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Rob Ford's Toronto

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From the National Post:

“But Mr. Del Grande said the media did not give the trip a fair shake.

I personally did not want to go. I went and I got bed bug bites to prove it,” he said. “I was embarrassed for our Canadian media that went down to the States, because it was nothing but negative comments from business leaders in Chicago and from the American press down there that everybody’s concern wasn’t about the mission. It was about what the mayor was going to do and not do, fumble or not fumble,” he said.

Del Grande is such a martyr. Last year he was whining about getting no respect for his efforts on the budget, threatening to give it up, but this round he's still the chief. I wonder how embarrassing it would be for Toronto if it got back to the citizens of Chicago or the Conrad hotel that one of the Toronto politicians returned home complaining - in order to make a political point - about having picked up bed bugs. More embarrassing for us than the behaviour of our media?
 
Does this paragraph from the National Post Article above bother anyone, I'm thinking something fishy is once again going on with the Port Lands Company, financing a trip to Chicago

"Since then, more information has emerged although it still is not clear what, if any, bill there will be to taxpayers once sponsorship revenues are applied. Budget Chief Mike Del Grande said he will pay for the flight and expects sponsorships to cover the rest. George Christopoulos, the mayor’s press secretary, said on Monday “every business delegate paid a fee that included an overhead cost for the mayor’s staff travel.” Invest Toronto, an arms-length agency that gets its revenue from the Toronto Port Lands Company, which gets its revenues from rental leases in the Port Lands, paid for three other city staff. “It could be that there will be very little or even no cost to the city,” said Jackie DeSouza, director of strategic communications for the city on Monday.
 
It opens themselves up to influence peddling, but is it illegal in its own right?

If I were Judge Hackland, I would be worried about the precedent he would set by not following the law and kicking Ford out of office, assuming he does, in fact, find him guilty. It's not his place to find a way for Ford to wiggle out of this. If Ford feels the penalty is unlawful, he is free to challenge the law in court and make that argument. But that isn't Hackland's decision to make.
 
Given Doug Ford's "pricks" outburst (and given how even Jerry Agar and Andy Donato are skewering the Fords in the Sun now), I wonder how long it'll be before either of them does a "Sam McBride" on a fellow councillor, a member of the media, whomever...
 
Michael62:

It's like money laundering, municipal style - you get some arms length ABC to sponsor the trip, claiming that there is no cost to the city, knowing full well that a) the proceeds of these ABCs are supposed to feed back into municipal coffers (e.g. the whole rationale for BuildToronto and 10 York) and b) that said pair having full involvement in the goings of these ABCs (if not the selection of the board member themselves). Is that perverse or what?

AoD
 
It sure is a shell game, which is odd, as it seems so unnecessary.

As for Invest Toronto, from their site: "Invest Toronto is the primary business, sales and marketing corporation for the City of Toronto. The Corporation helps companies access the markets, talent and business resources of Canada's largest city." Their site lists Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Michael Thompson on their board of directors.

The Toronto Portlands Company, from their website: "Toronto Port Lands Company (TPLC) was incorporated as City of Toronto Economic Development Corporation in 1986. ... The corporation was designed to function as a self-financing, arms-length private company wholly-owned by its sole shareholder, the City of Toronto."

I don't much like that they seem to be so chummy with the folks at Invest Toronto that they can say, "Hey pay for these three's trip...after all it's for Investment In Toronto!"

Once again into the murk!

It would have been better if the attendees just billed city hall, before or after, business as usual.
 
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Michael62 said:
Does this paragraph from the National Post Article above bother anyone, I'm thinking something fishy is once again going on with the Port Lands Company, financing a trip to Chicago.
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Yep. I really dislike the whole "not on the taxpayer's dime" talking point. When on city business, which that Chicago trip supposedly was, it should be expected that the city pick up the tab. Anything else smells fishy.
 
Last year the Toronto Port Lands Corporation spent lots of $$$ repairing the rail line that runs from Leslie Street, past the old Hearne station and along Unwin Street to the old Rochester Ferry Terminal. As it had obviously not been used for years I asked them why they were doing this and was told that the TPA would use it. To date it does not look as though any trains have been on the repaired tracks. Clearly that have more money than they need or ??? Supporting City staff to go to Chicago is only the tip of an iceberg.
 
Rob and Rahm were talkin' trash in Chicago.

When Toronto Mayor Rob Ford spent half an hour with Rahm Emanuel last week, they talked trash.

“We were just talking about recycling and garbage, about the way it’s done in Toronto, what we’re doing here, because we want some major reforms,” Emanuel said at the mayors’ joint news conference. “You’re smiling, but that’s something mayors do.”

* * *

Keep in mind, though, that Ford rarely gets good press in Toronto. After the mayor returned from Chicago last week, his brother went on the radio to call the local newsies “pathological liars” and claim he’d been approached by American reporters who asked him, “What is wrong with your media? They’re embarrassing your city.” Which seems unlikely because a) there were no American reporters covering Ford’s visit, and b) American reporters don’t follow local Canadian news.
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ShonTron said:
Yep. I really dislike the whole "not on the taxpayer's dime" talking point. When on city business, which that Chicago trip supposedly was, it should be expected that the city pick up the tab. Anything else smells fishy.
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I feel they are just flaunting their family's wealth. It's like "See, we are so rich, we can pay for my employer's operating expenses!"
 
Toronto Star: Mayor Rob Ford’s administration "compromised" recruitment process for city boards, ombudsman says

Mayor Rob Ford’s administration “compromised†city staff’s ability to recruit candidates for city agencies, boards and commissions, the city’s ombudsman says.

The mayor’s office first delayed, and then rushed, city staff’s vetting process for possible citizen appointees and tried to blunt city-mandated efforts to make the talent pool ethnically diverse, Fiona Crean wrote in her report released Thursday.

Other interference included the mayor’s office ordering staff to put recruitment ads only in only the Toronto Sun and the National Post, not the Toronto Star even though it is the most read newspaper in the GTA.

When staff prepared a draft recruitment ad, the mayor’s office asked them to remove part about encouraging applications from diverse communities. Staff refused.
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Even the Sun is reporting on this: Ombudsman report rips Toronto's public appointments policy/Plagued by interference from mayor's office, report says

At least one councillor is calling for council’s civic appointments committee to be dumped in the wake of a scathing report by the city’s ombudsman.

In her latest report, ombudsman Fiona Crean concludes the city’s public appointments policy wasn’t followed and was plagued by interference from the mayor’s office.

“The failure to (follow the city council-approved policy) was both unreasonable and wrong,†Crean states in her report, released Thursday.

Councillor Adam Vaughan was quick to call for new councillors to be placed on the city committee.

“This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen written about the City of Toronto,†Vaughan said.

He accused “someone in the mayor’s office†of actively trying to undermine the city’s efforts to be an equal opportunity employer.

“When you don’t have an open and fair hiring process and it comes down to who you know and credentials aren’t properly represented and conflicts aren’t properly reported out, it smacks of cronyism,†Vaughan said. “It means they are handing out jobs not just to people connected to ertain ways of thinking, but they are just not placing an emphasis on qualifications.â€
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