Preville on Politics

The Toronto Lexicon, Entry No. 4

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Philip Preville

Budget day (bud’jet daë) n 1. The day of the year when a government discloses how it spends its money, following which, for the remainder of the year, it would prefer to change the subject. 2. The day of the year when political talk is cheapest, as media outlets force-feed the airwaves with a relentless supply of information and opinion that far outstrips demand, and that clarifies little about the workings of government. 3. The day of the year when money can fix problems for a generation until next year. 4. A day of the year, just like all the others, in which the City of Toronto is short of funds.

The Toronto Lexicon is an ongoing project by this blog to provide precise and accurate definitions of terms as they are used in local political parlance. Tune in for regular additions.

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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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