The Toronto Taxpayers Coalition says a recent Ipsos Reid poll, which indicates Torontonians still support Mayor Rob Ford’s fiscally conservative agenda, confirms what the group has been saying for months.
“The poll shows 62% of Torontonians back Ford’s fiscal agenda,” says Coalition spokesman Matthew McGuire. “As we have been saying all along, voters still remember what the city was like under David Miller, and they clearly do not want to go back to those days of fiscally irresponsibility.”
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition is fuming mad after learning from a Toronto Sun report that city officials purchased 30 designer chairs for City Hall at a cost of almost $75,000. The chairs adorn the members’ lounge where councillors often hold private meetings.
“This is completely unacceptable,” said coalition spokesman Matthew McGuire. “Why is the city playing musical chairs with taxpayers’ money?”
The coalition wants to ensure whoever approved this purchase is held accountable.
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition has unveiled a new social media campaign aimed at holding Adam Vaughan accountable for a series of lies he told in the council chamber during the July meeting. The advertising campaign comes a day after the coalition unveiled a new poster, accusing Vaughan of hiding behind protection granted during council debates in order to mislead voters and deliberately spread several misrepresentations of the truth.
“Since Adam Vaughan won’t apologize for the lies we’ve identified, we’ve decided to take our case to the public and let taxpayers come to their own conclusions,” said coalition president Matthew McGuire. “It’s important for people to know the truth.”
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition has come out and called Adam Vaughan “a liar”.
The coalition’s accusation stems from comments Vaughan made during a debate on Thursday July 18th at City Council. At the meeting, Adam Vaughan alleged the Toronto Taxpayers Coalition submitted a petition which included the signatures of people who “didn’t even exist”.
“Anyone who reviews the transcripts will come to the same conclusion – Adam Vaughan lied,” stated coalition president Matthew McGuire. “Adam Vaughan made a calculated decision to hide behind the protection granted by speaking during a council debate to tell several lies and avoid scrutiny from the Integrity Commissioner. Adam Vaughan is an out-and-out liar.”
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition is again calling on Councillor Adam Vaughan to apologize – this time for remarks he made on Thursday July 18th in the council chambers. Failing to do so, a Formal Complaint will be filed with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner.
During a debate on an item CC37.2 Petition to Redivide Ward Boundaries, Councillor Vaughan rose to vilify the membership-based community group that brought the item forward.
“During a council meeting, Councillor Vaughan accused us of having people who ‘didn’t even exist’ sign a petition. This is completely false and defamatory,” said coalition spokesman Matthew McGuire.
The Toronto Taxpayers Coalition is preparing to take the City of Toronto Councillors to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) over Council’s refusal to adopt a city ward boundaries by-law yesterday’s council meeting.
“We will appeal and we will prevail” announced Matthew McGuire spokesperson for the Toronto Taxpayers Coalition. The Toronto Taxpayers Coalition petitioned council for new ward boundaries under a little-known regulation of the City of Toronto Act. Under S.129 of the City of Toronto Act (COTA), any of the petitioners may pursue the issue at the OMB if City Council fails to adopt the request within 90 days of the petition being submitted.
“We were stopped by a cabal of Councillors who seem to perpetuate imbalanced wards for another four years. Taxpayers deserve better.”
Staff deserve better than to be used as a political football by City Council
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition welcomes the release of two reports that have found Councillors Adam Vaughan (Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina) and Mike Layton (Ward 19 Trinity—Spadina) in breach of the Code of Conduct for Members of Council (“Code of Conduct”). The councillors were found to have “maliciously or falsely injured the professional or ethical reputation … of staff” as prohibited by the Code of Conduct in a series of reports by Integrity Commissioner Janet Leiper.
“This is why we have the Code of Conduct in place,” stated coalition spokesman Matthew McGuire. “Councillors do not have carte blanche to malign staff in this manner. We’re hopeful the Integrity Commissioner’s findings will guide councillors to be mindful of their behaviour.”
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition is hosting an all-candidates debate in Etobicoke Lakeshore. This debate, believed to be the first in any of the 5 provincial byelections called for August 1st, is going to set the stage for a campaign that sees two City Councillors vying to become one of Toronto’s newest Members of Provincial Parliament.
“This particular byelection is going to set the tone for the future of relations between City Hall and Queen’s Park” noted Matthew McGuire, president of the coalition. “This event will set the tone for the rest of the campaign.”
Taxpayers Coalition finds loophole to cut council in half
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition today announced they have forced City Council to revisit cutting the number of city councillors in half. The Coalition has forced the issue by submitting a petition to the City Clerk demanding a reduction in councillors from 44 to as low as 25.
But if councillors don’t act, the Coalition plans to bypass City Council and to force the issue at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
Toronto Taxpayers Coalition is commending members of the Public Works & Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) today for deciding against both levying a fee and an outright ban on plastic shopping bags in Toronto.
When the Coalition, believing the fee amounted to illegal price-fixing, filed a complaint with the Federal Competition Bureau last summer, City Council responded by hastily banning plastic shopping bags. The threat of a lawsuit from the coalition and other stakeholders appears to have changed the minds of councillors on the committee, who faced a fierce “bag ban backlash” from the public. The decision allows consumers to make informed choices about how they do their shopping.