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April 30, 2004

A Mayor's Musing

Toronto's insanely myopic Mayor, David Miller, is in a wee spot of trouble this morning.

In a private conversation with the Lord Mayor of London (not to be confused with the Mayor of London - they have one of those too!) Mr. Miller said, "Is your police force in jail? Mine is." He was referring to the continuing investigations into corruption in the Toronto Police Force.

Unfortunately for him, his comment was picked up by a television microphone. Police Chief Julian Fantino reacted to the Mayor's comments saying they have "driven a stake" through his heart.

Mayor Miller should have known better than to make a joke of the serious situation facing Toronto's Police. Still, his comments reflect the concerns of many Torontonians who wonder if this is the last investigation, will there be more, how high will they go...?

Now, I have a soft spot for Toronto's plain-spoken Chief, but he has badly mishandled the investgations into some of his officers. At first he was invisible, now he is spending his time on damage control. If these were the first allegations of corruption or criminal activity on this force, I might be able to excuse the PR ineptness, but it is, in fact, the latest in a string of body blows to the force.

Chief, it should be the fact that you are again investigating your own officers that should have driven a stake through your heart, not the Mayor's comments.

Posted by maxthecat on April 30, 2004 at 08:44 AM | Printer-friendly version
Filed in: Politics