Yes, a lot of councillors came together to create the budget amendment, and they chose Colle to represent their collective voices. Obviously this was strategic on their part, to put someone from the “mushy middle” forward as the voice of Ford’s opposition.

I imagine the press coverage he has received since the vote is a reward for coming forward to “save the day” for the TTC, swimming pools, community grants, homeless shelters, etc. (Or, as Mammoliti puts it, a “pet project”.)

So the canonization is a bit tongue-in-cheek as a result of all that press. But yes, let’s reward those efforts to cooperate and save the many services that make this city a better place to live. Then let’s be vigilant about ensuring it wasn’t a one-time thing.

It’s not awesome to hear you had a negative experience with your deputation. It’s also fair to recognize ‘St. Colle’ has voted WITH the Mayor 44% of the time so far. So there’s not a huge amount of evidence to suggest that permanent canonization is on the horizon. Yet.

It’s true there were 23 Councillors behind these amendments. The Star published a good inside account of how the deal was made:

http://www.thestar.com/news/cityhallpolitics/article/1117299–how-councillors-coalesced-to-defeat-mayor-rob-ford

We picked Colle because he was the the one who proposed them on the council floor and it was at least mildly out of character for him to do so. As mentioned in the piece above, a number of progressive Councillors had been proposing these measures since Day 1. In the 11th hour the middle-of-the-road finally acquiesces and swoops in for the credit. T’was ever thus, but guess what it passed!