Mayor David Miller provides poor leadership skills in championing Toronto's interests

by Jay Singh

	Mayor David Miller.

Toronto city council has been described as "dysfunctional" in the wake of what the budget chief calls a "brutal summer" confronting the city's fiscal crisis. However, this apparent dysfunctionality is the result of the operating context of the megacity model.

The megacity model has served Big Business interests in Toronto, while the quality-of-living interests of Torontonians is being undermined. Mayor David Miller, as a supposed progressive-minded NDPer, has politically demonstrated himself to be merely the slick representative of corporate constituencies in Toronto, at the expense of defending the civic interests of Canada's largest city.

Mayor Mel Lastman and previous mayors of Toronto under a Metropolitan structure, which included North York, Scarborough, East York, York, the City of Toronto, and Etobicoke, were far better municipal representatives. Torontonians need to consider putting pressure on the Premier of Ontario to return Toronto back to its metropolitan structure of mayors and council which defended local community interests against Central Business District greed-driven corporate inspired paralysis.

"Dysfunctional, on the verge of being destructive," assesses Michael Walker, a north Toronto councillor under five mayors: Art Eggleton, June Rowlands, Barbara Hall, Mel Lastman and now David Miller.

Whatever their weaknesses, previous mayors built alliances around issues, Councillor Walker says.

Whereas the current mayor's opponents are being "isolated, alienated or abused. It is so partisan, ideological, so destructive. The only thing missing is the Roman salute, Hail Caesar."

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