{"id":1768,"date":"2007-04-12T15:42:10","date_gmt":"2007-04-12T19:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1768"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:18:28","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:18:28","slug":"dale-duncan-at-city-hall-april-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/12\/dale-duncan-at-city-hall-april-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Duncan at City Hall: April 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n

A Toronto for all
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next to climate change, social inclusion — or more specifically, ensuring that Torontonians of all backgrounds have a voice in local politics — has been getting a lot of attention at City Hall. In the past three weeks, there have been two panel discussions and one presentation on the topic, but the question remains: are our politicians ready to change the way they do business to make it easier for everyone to participate?<\/p>\n

It’s hard to remain hopeful after witnessing how some Scarborough councillors reacted to a presentation that the Scarborough Civic Action Network (ScarboroughCAN) gave on citizen engagement on March 27. Upon hearing the statistics — that 66 per cent of the Scarborough residents who took part in a recent survey said they felt disconnected from the political process, that 80 per cent wanted more contact with their politicians and that one third felt that their local representatives didn’t reflect their priorities — Councillor Glen De Baeremaeker became downright defensive. He could have asked how ScarboroughCAN managed to bring over 1,000 Scarberians, many of whom didn’t vote in the last election, together for a community summit to talk local politics. He could have said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s great that so many people want to be more involved; now how do we make it happen?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Instead, he was noticeably frustrated, angry and skeptical. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My community has 20 different language groups,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told the presenters. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I almost take offence to the suggestion that I take 20 interpreters [to community meetings]. How could I possibly do that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Some people might say it takes imagination. Others might say that it’s a matter of political will. No one suggested it would be easy.<\/p>\n

Granted, amalgamation has made reaching out to constituents even more challenging. Pre-mega city, there were 106 councillors. Post-mega city, that number dropped to 44, approximately one councillor for every 55,000 residents. Still, if De Baeremaeker isn’t afraid of battling climate change and making Toronto the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153greenest city in the world\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (a challenge many people also view as insurmountable), surely he can find a way to begin tackling this difficult feat.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Social inclusion isn’t about rearranging chairs on the Titanic; it’s about building a new
\nvessel,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Uzma Shakir, executive director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, told the Community Development and Recreation Committee on April 2. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What I suggest to you, as the level of government that is closest to communities, is that rather than creating structures where you expect people to participate, that you actually do the hard work and find out where the communities are at and listen to what they’re saying in the language that they are saying it…. Don’t look at the term social inclusion like it’s an easy thing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Creams and coffees and coffees and creams<\/h3>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can take away my coffees and my creams. Go ahead. I’m still here. I’m still going to get re-elected,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Giorgio Mammoliti in reaction to Paul Ainslie’s suggestion that council scrap free coffee (and creams!) for city councillors. Everyone knows Mammoliti doesn’t need no stinking creams and coffees to get re-elected. The councillor blew over $100,000 on his campaign last fall, throwing a lavish fundraising party to get around silly spending limits (according to the rules he shouldn’t have spent more than $22,368 on his campaign). When a Toronto Star reporter told him that Doug Holyday spent under $4,000 on his winning campaign, Mammoliti replied, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Doug Holyday doesn’t like to dance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Photograph of Uzma Shakir by Rick Eglinton<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Visit Eye Weekly’s City Hall Blog<\/a> to read regular updates and reports on municipal politics from Spacing’s Managing Editor Dale Duncan and Eye Weekly’s City Editor Edward Keenan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Toronto for all Next to climate change, social inclusion — or more specifically, ensuring that Torontonians of all backgrounds have a voice in local politics — has been getting a lot of attention at City Hall. In the past three weeks, there have been two panel discussions and one presentation on the topic, butContinue reading “Dale Duncan at City Hall: April 12”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759],"tags":[3551,5178,5329,408,331,35,949,3467,352,423,3944,5328,421,636,5327,22085,505,5325,89,5330,19,341,391,5326,5176],"class_list":["post-1768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-city-editor","tag-city-hall-blog","tag-community-development-and-recreation-committee","tag-councillor","tag-dale-duncan","tag-dale-duncan-columns","tag-doug-holyday","tag-edward-keenan","tag-executive-director","tag-eye-weekly","tag-giorgio-mammoliti","tag-glen-de-baeremaeker","tag-managing-editor","tag-ontario","tag-paul-ainslie","tag-politics","tag-reporter","tag-rick-eglinton","tag-scarborough","tag-south-asian-legal-clinic-of-ontario","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-usd","tag-uzma-shakir","tag-visit-eye-weekly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDale Duncan at City Hall: April 12 - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/12\/dale-duncan-at-city-hall-april-12\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dale Duncan at City Hall: April 12 - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Toronto for all Next to climate change, social inclusion — or more specifically, ensuring that Torontonians of all backgrounds have a voice in local politics — has been getting a lot of attention at City Hall. 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