{"id":2636,"date":"2008-01-07T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2008-01-07T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2008-01-07T10:00:40","modified_gmt":"2008-01-07T14:00:40","slug":"is-it-time-for-party-politics-at-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/01\/07\/is-it-time-for-party-politics-at-city-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time for party politics at city hall?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

During all the hullabaloo over bringing in the land transfer and vehicle registration taxes — not to mention the outrage that ensued when Mayor David Miller ordered cutbacks after the taxes were deferred — a number of right-wing councillors complained about their inability to access information and play an active role in the decision making process at city hall. In December, I surveyed councillors from across the political spectrum to try to get a sense of what the problem was. On one hand, council’s right wing had just succeeded in providing Miller with his biggest challenge to date — whether the taxes would actually pass was anyone’s guess for a while. On the other hand, the right’s track record since Miller came in to power hasn’t been all that impressive — city hall’s uncoordinated \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unofficial opposition\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appeared to be doing little more than just saying no to many of Miller’s proposals. <\/p>\n

My interviews led to the article, The Rising Right<\/a>, in the current issue of Eye Weekly<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Will 2008 be the year that Miller’s fiercest critics start doing more than just saying no to the ideas that the mayor and his allies bring forward? \u00e2\u20ac\u00a8\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8Not likely, say councillors from across the political spectrum. Of course, the reasoning behind their answers depends on who you talk to. Some say that it’s the way city hall works that prevents councillors who usually oppose the mayor from being effective. Others argue that Miller’s most vocal opponents just don’t know how to work city hall. If a strong opposition is vital for a healthy democracy, neither explanation bodes well for Torontonians. Either we have a dysfunctional government, where avenues for ideas that may not mesh with the mayor’s have been closed off, or a good number of councillors — specifically those who are supposed to be providing alternatives during these financially trying times — simply don’t know how to do their job. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a8<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since I collected more information than I had space for in the paper, I plan to blog more on the subject this week. Kicking off the follow up to the article is a post on where Councillor Mike Del Grande stands.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the things that frequently came up during my interviews that I’d like to investigate and mull over more is the idea of bringing party politics to city hall (this should culminate in a separate post or article at some point). A number of councillors say that party politics is where we’re heading (in fact, many argue that it already exists, but it’s a party of one: the NDP). Some expressed that this change (which would need Queen’s Park approval) would be terrible for the city, distancing political representatives more from their constituents and narrowing the diversity of voices that contribute to decisions made. Other’s said that party politics would help provide the checks and balances a city the size of Toronto now needs. I’m curious what Spacing readers think — would party politics be good for city hall?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During all the hullabaloo over bringing in the land transfer and vehicle registration taxes — not to mention the outrage that ensued when Mayor David Miller ordered cutbacks after the taxes were deferred — a number of right-wing councillors complained about their inability to access information and play an active role in the decision makingContinue reading “Is it time for party politics at city hall?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4003,"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":[2],"tags":[408,425,423,426,1435,316,19],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-councillor","tag-david-miller","tag-eye-weekly","tag-mayor","tag-mike-del-grande","tag-queen","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs it time for party politics at city hall? 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