Bring Back the Don on the Chopping Block

OK folks, the fix was in. Despite 80 emails and 42 (28) deputants, the Executive Committee decided to pass the item to axe the advisory committees without any changes or debate. I am particularly disgusted by the manner in which this meeting was run. Of the 12 items up for discussion, the item on the advisory committees was the one that drew the most attention from the public. Yet the executive decided to handle all 11 other items before tackling this one. This meant that all the deputants were left waiting from 9:30 AM to nearly 5:00 PM before they were allowed to speak. 14 of the speakers did not come back after the lunch break but 28 soldiered on waiting for their chance to speak.

When they did speak, few questions were asked. From 5:00 PM to 9:20 PM when they moved the item the most discussion centred on who would stay in the room to maintain quorum (5 councillors) while other members went off to do something else. Only one councillor, Jaye Robinson, chose to discuss the item. She tried to move an amendment to allow for more discussion but this was voted down 6-4 (amazingly, 3 councillors sided with her against the mayor).

I might have been OK with this except that no one in the city consulted with us about whether the Task Force had finished its mandate. It was all done in secret with no discussion.

So now our only alternative for recourse is to hope for a reversal at city council on May 17. Some recent goings on at council gives us at least a faint hope that opponents of the mayor will must enough backing to save us. If this matters to you, write or contact your local councillor and let them know how you feel about this.

More on this later.