Ashton’s off the Executive Committee
It had to happen sometime, and in politics, the best time is often the Friday before a long weekend in August. Brian Ashton, the Ward 36 (Scarborough Southwest) Councillor who defied Mayor David Miller on the tax vote is off the mayor’s executive committee.
This is the closest thing to a cabinet shuffle as one can see at the municipal level. Ashton was a Miller appointee to the powerful executive, which operates similar to a cabinet in the parliamentary system. The mayor appoints committee chairs, and Ashton was chairing Planning and Growth Management.
However, it was clear to everyone that his days were numbered when he cast the deciding vote to defer Miller’s plan to impose new taxes on land transfers and vehicle registration last month. The only question was, how long.
And now we have the answer: This long.
And so long.
4 Comments so far
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Mayor Miller is out in the next election. As for Ashton he should pay more attention to helping his constituents rather than playing politics. What goes around comes around fellas!
By Tony Ashdown on 08.07.07 7:25 am
I have been a resident of Brian Ashton’s Ward 36 for 10 years. Although I haven’t always agreed with his politics, I have always been impressed with his common sense and intelligence. There is no doubt that large urban centres in Canada are in financial trouble. The question is if we, the tax paying public, are going to be happy with the easiest and most politically safe solution?
Why should the home buyer and car driver in the city of Toronto be on the hook for unresponsive municipal, provincial, and federal governance? If it wasn’t for politicians with courage, like Brian Ashton, there would never be any hesitation to legislate the ability, and then use the ability, to tax those who have no power other than depending on their elected representatives. Where do we turn when those elected representatives are expected to line up behind what ever the mayor or political party decide is the best solution? (Nine times out of ten the best solution for any political group or individual is what ensures their political survival over the short term period between decision and next election.) And when our representatives decide to exercise the very restraint we should expect, they are punished and made out to be a pariah.
The financial and policy crises of Canada’s large urban centres and Global cities regions are not going to be solved by piffling municipal taxes. The obvious solutions are long term and intergovernmental. Unfortunately, though, these solutions are often not politically expedient to the political stakeholders electoral success. So we will continue to have to suffer these weak inane and obviously unproductive exercises until politicians decide to design policy out side their political safety zone. It will require politicians with political courage. We, the citizens of these cities, are making it known we are more sophisticated and informed than in the past and will not sit by ideally while politicians practice lazy uncreative politics. We demand courage and long term vision from our politicians. Or we’ll elect new politicians.
Good for Brian Ashton. The first Toronto region politician to show courage and leadership.
By Greg Crompton on 08.10.07 8:00 am
Of course drivers should pay more. They cost more. Many progressive cities set fees to discourage driving in the city core.
By Gustav on 09.20.07 9:49 pm
Good for Brian Ashton. In my mind this was not politics on Ashton’s part, but his integrity vs. Miller’s. Passing the tax bill in the Summer when all of us are distracted is the overarching issue. Hooray for Brian Ashton.
By Fran Manns, Ph.D., P.Geo. (Ontario) on 09.21.07 9:10 am
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