In an opening salvo to a potential mayor's race next year, Councillor Karen Stintz attacked Mayor David Miller over his leadership, saying city hall has been too focused on "bags, bottles and bicycles."
With the three-week civic workers strike as a backdrop, Stintz told about 150 people at an Economic Club of Canada luncheon that Miller hasn't gotten the city's financial house in order despite adding a whole slew of new taxes like the land transfer tax and vehicle tax.
"We need to treat Torontonians as adults and stop playing big brother," she said.
While she used the slogan, "I want a Toronto that works," she declined to say whether she was in or out of the 2010 race.
Newly elected Tory leader Tim Hudak was on hand to support Stintz, though he too declined to weigh in on whether she would be a better mayor than his former boss, John Tory, who is mulling a reprise of the 2003 race against Miller.
Hudak said he was a constituent and proud to have put a Stintz sign on his lawn. "There are a lot of good quality right of centre candidates who will be thinking about taking on the mayor's position," he said. "I think it's still some time before we see exactly what horses are in the race."
Also in the audience was Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce, long-time nemesis of Miller, over expanding service at the Toronto island airport.
