CITYSCAPES
ABOUT WOLVES AND SHEEP
January 10 - 28 2000
Last fall, my former boss, Harold Perry, the Chairman of the Toronto Harbour Commission and I got roasted in the Toronto Sun for a trip we took to Spain to learn about the Olympic impact on waterfront development. Since then, I have acquired a fascination with media and political reaction to such adventures. I dutifully track similar stories in the press.
Among the daily newspapers, my research reveals that the Toronto Sun has pretty much cornered the market on the "off with their heads they took a trip" style of story. The Toronto Star will perk up its ears if there is some significant expenditure of public money of an unusual nature--witness the recent extravaganza of the alleged sins of the LCBO and its Chairman, Andy Brandt. The other two daily newspapers are national and not much interested in matters involving local expenditures.
If the Sun were to encapsulate its spin on this subject it would be thus: "People in public service, whether elected or employed, can travel anywhere they want at any time as long as they do not spend public money doing it--any public money--period."
Take for example an item on MPP Morley Kells, the Province's Olympic Commissioner, the man designated by the provincial government to oversee Ontario's role in Toronto's 2008 Olympic Games bid. He also went to Spain to meet with the organizers and officials who ran the very successful 1992 Olympic Games. Mr. Kells stated that the Barcelona visit opened his eyes, as it did for Harold and me.
The Sun opened its eyes at his bill for $27,000 in travel expenses and reported on such picayune expenditures as the fare for a public bus ride (less than $2.00)--almost mocking Mr. Kells for expensing such an item. You have to remember that the Sun stories are pithy, usually less than 500 words. Writing for that tight a format is not easy and each word becomes precious; apparently not precious enough to leave out a reference to a low cost transit ride.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Sun tap-danced on our heads for spending money to get around to our various appointments and site visits by hiring a car with a bilingual driver (we don't speak Spanish). The cost worked out to less than $100 per day per person. This is more cost effective than the $80 per trip cost that the City of Toronto incurs in squiring its city councillors around in limousines with English speaking drivers.
The lesson from this is that if you are going to be hanged for being the wolf when you are actually a sheep, you might just as well be a wolf. Next time hire a driver, Morley, and arrive refreshed and in comfort.
Even more troubling than such shallow newspaper accounts of public spending are the shallowness of the opinions of the politicians whose comments are sought by the press.
The Toronto Port Authority sponsored a seminar in Toronto dealing with the Barcelona Olympic experience, to try to give the foundering Toronto Olympic bid a much-needed shot in the arm. The TPA paid the cost of the travel of knowledgeable Spanish officials who presented at the seminar. The whole affair was well attended and favourably treated by other media as a worthwhile endeavour.
Later, the Sun reported on the $65,000 cost of the seminar and rounded up a predictable quote from a city councillor, aptly named, Doug Holyday, condemning the expense. Of course, Mr. Holyday had attended the seminar and had been only too happy to take advantage of the federal agency's initiative and enjoy its largesse. Upon learning that the Danishes, coffee and orange juice were on the expensive side, his public concern did not extend to offers to subsidize the TPA for its city boosting efforts.
Another recent contestant in the "I'm Not C. D. Howe Sweepstakes", is the Provincial Correctional Services Minister, the Honourable Rob Sampson.
For those of you who are graduates of the Ontario public school system and therefore do not have a clue who C. D. Howe might be, he was a powerful cabinet minister in a Liberal federal government several decades ago. He is famous for his retort to an opposition member who was castigating the government for spending a million dollars on some now forgotten item. C. D. is reported to have said: "What's a million." This phrase came back to haunt the Liberals in the next election and they were turfed out of office.
Anyway, let's get back to Mr. Sampson. It seems that the senior staff in his ministry determined that they needed to have a two-day meeting to discuss important policy issues. They chose a meeting/resort complex that was reasonably centrally located since staff would be coming from all corners of the province. There were 73 people in attendance. The cost of the meeting was $10,000, or about $137 per person.
Of course, the Sun simply had to tell us this meeting place contained a swimming pool, a hot tub, etc. Left unsaid was the fact that it would be nearly impossible in this province to find a similar venue for a meeting of 73 people that did not have such amenities. Well, let's be charitable, the reporter had used up the 500 word limit and simply did not have the space to squeeze it in.
When queried by the newspaper, instead of praising his staff for their good sense in finding a central location and keeping the costs very minimal, Mr. Sampson turned on them and condemned the whole exercise. He suggested that such meetings could be held by telephone or e-mail. Can you imagine--73 people all trying to communicate simultaneously by telephone or e-mail?
But my final example demonstrates the difference between a wily and skilled politician named Mel Lastman and everybody else. Our illustrious mayor was moved to visit the fleshpots of Europe, particularly Amsterdam's red light district where window shopping has a whole different meaning.
If he had simply gambolled through that area without first briefing the media there would have been hell to pay in the press. One could picture the headlines: "City Pays for Mayor to Ogle Olga". Instead, we find the Sun reporter travelling along with the mayor sending back favourable reports on the progress of the visit. Mel continually asked officials he met about government cost sharing of the developments he was viewing. That actually is a question that could have been handled by telephone or e-mail, but I would wager a 30-guilder Dutch whore that the Sun will never carry one of its patented "tut, tut" stories on the expense of His Worship's trip.
Now why didn't Harold and I think of that--the Sun reporter could have come along with us. There was certainly room in the limo.
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