That question was top of my mind today when the city hall press corps caught up with Toronto’s silver-maned mayor at the ribbon cutting of the Spadina WaveDeck, a Dr. Seuss-inspired wooden deck at the foot of Spadina. There was Miller, standing beside York-Simcoe Conservative MP Peter Van Loan  at the precarious crest of the deck, the only separating them from the water being a few feet of decking and a knee-height wooden bench.

Van Loan, the Conservative House Leader, may not have the ear of Prime Minister Stephen Harper - but you’d think that during the speeches and gladhanding, that Miller could take a moment to lean over and whisper: “Hey, Van Loan - we’re still waiting for that one cent of the GST and would it kill you to ban handgun ownership like we asked?”

Well you would be thinking wrong. When asked whether he’d brought up the issue of, you know, everything, Miller shrugged it off, explaining there wasn’t really time.

And when one mischievous reporter noted just how close the two of them were standing to water’s edge, Miller replied: “I did not use the opportunity of implying he might go for a swim, no. I didn’t chat with him too much. But it’s very clear what the position of Toronto is and all of the mayors and all of the partners is that the federal government should be supporting investment in cities.”

Van Loan, looking dapper and notably dry in a dark wool suit,  said that he and the Conservative Party thought the level of federal investment in cities was pretty high right now, and haven’t been feeling much pressure on the urban front at all.

Clearly that will persist the whole election, if every time a Conservative MP shows up at water’s edge, the mayor keeps keeping his hands to himself.