Preville on Politics

Rob Ford's campaign of parsimony goes for naught

Posted on April 23, 2007 by Philip Preville

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This just in: City council approved its $7.8 billion budget intact at noon Monday. In so doing, they have pretty much drained the city's reserve funds, which they have relied upon heavily for the past four years. They also voted down more than 40 proposed amendments put forth by Councillor Rob Ford (Ward 2 - Etobicoke North), most of which were aimed at city councillors' job perks, such as free parking and free entry to the Toronto Zoo. Ford regularly refuses such perks, and he claimed a total of $0.00 in office expenses in 2006 while other councillors claimed in excess of $50,000. (Every councillor has an annual expense budget of $53,000.)

Interestingly, his proposal to can councillors' free passes at municipal golf courses lost on a tie vote. (Mayor David Miler voted in favour of this particular motion, but it still fell shy of the majority it needed to pass.) Expect lots of indignation in tomorrow's press: the city is fast approaching bankruptcy, but would not cede a single one of its perks. It's hard not to raise an eyebrow at an NDP-controlled council that refuses to give up the links, which is not merely the leisure of the wealthy class, but is an environmental sin to boot.

Ford's lonely campaign of parsimony continues.

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Charlie March 12, 2008 at 10:50 p.m.

White Power!!!


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Philip Preville

Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.


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