Lame duck as defined by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary: a disabled or powerless person or thing.

David Miller: not a lame duck. Just a prudent one. 

Reality: it’s gut-check time for council’s mushy middle. Without Big Poppa David to hold their hand,  councillors in the centre are reverting to the old ways of doing business. You remember, pre-broom, when the politics of expediency was the rule. 

Exhibit A: How did that motion to consider reopening the $132 million garbage contract on behalf of the losing bidder ever get on the floor at council last week anyway? All of a sudden it smells like MFP all over again.

And here we thought 11th-hour ad blitzes and lobbying efforts by companies on the losing end of lucrative city contracts were a thing of the past. 

Time for council to grow up and get its act together before drift sets in. Is it just going to be “Taxes are bad” from here on in? 

Exhibit B: Council’s vote last week  to use some of the cash savings from the civic workers strike to delay a planned hike in garbage fees, instead of putting it toward keeping property taxes down, as the mayor advocated.

Talk about role reversal. All of a sudden, the mayor who’s supposedly high on raising taxes is the one who’s trying to hold the line.

Making the cost of waste real to people (is there a councillor who will deny we’re in a climate crisis?) is a harder sell, it seems. 

Don’t worry, we’ll just raise property taxes a few points after the next election, some among them could be overheard telling each other on the council floor.

Cue the laugh track. 

Blame the press gallery, says Adam Vaughan. Communicating good ideas seems to be impossible with the crew now managing the flow of info out of City Hall.

But to get back to this lame duck business.

Exhibit C: Miller’s also been left to wear council’s decision last week to take street furniture contractor Astral to court in an ongoing dispute over concrete pads for bus shelters and bins. Splitting the costs, as staff recommended, would have been the smart thing to do.

Mark this down as another questionable move that’ll end up costing Toronto more in the long run, even if we end up winning in court. 

Check the fine print.

The city will be on the hook for a few mil when next month it begins the removal and replacement of old bins that was supposed to be undertaken by Astral before this tiff erupted. Those receptacles will be replaced with temporary cans, essentially throwing bad money after bad, as the staff report puts it.

The next big test: the billboard fee proposal, scheduled for debate at Planning and Growth Management Committee yesterday (November 4) while the mayor was in Mexico angling for the Pan-Am Games.

Community groups, artists, young people and BIAs are keeping a close eye on the plan and the promised windfall for arts and other programs.

But word is committee chair Norm Kelly is getting cold feet and wants the proposal deferred. 

enzom@nowtoronto.com