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Newsstand: March 26, 2015
#AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik. If that reference is lost on you, consider yourself a blessed human being. In the news: tempers flare at a meeting of the executive committee, Mayor Tory tells the premier to get on with municipal election reform, and UofT hopes that binding arbitration will end the teaching assistant strike.
There once was a time where Torontonians thought that the election of Mayor John Tory heralded a new era in municipal politics, one where we could expect a more courteous and well-behaved city council. Silly Torontonians, you should know better. An executive meeting on Wednesday devolved rather quickly into a series of heated exchanges. It all got off to a rocky start when Mayor Tory issued a reminder to councillors to treat all deputants with respect. The warning was chiefly aimed at Councillor Jim Karygiannis (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt), who had been combative with deputants at a licensing committee meeting on Tuesday. Later, Councillor David Shiner (Ward 24, Willowdale) took offence when Mayor Tory shut down his questioning of a Woodbine Entertainment Group executive because it travelled too far off topic from the motion being considered by the committee. Since no executive committee meeting would be complete without a piece of performance art by Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West), he obliged by issuing a press release (of sorts) announcing that he would present Mayor Tory with a footlong sub from Subway that symbolized his request to have council revisit the idea of building a subway on Finch Avenue. Same as it ever was.
Mayor Tory did not limit the scope of his sparring to City Hall and sent a little bit of snark over to Premier Kathleen Wynne after she told reporters that she would wait to hear from Toronto’s city council before making any legislation reforms to allow for ranked balloting during future municipal elections. Tory reminded the premier that the issue had been voted on at council two years ago, saying, “Don’t have endless discussions, endless ping pong games where nothing gets done . . . would you please get on with this?” A spokesperson for Premier Wynne later admitted that Mayor Cranky Pants had a point and acknowledged the City’s vote on the issue. The spokesperson also said that other municipalities needed time to consider the reform as well.
University of Toronto president Meric Gertler has requested that binding arbitration put an end the four-week teaching assistant strike. On Sunday, CUPE 3902 members rejected a tentative deal from the university that offered a proposed wage increase of 3.75 per cent and tuition assistance for post-graduate students. Gertler said that representatives for the university have reached out to a provincial mediator to seek agreement from the union to begin the proceedings.