in years past i watched councillors explore nether-regions of the periphery i didn’t even know existed — hey, let’s ban shark fin soup! — even as every major facet of the city’s infrastructure crumbled and smouldered beneath their feet. i saw a councillor fly an inflatable shark around the council chamber , in support of the shark-fin ban. i saw a councillor plunk a low-flow toilet down on a desk and declare it a “miracle .” those last two items involved the same councillor, and i’m not going to name him or her here because that’s just what he or she would want.
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i saw coun. paula fletcher, an actual communist, “attend” a council meeting while driving her car , insisting that her assistant was operating the voting app on her phone — as opposed to, say, driving — and getting very snotty about it when she was called out. i saw don cherry badmouth the entire urban way of life at rob ford’s official installation as mayor. i saw rob ford barrel into and over coun. pam mcconnell in an effort to join a physical altercation between his brother doug, then a city councillor and now premier of ontario, and some ill-wishers. i don’t even remember what it was about; it doesn’t really matter.
well before my time in journalism, i saw then mayor mel lastman make a cannibalism joke as he headed off to africa to lobby for a toronto olympic bid . well after my time covering city hall day to day, i saw john tory resign as mayor for indiscretions with a staffer, and then indulge patently insane suggestions that he could maybe somehow un-resign .
but then coun. jennifer mckelvie came up with a motion to put before council this week , and it passed with only a single vote against, and i don’t know. somehow, i think it might have broken me. i think i need to be done with this city. fabulous as it is, in so many ways, the people who run it are on a mission from some higher power, possibly satan, to hold it back. so i’m on my own mission to get out, at least for a while.
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cselley@postmedia.com