Toronto council follows tradition by butting into school closure issue

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong feels council too often
sticks its nose where it doesn’t belong

When Toronto City Council weighed in on potential school closures this week, it was carrying on a long tradition of taking a stand in areas over which it has no jurisdiction.

Decades ago, council passed motions decrying apartheid, war and nuclear weapons, and today councillors continue to debate and approve motions that critics argue are beyond its sphere of influence.

“It’s a colossal waste of time,” Councillor John Campbell, one of seven new members elected last fall, said Wednesday. “We don’t focus on what we should be focusing on, we get distracted by some of these issues, and ultimately the debates go on too long because everybody wants to weigh in.”

He was one of only two councillors who voted against asking the province and the Toronto District School Board to refrain from closing and selling schools, although council has no jurisdiction over schools. Campbell, a former TDSB chair, said “well-meaning” councillors overlooked the fact that “we absolutely have to close schools” because of declining enrolment and half-empty schools.

Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong feels council too often sticks its nose where it doesn’t belong, “often with a staggering lack of information.” Hours of debate will result in the city clerk drafting a single piece of paper addressed to another level of government, where it’s disregarded, he said.

“Councillors forget what municipal governments are supposed to do,” says Minnan-Wong.  (more...)

Toronto council follows tradition by butting into school closure issue