TORONTO STAR: News

If the first 100 days of a political administration sets the tone for the rest of the mandate, the outlook for first-term Mayor David Miller is positively upbeat and sunny. Except for one big perennial problem: The city's as broke now, even more so, than when Miller took office at Toronto City Hall Dec. 1.

Miller is gambling on a bailout from Queen's Park. And this ticking bomb is the main cloud on the horizon.

But on most of the city's many and varied files, Miller has things swinging his way.

The mayor has struck the right chord with citizens. He's in control of the city's agenda. He has a tight grip on city council and controls all of the important committees.

He's a media magnet — well-spoken and already nearly overexposed — and has the press eating out of his hands.

But while storm clouds linger over Toronto's fiscal outlook, there's no panic at city hall. Miller cuts the image of a confident leader who knows the financial fog will clear. And the bureaucracy has fallen in behind him.

"There is a new level of energy among staff," says chief administrative officer Shirley Hoy. "There is a sense the civil service is valued."

Miller is one of three new leaders on the political scene. He joins Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Paul Martin in successive waves of fresh air for this city. The three have struck a synergy and enjoy a good relationship that promises a new era of city-building for Toronto.

But while McGuinty has been immobilized by an inherited deficit and Martin has been thrown off stride by the sponsorship scandal, Miller has hit the ground running.

First he stopped the bridge to the island airport, just as he said he would. Then he launched the budget by going out to the public for their input, an exercise he constantly cites as the rationale for his approach to governing.

Next he invited mayors from the country's largest cities to a Toronto summit to urge Ottawa to provide a new funding deal for urban regions.

And just before Miller convened a housing summit and then unveiled his plan for a clean and beautiful Toronto, he was pushed into jumping on the hot and explosive issue of crime.

It's here that the mayor's mettle will best be tested — in the crucible of an issue that has no easy solution, one that is bubbling with more ferocity with each passing day.

After keeping a low profile on the crime file, Miller has been forced to speak out on the unrelenting spate of shootings. Following the shooting of two men at a Scarborough intersection on Wednesday, he addressed reporters and his words carried a bit of an edge.

"This is a sad day for Toronto," Miller said. "Before I became mayor, I was elected for nine years and I never thought we would see the kind of gun violence in Toronto that we've seen over the past months. It's not acceptable to me and it's not acceptable to our community."

He said federal authorities must "speak up to stop the flow of guns across the U.S.-Canada border" and impose tougher sentences so that those who use a gun to commit a crime are automatically denied bail.

There is no doubt Miller would rather talk about a new deal for cities, integrity at city hall and his plans to create places of beauty throughout Toronto. He'd rather engage citizens from Etobicoke to Scarborough in city-building exercises. But the job is a mix of all that's good, bad and ugly in the city.

So what can we expect from the man who has embraced the mayor's job as if he was purpose-bred for it, someone who has tackled the onerous task with passion and enthusiasm?

There is a new level of energy.... There is a sense the civil service is valued.'

Shirley Hoy, city's top bureaucrat

What we are experiencing on the streets now is "in part, a legacy of the cuts of successful programs that diverted people from crimes," Miller said. What's needed are both enforcement and investment in social and recreational programs in the city's troubled neighbourhoods, he said.

Miller's plans are preventative (he wants to provide jobs, recreational activities, social assistance), they cost money the city doesn't have, they give long-term payoffs as opposed to an immediate cessation of gunplay and they need to be buttressed by police enforcement measures that cost money and federal legislative actions that are outside his jurisdiction.

As well, he must keep a councillor like Michael Thompson (Ward 37, Scarborough Centre) engaged and happy by giving him a major role in the crime-fighting portfolio. It was Thompson's advocacy that pushed Miller on the crime file.

It's clear Martin and McGuinty will deliver some kind of a new deal to Toronto. The question is how good a deal it will be.

Miller is in a ticklish position. He needs immediate money to solve the budget woes. But he has to hold out for real changes, such as the creation of a city charter that allows Toronto the freedom to tax and raise revenues. So far, Miller has been reluctant to criticize either Martin or McGuinty. His immediate political future is too tied to those leaders sending him cash.

"Mel started the Clean City campaign, but it is Miller who's added the pizzazz and the broom," said Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth).

If Miller can't fix this, he won't be able to repair more difficult problems. He must also change a culture that was once foreign to Toronto but has taken hold. He must, with the help of the school board, re-establish the ethos that our streets are not gutters, that trash belongs in a bin, that Toronto's streets must be spotless again.

Miller runs a good meeting and has a battery of councillors at his behest who are able and willing to defend him and guard against attacks from council opponents on the right. But there are some danger signs.

Twice already he's failed to complete the council agenda within three days and has been forced to call councillors back several days after adjourning.

As well, while he has a big group of supporting councillors — including impressive eager-beaver rookies like Janet Davis (Ward 31, Beaches-East York), Adam Giambrone (Ward 18, Davenport) and Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East), who, if they are not card-carrying NDPers, surely share Miller's agenda and politics — council's right wing is stirring from its slumber.

About nine of them met last week, and some who weren't invited want in on the loose caucus. That's good for democracy, but it could make council sessions a bit more of a challenge as the dissenters challenge the mayor's agenda.

Two rookies who attended the caucus of right-wingers are Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) and Karen Stintz (Ward 16, Eglinton-Lawrence). Stintz, who knocked off veteran Anne Johnston after answering an ad seeking an opposing candidate, has shown a willingness to mix it up and stake out her position.

Del Grande has been positively raspy. "I don't like the culture down here," said Del Grande, who's taken to criticizing staff, policy and decisions with no regard to political payback.

Which brings us to the budget — the issue that could trip up Miller or propel his popularity into the dizzying heights that Mel Lastman once knew.

The budget started out short $344 million. Instead of cutting back, several departments are demanding even more money. Now the shortfall is more than $363 million. Several councillors have said the mayor is acting like a bailout is coming, so they'll just sit and wait.

Depending on McGuinty to solve his budget woes is a huge gamble on Miller's part. If this strategy fails, he does have a fallback position: He could call in a loan to Toronto Hydro.

This is a controversial strategy. It's the city's last major asset. And it's been likened to selling the furniture to pay the mortgage. Budget chief David Soknacki (Ward 43, Scarborough East) says it's worse; it's like selling the roof.

If Miller is forced to do this, it's a sign of major failure — one that might come back to bite the man whose potential seems boundless, as he celebrates his first 100 days as mayor on Tuesday.