Or gullibility?

One might come to either conclusion, in the wake of the release of the report from the Mayor’s Panel on Fiscal Sustainaiblity last week.  In my February 23 City Views column, I came down in favour of the former. But given Mayor David Miller’s rather schizoid reception of the private sector outside critique of city government, it’s a lot less clear.

Miller’s first assessment of the report was to tout it as a vindication of government in Toronto. But he followed that by unambiguously accepting the entirety of the report, which also included some sharp criticism of the way the city runs: a dysfunctional political culture,  inefficient labour relations, and hundreds of millions of dollars in untapped assets were just a few of the areas the panel focussed on.

Charitably, one might think that the mayor’s initial reaction was an exercise in glass-half-full politics, to wash down the bitter pill that he would have to swallow in having to deal with those recommendations that might not jibe with his own agenda.

Less charitably, one might suspect that a year from now, the mayor will only recall this report for the good things it says and conveniently forget all the bad, and privately thank the panelists for helping him get the land transfer tax and vehicle registration tax approved last year at council.

Obviously, we’re going to have to watch the mayor closely over the next month or two to see which interpretation is the right one. If the report disappears - well, charity loses.

To make this into more than an exercise in political spin, the report will need a champion - and it will need the support of council. The best way to do this is to embed the recommendations in a strategic plan - something the city currently lacks - for the remainder of the term.  Miller shouldn’t waste time in seeing this take place. Establishing a special committee of council to go through the report and draft that plan, for approval by council within the calendar year, would go a long way to showing some sincerity.