Not the time for mayor to pull disappearing act
[attach]3645[/attach]On days when the whole city is grieving over a tragic loss of life it is normal and the duty of a mayor to speak publicly on our behalf. Mayor Rob Ford was notably silent on Jan. 12 when Sgt. Ryan Russell was run down by a snowplow in the early hours of the day. Yes, there was a written statement, but to the surprise of the media, he had no statement for cameras or radio.
He was invisible the whole long, sad day, speaking only in a formal occasion at a police ceremony 24 hours later.
Whatever you think of David Miller, he would have been standing before media with words of compassion and regret in the name of all Torontonians — who, after all, the mayor represents.
Miller did so on Boxing Day 2005 when young Jane Creba was brutally gunned down on Yonge Street, and in December 2003, when the demolition of the old Uptown Theatre went terribly wrong, injuring 14 and killing Augusto Mejia Solis, a 27 year old Costa Rican.
He was there in the rubble as our witness to the tragedy. He was very visible.
By contrast, Ford is being kept in what the city hall media call a “bubble” — not allowed to talk to media, even in public situations, in which Miller would have always been available. He has given a handful of scrums (group sessions with media) since taking office, and sometimes journalists are limited to three questions. He will not talk to anyone from Toronto’s largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, period, and limits his interviews to easygoing talk radio sessions with the friendly on-air folks at CFRB.
Make no mistake, city hall watchers see this invisibility as his staff being fearful of what he’ll say in open media situations, of him bumbling, making one of his notorious gaffes. And they know the media on the whole can’t figure him out.
How are they supposed to?
This would be less worrisome if the public face of his office had not been bestowed on his brother Doug, who is more available to media and to other councillors.
But, we did not elect him mayor of all the people. And if councillors want to see the mayor, they more often than not have to settle for Doug.
Unlike Miller, this mayor does not publish a daily schedule of public appearances, leaving media scrambling to find out what he is doing. This does not lead to an informed media or an informed public.
By contrast, Premier Dalton McGuinty has a published schedule and is stopped by media regularly in the corridors of Queen’s Park.
His message gets out to us. Ford’s does not, except through surrogates.
We have very limited opportunity to judge the man’s performance anywhere except in formal sessions of city council.
His “bubble strategy” is shortsighted to say the least. His simplistic agenda is well known, but much of the change he is working on to transform our city simply happens without him providing context, justification or nuance.
Finally, I would ask as in the case of Ryan Russell: “Who speaks for Toronto?”
For instance, thousands of Egyptian Canadians in Toronto are suffering with their fellow countrymen. Would it be too much to ask the mayor to say something on our behalf?