2 days Ago
Toronto councillors vote to give themselves 24 per cent pay raise, March 27 Where else in the working world do employees have the power to vote themselves whatever percentage increase suits their fancy? This raise amounts to $33,000 boosting the new salary level for councillors to more than $170,000. Many Torontonians would give their eye teeth for a job paying $33,000. Kudos to the eight councillors who opposed this raise and shame to the rest.
Make note of who not to vote for in the next municipal election. David Maki, Toronto Better pay does not necessarily bring better councillors Most municipalities look to other municipalities as “comparables ” when setting councillor remuneration. This process is viable for other positions where the candidate or “applicant” has labour mobility, has the requisite skills set, and there is a competitive job market.
Consider the municipal solicitor used in the story who earns an average $190,000 per annum. That employee probably has an undergraduate degree, has completed law school, has served an articling period having worked between 2,000 and 3,000 hours per year, and has written and passed a challenging bar exam. Now that they have the job, they have to be competent and accountable or they may face termination.
Compare that with the requirements to be a candidate for municipal council. Candidates must be 18 years of age, not in jail, and be an elector in the municipality. If they are elected and are terrible at their job, perhaps they won’t be re-elected four years from now.
Still they will collect their pay and benefits in the meantime. Of course there is always the chance that they will be re-elected and enjoy a long and prosperous career. This isn’t meant to be a reflection on individual council members, past, present or future.
Rather I think it demonstrates a problem with our electoral process. It seems to me that councillor compensation should be somehow linked to qualifications and there needs to be a mechanism to ensure accountability between elections. Better pay does not necessarily bring better candidates or councillors.
Higher pay will bring more self-interested candidates who may or may not have a sense of civic duty. Ray Millar, Tiny, ON The irony of the Roger’s Centre’s policy Blue Jays fan kicked out of home opener at Rogers Centre for wearing ‘Canada is not for sale’ hat , March 27 Ironically, in removing a fan because of the message on his cap, the Blue Jays have made a statement they say they wouldn’t allow. Ab Dukacz, Mississauga Is home opener indicative of what Blue Jays fans should expect this season? The Blue Jays season opener was ugly, but baseball is undefeated , March 27 Let’s hope the Blue Jays’ opening loss of 12-2 isn’t indicative of what we can expect after the questionable moves President Mark Shapiro and General Manager Ross Atkins made to the team this season.
It’s 10 years and counting for Rogers Communications to endure these two to come up with a winner. A multimillion-dollar renovated stadium does not count. The fans are getting restless.
Gary Megaffin, Kitchener, ON Singh has always been a contradiction to himself Decline of the federal NDP: Something historically and culturally significant seems to be dying as we watch , March 28 Rick Salutin’s lament for the NDP may be premature but some reflection is certainly warranted. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s decision last fall to pull the plug on the NDP’s highly successful deal with the Trudeau Liberals was surely the beginning of the end; the pretence that the Liberals were too close to profiteering corporations just as surely a crock. It may be hard to imagine now, but Justin Trudeau and Singh could have continued with progressive social, environmental, reconciliation and other agreeable policies until this October, and there’s nothing the Conservatives could have done about it.
But Singh has always been a contradiction to himself, cutting deals with Trudeau yet attacking him as viciously as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and trying to take full credit for deals the Liberals had intended to do anyway. Listening to Singh now, acting like the NDP is still in the game, is indeed sad to see. Just a couple of months ago, it looked almost certain he had handed the reins of power to Poilievre, just as former NDP leader Jack Layton handed them to former Conservative prime minster Stephen Harper.
Fortunately for Canada and progressives, while Trudeau is gone, he provided us with possibly the best candidate available to defeat Poilievre by stepping down to make way for Mark Carney. Meaning a month or two from now, both Singh and Poilievre may be gone too. Richard Sharp, Carrying Place HBC got lost in its own delusions of grandeur Hudson’s Bay to liquidate entire business, still seeking additional capital , March 14 Back in the 1960s when I was a boy, my mom would sometimes take me downtown to go shopping at Hudson’s Bay Company.
We were a working-class family from Downsview. The Bay was a fancy alternative to Miracle Mart where we did most of our shopping. Fancy but not too out of reach price wise.
These days, however, The Bay is high end — out of reach for most people. Look in the kitchen appliance section, DeLonghi and Smeg gadgets. A Smeg toaster costs around $250.
They’re trying to sell this stuff at a time when one out of every five families are using a food bank, when people are deciding on whether to pay rent or buy food they’re not going to spend more than $35 on a toaster. My point is that The Bay completely went off the rails when it came to knowing who they served. Between the obscene prices and the total lack of staff, I couldn’t shop there.
I wanted to buy a watch a few years ago. A nice inexpensive one. Fat chance of that.
It’s sad really. A once great Canadian icon got lost in its own delusions of grandeur. Jeremy Thornton, Stouffville, ON We need to encourage young people to vote CBC’s program “Ideas” recently held a session entitled, “Ideas for a Better Canada” at the Burlington Public Library.
This was the first stop of four planned across the country exploring what is needed to preserve our democracy. This session identified the main requirements as: maintaining our public libraries, the CBC, national and local media, and voting in our elections. I was impressed by the number of young professionals from the audience who contributed to the discussion.
These young people must now vote and encourage their peers to vote in our national election. Let’s set a record voter turnout. Ethel Edey, Burlington Looking for undecided voters to join our panel The Toronto Star is looking for undecided voters to join in our weekly panel discussions leading up to the federal election.
If you are on the fence about who to vote for on April 28 and are interested in participating email [email protected] with the word “undecided” in the subject line. Please include times you are available.
The discussions will take place on an online chat platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Please indicate whether you would be comfortable having some of the audio or video from a call published..
