A week after the public shootout in Scarborough, Toronto’s top cop had a tough law-and-order assignment Monday: keep the pressure on Premier Dalton McGuinty, but keep a lid on Mayor Rob Ford.
The bully-pulpit summit at Queen’s Park, pitting Mayor Mad versus Premier Dad, yielded an outcome that isn’t half-bad:
Despite Ford’s bully-boy rhetoric on talk-radio demanding an additional $10 million and “no B.S.,” the mayor kept his cool — even if he didn’t cough up any funding of his own. In a crunch, Ford is all trash-talk but no cash-talk.
Notwithstanding McGuinty’s musings about having no money to spare, and his propensity to preach from the pulpit (in front of a teleprompter) about social solutions, he found $5 million to keep Toronto’s anti-gang cops on the beat. In a crisis, McGuinty is all talk and all “action plans.”
What could have been an explosive confrontation de-escalated into a productive, almost-polite meeting — not of minds, but interests.
Ford didn’t get any new money or new hires. But he didn’t throw a tantrum or stir up more anti-black prejudice in this town, sparing the premier a political nightmare.
McGuinty didn’t get any pushback from the mayor. Nor did he get anything else from Ford, despite prodding him do something beyond bluster.
Will their relatively peaceful encounter help keep the peace on the streets of Toronto? My guess is probably yes, if only because they have ensured continued funding for anti-gang police work, while refocussing attention on community supports.
It could have been better, but it could also have been worse: Never underestimate the ability of a mayor — notably this one — to drive Toronto’s media agenda and turn a premier into a target.
McGuinty dodged a bullet Monday, thanks to the police chief’s calming influence, but also a pre-emptive strike by the premier’s staff cautioning the mayor to back off. Ford’s theatrics Monday play well on talk radio, but they are no way to talk at the table:
“Money talks and B.S. walks and I’m not going to sit there and listen to some B.S. and some reports and yada yada,” the mayor had warned earlier. “I’m going to ask for 5 to 10 million dollars and I want to be able to give that to Chief Blair and tell the chief, ‘Go hire police officers. . .’ ”
That wasn’t the constructive, problem-solving tone both sides had agreed to in advance. Confronted by McGuinty’s staff, Ford’s aides sheepishly confessed they hadn’t known the mayor was going to let loose on radio.
By the time he showed up, escorted by Blair, Ford was on his best behaviour — even if it wasn’t much to boast about. The tone was civil, but the bottom line is that Ford brought nothing to the table.
No ideas, no money, no serenity in a time of anxiety for the people of Toronto.
But he brought his best game face: declaring victory and then retreating from a news conference after a mere three minutes. Ford took the provincial money — not new money, merely a renewal of annual funding — and ran.
Bottom line: The mayor won’t be able to tell his chief, “Go hire police officers,” as he had fantasized on the radio beforehand. Yet Ford later declared himself to be “on the same page” as the premier and celebrated McGuinty’s promise to maintain existing funding as “a huge victory for the taxpayers of Toronto” (courtesy of us Ontario taxpayers, I suppose he meant).
“There was no B.S., and I wasn’t going to sit there and listen to it,” the mayor concluded triumphantly.
He was wrong, of course. Ford’s own hypocrisy (my euphemism for his “B.S.” line) emboldens him to demand everything of others but nothing of himself. This mayor has frozen police budgets (not a bad thing, even if hypocritical), and voted against “hug-a-thug” social programs, but asks the world of the province — while stirring it up in his own city.
Despite Ford’s bellicose rhetoric since the shootings, his own police chief lowered the temperature on a stifling day by reminding reporters that there have been steady declines in violent crime. And that his 5,500-strong police force can do the job with the resources it has.
McGuinty, who likes to walk and talk down the middle, promised to remain “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.” It’s time for a “rethink,” so a clutch of cabinet ministers will reassess existing programs to come up with an “action plan” next month.
But the usually mild-mannered McGuinty answered reporters’ questions with a question of his own: “I’ve also asked the mayor to give some thought to the municipality coming to the table . . . to better support either police services, stronger community supports, or a combination.”
A good question for Ford the next time he fights crime on talk radio.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Cohn, Martin Regg
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