Preville on Politics

Dwight Duncan: the Santa of Queen's Park

Posted on December 14, 2007 by Philip Preville

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Someone had to bring Christmas to city hall this year, and, since it sure wasn’t going to be me, thank heaven for jolly Dwight Duncan. His transit funding announcement has lifted everyone’s spirits, including the press gallery staff at the Globe and Mail, who’ve written an unprecedentedly sunny story.

They may have blown their wad too quickly, though: things could get even rosier because there may still be more uploading in the works. All of which means the civic discussion might actually get off the topic of money and move on to other issues. Such as the ones I raised in that deplorable toilet-bowl story of mine: staff gapping, contract oversight, city planning, collective bargaining. A balanced budget doesn’t make these problems go away, though it can help fix them, provided someone makes them an issue. No thanks required. Just doing my job.

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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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