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Newsstand: December 2, 2014
Ladies and gentlemen, Zanta is back. He made an impromptu appearance on Global News last week, crashing a live interview by reporter Mark Carcasole. While his days of shirtless subway push-ups appear to be over, his Santa hat was out in all its glory. In the news: Shaun Chen is the new chair of the TDSB, left-leaning councillors say they have been shut out of Mayor Tory’s executive, and new Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey calls for further investigation into the city.
Call it a fresh start. As it continues to face allegations of internal disruption and feuding, the Toronto District School Board has elected a new chair. Shaun Chen replaces Mari Rutka, who was elected earlier this year following the resignation of Chris Bolton amid allegations of a questionable spending. Chen, who has served as the board’s vice-chair since 2011, says that transparency is critical to his new mandate, as is community building. Sheila Cary-Meagher, Trustee for Ward 16, will replace Chen as vice-chair of the board. “We have an opportunity, as a new board, to build a new sense of trust, a sense of renewal and a pathway for us to move forward and really make change in the system,” says Chen.
With the Ford era of municipal politics over (at least for now), some left-leaning city councillors are voicing concerns that they have been largely shut out of newly minted Mayor John Tory’s executive gang. The new executive committee is made up of a variety of former Rob Ford supporters and fiscal conservatives including new Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East), who Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) labelled as an ultra-conservative and divisive personality. Wong-Tam says that Mayor Tory was warned that Minnan-Wong was the wrong choice for the job, which he will symbolically share with Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), Glenn DeBaeremaeker (Ward 43, Scarborough Centre), and Vince Crisanti (Ward 1, Etobicoke North), if approved by council. Still, first-time councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) says that the new administration is about moving forward, regardless of political lines. “With the Ford era over, it’s about respect and decorum, but it’s also about ambitious policy and about city building. So if it’s not right, not left, but forward, prove it,” says Cressy.
Meanwhile, newly elected Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey says that she will ask former provincial auditor general Jim McCarter to review the city’s books. Jeffrey also plans to let Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin launch an investigation as soon as new legislation gives him the power to do so. The announcement came as part of her inauguration on Monday night, after being elected to replace scandal-plagued mayor Susan Fennell. Jeffrey says that the aim of the new reviews is to increase accountability. “Just as the Deloitte review of the previous administration highlighted problems that needed correcting, these reviews should help us identify what needs correcting and will help establish the necessary foundation Brampton needs so we can move forward,” she explains. Jeffrey plans to have McCarter’s audit focus on the city’s revenue and reserves to ensure that the triple-A credit rating it has genuinely reflects its financial health. Bill 8—the provincial act that would give the ombudsman’s office oversight of municipalities—has yet to be passed at Queen’s Park, but Jeffrey has already held preliminary talks to invite Marin to investigate. Her hope is that the report will eventually lead to new processes that lend to greater accountability and confidence in the mayor’s office.