Results tagged “cliffjenkins”

As Torontoist reported recently, City Council has been considering a local food procurement policy, which would mandate increasing the proportion of food that city departments purchase from GTA farmers. Though the proposal that made it to council was substantially more modest than the version first proposed by city staff, it too faced some resistance. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong seemed rather worried that the policy would lead to children in daycare being denied oranges, for instance. So great was his concern that he felt compelled to introduce a motion (ruled out of order by Mayor Miller) that the city first implement the policy at City Hall rather than in daycare centres, presumably so that councillors could show solidarity with the toddlers as they too went without their oranges at lunch. Interested citizens everywhere will be relieved to learn that the local procurement policy passed easily, and staffers assured the anxious councillor that oranges would remain available nonetheless. In even better news for local food advocates, Councillor Jenkins (possibly acting on the recommendation of the Toronto Environmental Alliance) successfully introduced an amendment calling for the city to investigate the feasibility of setting a target of purchasing 50% of its food locally (the rate is currently at about 20%).

In a 23-22 vote City Council just defeated a motion that would have declared the TTC an essential service. Essential service designation would have, if approved by the province, prevented TTC members from striking legally. The declaration was originally considered and rejected at a meeting of the Executive Committee under the leadership of Mayor Miller despite widespread public support for the measure. Councillors Jenkins, Palacio, and Thompson have been spearheading a campaign to overturn that decision, collecting signatures and publishing editorials to build support. The major argument in favour: the impact of a TTC strike is economically and socially unsustainable and outweighs the union's reasonable right to strike. The major argument against: declaring the TTC essential is cost-prohibitive (contracts for essential service employees tend to be higher than others); moreover, wildcat strikes and work-to-rule actions would still be possible and have occurred in other jurisdictions where transit services have been declared essential, rendering the designation substantially ineffectual. Both TTC management and the union leadership opposed the declaration, as did Councillors Giambrone and Mihevc, chair and vice-chair of the TTC, respectively. Council did pass motions asking that the province designate the Wheel-Trans division of the TTC essential, and require that the union give 48 hours notice of any strike action.