David Miller | torontolife.com

Rob Ford didn’t have the authority to cancel Transit City (lawyers say so)

(Image: Christopher Drost)

Apparently, it takes more than a mayoral “because I said so” for the city to kill an extensive public transit plan. Rob Ford may have unilaterally declared former Mayor David Miller’s Transit City dead on his first day in office, but Joe Mihevc recently obtained a legal opinion—which was released this morning (Torontoist has the full text)—that contends the mayor had no legal authority to cancel the project in favour of his own plan.

The Informer

Gravy Train Wreck

January 17, 2012 | 1:40 pm

Could Rob Ford end up presiding over a “socialist” budget?

Image: Christopher Drost

By now, even casual observers of city hall will have noticed that the 2012 budget is not gliding through council the way Rob Ford might have hoped. As the proposed budget has moved through various committees, it’s slowly turned from a model of Ford’s brand of fiscal responsibility into—well, we’ll let you know when the budget debate wraps up (with councillors scrambling to save programs and services from the axe, things are in flux). As for the implications for Ford, municipal affairs blogger Matt Elliott lays out the stakes like this: the mayor has branded David Miller and the councillors who supported him as socialists. At the same time, Ford has been bragging that his proposed budget—the one that’s being slowly picked away—features an unprecedented decrease in spending from the previous year. But last-minute changes mean the gap between 2012 and 2011 is rapidly shrinking. Or, to put things in more Fordian terms, we’re slowly creeping from responsible spending to something he might have once called socialist. Oh, the ironies of city hall. Read the entire story [Ford For Toronto] »

The Informer

Gravy Train Wreck

January 9, 2012 | 11:25 am

Toronto’s budget surplus (no, not shortfall) grows by another $8.8 million

The city’s projected budget surplus has grown to $154 million—a nice chunk of change for a metropolis that’s allegedly teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Apparently, much of that extra cash comes from higher-than-expected revenues from the land transfer tax ($96 million), supplementary taxes ($31 million) and not filling staff positions that became vacant. Councillors like Gord Perks are pointing to this news as evidence that the city’s finances aren’t nearly as bad as Rob Ford suggests. Of course, the mayor is already familiar with the power of the surplus—he used the accumulated surplus from the 2009 and 2010 city budgets, care of David Miller and Shelley Carroll, to balance the books last year. Read the entire story [National Post] »

The Informer

Ford Focus

January 6, 2012 | 10:45 am

Does Rob Ford have a real plan for the police (aside from offering his unconditional love and support)?

(Image: Christopher Drost)

By now, you’ve likely heard—over and over and over—about Toronto’s particularly low homicide rate in 2011, which dropped to a 25-year low of just 47 murders, down from 62 in 2010. Sure, the numbers fell on the current mayor’s watch, but over at Spacing Toronto John Lorinc argues credit should actually be given to David Miller, Bill Blair, the provincial Liberals and a unique approach to preventing crime—a touchier, feelier method that wouldn’t resonate with a cop-loving conservative like Rob Ford.

The Informer

From the Print Edition

December 15, 2011 | 2:55 pm

Rob Granatstein: why the city should sell off its assets—slowly but surely

Selling For Dummies

To close the budget gap, Rob Ford wants to sell city assets. Good idea, bad timing. Even a novice real estate investor knows to fix up the house before putting it on the market
By Rob Granatstein | Illustration by Jack Fylan

Cities acquire assets for many reasons. Sometimes a wealthy citizen donates a property, as in the case of High Park; sometimes assets, such as Henry Pellatt’s Casa Loma, are seized when tax bills go unpaid. A city grows to meet the needs of its citizens, adding public housing and office buildings, a zoo (or three), convention centres, highways, police and fire stations, parks, arenas, garbage trucks, landfill sites and libraries.

The Informer

Gravy Train Wreck

December 12, 2011 | 5:00 pm

National Post: stop comparing Rob Ford to Hitler, start charging for stuff

The Post’s Chris Selley would really appreciate it if everyone lay off the comparisons between Mayor Rob Ford and Adolf Hitler. Selley argues some of the larger numbers involved in the budget conversation—like the city surplus or the revenue streams that have been dammed up—are far more important than those pesky proposed $2 user fees. While the fees certainly add up, Selley offers that they’re just a fact of municipal life—heck, even David Miller didn’t oppose them. Read the entire story [National Post] »

The Informer

Ford Focus

November 23, 2011 | 10:55 am

6 Comments

Did Rob Ford run for mayor on a left-wing campaign promise?

Here’s a real knee-slapper: Toronto activist Dave Meslin says Rob Ford ran for mayor on a left-wing political platform. Meslin argues Ford’s campaign vow of no service cuts—a promise he made repeatedly—was a tacit endorsement of services introduced under former Mayor David Miller. Seriously! The Grid’s Edward Keenan has even taken up the argument, pointing out that while there were likely plenty of people who knew that service cuts and tax cuts would go hand in hand, the amount of opposition to Ford’s cuts quest (like the all-night executive committee deputations) suggests some people are still surprised by the proposed reductions. Keenan notes that many voters simply aren’t that informed, particularly on the nuances of municipal budgeting. So whether or not Ford intentionally ran a left-wing campaign—which he definitely didn’t—to some he still seems to be breaking a left-wing promise. Read the entire story [The Grid] »

The Informer

Political Whoas

November 9, 2011 | 5:40 pm

City document outlines stringent demands to unions, work stoppage pretty much inevitable

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the city’s list of demands to unionized workers “amounts to a fundamental overhaul of the municipality’s relationship with public-sector unions.” In other words, it’s long, painful and completely unsurprising. So naturally, observers are speculating (as they have been all week) that the city is on the brink of lengthy lockout—because negotiations clearly aren’t going too smoothly.

CLICK HERE TO START THE STORY »

The Informer

From the Print Edition

November 9, 2011 | 8:45 am

15 Comments

The Loaded List: we catalogue the astronomical salaries of Toronto’s ruling class

The Loaded List
It’s not particularly polite to ask rich people what they earn. But tact is overrated, and we wanted to know, so we asked anyway. When they told us to get lost, we got sneaky. We dug up disclosure documents, annual reports and the tax filings of charitable organizations. When those trails went dry, we surveyed industry insiders who know what other people make—headhunters and consultants and analysts and colleagues—and asked for an educated guess. After hundreds of calls and emails and deep-throat meetings in dark alleys, we phoned the high earners back and told them what we found. Again, with feeling, they told us to piss off.

What follows is our shamelessly gawking, as-precise-as-possible examination of the highest-paid people in the city’s top industries. When the information was available, we included bonuses and perks and, in some cases, exercised stock options. Our findings verified that a high earner in finance is almost always on a different plane (a private jet, usually) than a high earner in, for example, the lowly arts. One major discovery: Heather Reisman took a pay cut. One truth reconfirmed: no matter how rich you are, there’s always someone who makes a helluva lot more.

VIEW BY INDUSTRY » GOLD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT FUND MANAGERS SPORTS SHOP OWNERS MEDIA LANDLORDS BAY STREET PUBLIC SERVANTS

VIEW BY SALARY » SEE 69 OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE CITY’S TOP INDUSTRIES, SORTED BY SALARY FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST

The Dish

Aprons & Icons

November 3, 2011 | 5:29 pm

Zane Caplansky flaunts his delicious meats on Dragon’s Den, walks away empty-handed

A proud Zane Caplansky outside his first food truck (Image: Caroline Aksich)

Toronto diners watching Dragon’s Den last night got to see a familiar face: Zane Caplansky, owner of the eponymous College Street deli renowned for its smoked meat sandwiches. Before divvying up some luscious-looking sammies, he pulled a tarp off Thundering Thelma, his big blue food truck, and made his pitch. Caplansky described his vision of an entire fleet of Thelmas, offering up 15 per cent of his company for $350,000.

The Informer

Gravy Train Wreck

November 2, 2011 | 9:25 am

2 Comments

Rob Ford still struggles with math, honesty

The mayor (possibly) pondering arithmetic and telling the truth (Image: Christopher Drost)

Since being swept into office on a wave of David Miller bashing, Rob Ford hasn’t stopped hammering on his predecessor’s supposedly reckless squandering of taxpayer dollars. The Globe and Mail has provided cause to cast some doubt on Ford’s claims about his administration’s savings, however, pointing out that much of the mayor’s apparent fiscal prudence is the product of clever budget rejigging that paints him as more of a penny-pincher than he really is.

The Informer

Ford Focus

October 26, 2011 | 5:05 pm

Rob Ford marks the first anniversary of his election with news that he’s only the second-least popular mayor in the country

Don’t worry, Rob, at least you didn’t rank last (Image: Christopher Drost)

A new poll finds that Hazel McCallion, she of the conflict-of-interest fame, is Canada’s most popular mayor, while Rob Ford sits in second-to-last place (a cruel gift from the folks at Forum Research Inc. on the same week of the anniversary of his election victory). Because Gérald Tremblay is the only mayor less popular than Ford, we’re tempted to suggest that only a major scandal could knock Ford down any further—but hey, look how things worked out for Hazel.

The Informer

From the Print Edition

October 26, 2011 | 10:05 am

31 Comments

Philip Preville: Why the city should start killing raccoons (kindly, of course)

Raccoons are everywhere, and at all times of the day. They’re a menace to private property and public health. It’s time we stopped pretending the city is a wildlife preserve
By Philip Preville | Illustration by Byron Eggenschwiler

Kill Them Kindly

It is an uncomfortable truth about Toronto: when it comes to raccoons, murderous thoughts abound. Most of us would never act upon them, but on a Wednesday morning in early June, Dong Nguyen, a 53-year-old west-end resident, did. Nguyen allegedly took his garden spade to a litter of baby raccoons, injuring one and killing another. The incident and its polarizing aftermath were widely reported on, and Nguyen had at least as many sympathizers as detractors. Posters appeared around Bloor and Lansdowne featuring Nguyen’s perp-walk photo and the message “Get out of our neighbourhood you disgusting animal torturer.” Other area residents held an anti-raccoon rally. Raccoons were the Talk Radio Topic of the Week.

The Informer

It's Miller Time

October 25, 2011 | 4:15 pm

6 Comments

David Miller talks Transit City (again); we listen longingly

Image: Rokashi

The tale of David Miller’s life after Toronto politics remind us in a weird way of a relationship where someone breaks up with their partner only to become wistful when that partner goes on to date more beautiful people, get married, get tenure, whatever. Or something like that. After Rob Ford ran a campaign based essentially on painting Miller as a symbol of entitlement and reckless spending, the former mayor has returned to his old law firm and landed a gig at New York University. He also spends more time with his kids and walks his dog (on second thought, maybe Miller’s post-political life is more like this). But although he’s stayed fairly quiet on municipal politics since leaving office, Miller can’t seem to stay quiet on that one issue that got away: Transit City.