Toronto mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi in this Jan. 21, 2010 file photo.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Rocco Rossi became the latest mayoral candidate to call for a leaner, meaner city hall with his vow on Wednesday to cut city council in half - and add four "councillors at large."
Mr. Rossi also said that, if elected mayor, he'd cancel plans - passed at last month's council meeting - for a new transit headquarters and an $88-million waterfront hockey rink, arguing the city can't afford the extra cash. The federal government is pitching in $34-million toward a waterfront arena; while the city can get up to $25-million from debt financing, city staff have been tasked with coming up with the remaining $33-million.
He'd change the way the current tax on plastic bags works to direct the five-cent fee toward city coffers (right now retailers keep the fee).
Although he'd have to persuade most of council to vote to eliminate half their jobs in the next election cycle, Mr. Rossi said that in the interim he'd appoint a councillor to serve as deputy mayor for each of Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke and Toronto/East York to ensure "every corner of the city gets a seat at the table."
Mr. Rossi's vow to cut council and cut costs - he also promised to freeze discretionary spending for a year - comes after rival Rob Ford promised to slice council in half and during a week in which several of the candidates have aimed to position themselves as tough on waste.
Mr. Ford's rivals - including Mr. Rossi, as recently as Tuesday's TV Ontario debate - have derided his plans to cut council, pointing out that this wouldn't save the city enough money to pay for the tax cuts Mr. Ford is advocating, especially given that each remaining councillor would have twice as many constituents. But several of them adopted policies and rhetoric strikingly similar to the Etobicoke councillor's, with George Smitherman vowing a war on waste and Mr. Rossi promising to cut back on councillors.
Joe Pantalone, deputy mayor and the candidate most closely aligned with Mayor David Miller's policies, said he's pleased to see more of his rivals placing themselves closer to the right of the political spectrum.