January 31, 2006: THE TORONTO STAR

BY: Royson James

Opposition is an essential ingredient of democracy. But at Toronto City Hall, where political practitioners like to say they are closest to the people, and so, the most democratic of representatives, opposition has become a dirty word.

The traditional advocates — council's left-wingers — are now the ruling party. The councillors who proved so adept at shaming the administration into spending more for the poor, or on transit, or for the arts are now in power. And if they become blind to a cause or immune to certain voices or insensitive to certain needs, there are few effective voices raised in opposition.

Oh, there are some who rage indiscriminately into the night — so much so that their voices become like sounding brass, heard but not recognized. One such councillor is Rob Ford of Etobicoke.

There are others such as Michael Walker, as true and consistent as the pole, yet inflexible and unyielding to the point that he is dismissed as a maverick.

And there are still others like Jane Pitfield, a would-be leader without a constituency because she hasn't built one on council. Or maybe the right just doesn't know how to spell the word team.

You know you are in trouble when David Soknacki, one of council's fiscal conservatives, takes the job of budget chief where he is effectively silenced and left to deliver a budgetary plan he doesn't really believe in.

Which fiscal conservative, unless he is encumbered by the burden of power, would return to council for three straight years with this message: We are broke. We can't afford the programs we have. We are in too much debt. We are going to close our eyes and wait for a bailout from Queen's Park.

Opposition used to be a noble calling. City councillors, propelled by a particular vision of the city fought to the death to preserve key elements of that vision or to stall its erosion. They ran interference, gummed up the process, pulled stunts, protested and demonstrated and stretched the bounds of parliamentary convention to make a point.

In pre-amalgamation years, on the North York councils of the 1980s, Barbara Greene and Howard Moscoe would kick dirt in Mel Lastman's face. Winning wasn't in the cards, but if they were going to lose the votes, they would muddy their opponent in the process.

City of York was ungovernable most times — a fiendish mix of incompetence, small-town corruption and bald-faced greed. But no one crowned the mayor king or despot.

Toronto, the most progressive, politically volatile of the old city councils, was a glorious brew of power politics, old boys' network, street-smart advocacy, guerrilla tactics, small-town protectionism and big city yearning. One city council under June Rowlands seemed frozen in 9-7 split.

Opposition at city hall was still alive after the amalgamation of the former councils into one Toronto in 1998.

The two terms of Mayor Mel Lastman displayed this beautifully. Lastman, a centre-right mayor, governed with the left in mind. From waste management, his backing down on the issue of contracting out services, the killing of the Kirkland Lake project, and declaring himself an advocate for social housing, Lastman was often pushed and checked and propelled by an active opposition.

Opposition at city hall has been in a coma since the David Miller regime. It's happened for several reasons. The most telling is this:

The centre-right councillors have been, except for a few exceptions such as Case Ootes, perennially lazy and devoid of initiative and insight and intellect. Anyone who follows city council knows the energetic, creative councillors are the ones to the left of the political spectrum.

Jack Layton, Olivia Chow, Moscoe, Joe Pantalone and, to a lesser extent, Miller — all left-wingers and members of the city hall NDP caucus — made their mark and influenced the agenda at city hall over the first six years of amalgamation, in spite of being officially excluded from the corridor of power.

When Lastman led council on a path to deliver Toronto's waste to an abandoned mine in Kirkland Lake, Layton led the vociferous opposition on the floor and Miller plumbed the waste contract for legal loopholes to tie up city council in knots.

For days, council was locked in a nasty, public, embarrassing display. Lastman blinked. And whether or not council made the right decision — we still don't have a place for our waste — the issue got a thorough going-over.

Fast forward to today. If Miller and his left-wing allies in government want to do something similar to taking trash to Kirkland Lake, you can bet the house the plan would go through, with minimal fuss.

Councillors Ford, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Mike Del Grande, Ootes and Doug Holyday might rise up in righteous indignation. Norm Kelly or Frances Nunziata or Giorgio Mammoliti or David Shiner might raise a concern or two. And you can always depend on Walker to raise a stink, no matter who is in power.

But don't expect a well-organized, resolute, dedicated, committed campaign to challenge an initiative of the mayor. That takes guts and desire and commitment to a cause or a vision.

We've never had that from the mushy middle of any city council — the weak, pliable middle that holds the balance of power and who will slide over to whichever side promises the most immediate gain.

And the centre-right, engorged on years of living off the avails of power, has never learned to fight. Pity.