ArchiveDecember 2012

By: Metro Canada Published on Fri Dec 28 2012 Twelve months. Fourteen meetings. Thousands of agenda items. Forty-four councillors. One mayor. Way too many incidents where I wanted to smash my head into my desk. Another year of Toronto City Council has come to a close. In the final edition of the Toronto City Council Scorecard for 2012, I've added up the results from four major votes from the...

By: Matt Elliott Metro, Metro Canada Published on Fri Dec 21 2012 The headlines this week made a bold statement, declaring that only one candidate — NDP MP Olivia Chow — could really pose a “serious threat” to Mayor Rob Ford in a by-election that could potentially follow the decision in the mayor's conflict-of-interest case. But I don't buy it. In the right...

By: Matt Elliott Metro, Metro Canada Published on Wed Dec 19 2012 When we last looked at City Hall's proposed 2013 operating budget, the stage was set for an epic battle between Mayor Rob Ford's administration and Police Chief Bill Blair. At issue? Some $21 million needed to balance next year's budget. All eyes were on Chief Blair, who was tasked with finding savings even though...

By: Metro Canada Published on Tue Dec 11 2012 We dipped a toe into the wild world of Toronto's 2013 operating budget last week, discovering that the budget balancing process is a multi-step affair that always — after some combination of scare tactics and yelling — gets back to zero. This week, let's look at the other side of the city's finances: capital. The capital...

By: Metro Toronto Published on Mon Dec 10 2012 The proverbial lump of coal in Toronto’s stocking this year? As much as a half-billion-dollar repair bill for the crumbling Gardiner Expressway. As part of their 2013 budget debate, council is considering ratcheting up their annual maintenance spending on the lakeside highway from $10 million to more than $50 million a year over the next 10 years...