Deputy Mayor seeking review of ombudsman and other watchdog jobs
Published on Friday October 26, 2012
David Rider
Urban Affairs Bureau Chief
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday will officially ask if it’s possible to combine the jobs of Toronto’s civic watchdogs, but says he is trying to save taxpayers’ money, not dump ombudsman Fiona Crean.
Holyday said Friday he will ask city staff at next week’s council meeting for a review of legislative requirements for the ombudsman, integrity commissioner and lobbyist registrar positions, and what other cities do.
His request is triggered by a city manager item on the agenda noting that Crean’s term expires in November 2013 and the city needs to signal its intentions to her — not by the Fords’ fight with Crean, Holyday said.
“I just want to find out if there’s a more efficient way of meeting our legislative requirement,” Holyday said. “Do we need them all? Could the ombudsman and integrity commissioner roles be combined?”
Provincial law requires Toronto to have an integrity commissioner and ombudsman. The positions were created in recent years, along with the lobbyist registrar, in the wake of the computer leasing scandal that exposed city hall cronyism and shady dealings.
On CP24 Friday, Ford repeated his call for one part-time watchdog. “In Mississauga they have one person, a lawyer on retainer, who does all their jobs,” he said. The current watchdogs “can keep writing reports. I’m just going to keep doing what the taxpayers want me to do.”
Holyday said Ford may have misconstrued information that he gave him, about a lawyer on retainer as Mississauga’s integrity commissioner. He has no ombudsman or lobbyist registrar duties.
In reports released Thursday, Toronto integrity commissioner Janet Leiper ruled Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, violated council’s code of conduct in April by publicly disparaging the city’s chief medical officer on their radio show after he recommended lower speed limits to save lives.
Also Thursday, Crean released an addendum to an earlier report that infuriated Ford and his allies by concluding that the mayor’s office interfered with the civic appointments process.
Crean’s reappointment requires the approval of two-thirds of the 44 councillors. While Councillor Doug Ford said he and his brother plan to vote to dump the “political” Crean, Holyday said he is keeping an open mind and would vote to extend her contract to September 2014 — when Leiper’s term ends — to make it easier to merge the jobs in future.
Leiper cannot be reappointed, under the integrity commissioner’s rules. Gehrke’s contract is open-ended.
Other conservatives on council seemed wary Friday of the Fords’ “dump Crean” campaign.
“There would have to be very strong, credible arguments to suggest that we would need to change course,” on the ombudsman said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee.
“I would vote to reappoint Fiona Crean,” said Councillor Karen Stintz, the TTC chair.
Councillor Adam Vaughan, a Mayor Ford foe, suggested another way the administration could save the city money: “They could just follow the rules.”
