s swagger around the chamber has acquired a badass Chicago hitch. Think Leroy Brown.
Ford seemed unaffected by the setback Tuesday, save for one animated exchange with his brother and confidant, Doug, the councillor from Ward 2.
It’s hard to really know what the mayor was thinking, since media requests for comment from His Worship, even from the Ford-friendly Sun, were brushed off by the mayor’s press secretary, Adrienne Batra.
The mayor did send out a tweet. “It’s unfortunate some councillors don’t want to discuss accountability at the TCHC,” he said.
Curious, that bit about accountability, given the odd scene that had taken place in council earlier. Then, the mayor was asked to apologize by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam for comments he made in a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto last week about “garbage” in the public service at City Hall.
Ford refused even to acknowledge the question, leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped on his big tummy as if Wong-Tam didn’t even exist. What, me worry?
Had the lemon-poppyseed muffins with secret “get along” ingredients baked by Councillor Mary Margaret McMahon given the mayor indigestion?
In any event, Holyday, the guy ultimately served up to deliver the official party line on things TCHC–related, told me there’s no truth to the theory being floated by some on council that the mayor wants tenant reps removed from the TCHC board so he can push his privatization agenda.
The left won another important victory at council. That was for the city to review the reporting policies and procedures of the Office of the Auditor General, Jeffrey Griffiths – yes, the same cat who blew the whistle on the spending habits of some TCHC employees, on Holt Renfrew chocolates, spa days and the like, and unleashed the current controversy swirling around the social housing agency.
Some councillors were tying themselves in knots to avoid suggesting any political motivation on Griffiths’s part in his report on TCHC.
But it hasn’t gone unnoticed either that two of the auditor’s most recent investigations, the one on TCHC and a second on paid duty policing, have mysteriously been leaked to the media before they could be presented to council or the audit committee, as per normal procedure.
Councillor Joe Mihevc, who suggested the review of the auditor’s practices, was not kind in his appraisal of the auditor’s handling of the TCHC report. He thought Griffiths’s comments to the media on his office’s findings bordered on the political, and he characterized them as inappropriate for a civil servant.
At one point, Councillor Adam Vaughan asked Griffiths point blank if he’s ever met with the mayor, or if it’s customary for the auditor to do so before his reports are released.
Griffiths paused to absorb that pointed question before answering in the negative. Vaughan turned to Griffiths as if to emphasize the auditor’s response before firing what sounded like a warning. “If there is a leak traced back to your office, it’s on your watch.” Coincidentally, Griffiths’s contract, which expires in December, and the hiring of an auditor general were separate items up for discussion on this week’s council agenda.
Councillor Mike Del Grande hopped to the auditor’s defence, saying Mihevc and company were conducting an “inquisition” even though some among them were quoted in media reports on the auditor’s findings. Well, that would include Del Grande himself, who appeared on Goldhawk Live Monday night. But we digress.
Councillor Janet Davis put the debate in perspective. “No one is disputing the findings of the auditor’s report. What is very troubling,” she said, is “the flurry of reckless, ad hoc and knee-jerk activity that has taken place based on a leaked report.”
And there’s the interesting question. How would the TCHC episode have unfolded if, say, Griffiths’s report had gone to the audit committee first, as per protocol? And if the TCHC board had not been put in the position of having to call a press conference to respond to a leaked document?
The fact is, the employees responsible for the spending transgressions had already been fired, and the audi-tor’s recommendations had begun to be implemented by TCHC months earlier.
But Ford pounced anyway, demanding the dissolution of the board and choosing to do his talking via the media instead of to the board directly. As former chair David Mitchell said, Ford’s actions made continuing to serve – for him and the other seven citizen members who ultimately resigned – “untenable.”
That’s democracy Ford-style.
enzom@nowtoronto.com
