Culture Heroes #2: Josh Colle
'St. Colle' by Jody Hewston. Click to enlarge.
Toronto City Councillor Josh Colle became a culture hero this week when he surprised the media, Mayor Rob Ford, and pretty much anyone else who was paying attention. Two hours into what was supposed to be three days of intense budget debate he moved a set of proposals that essentially rewrote Toronto’s municipal budget.
Yep, that’s right, pretty much everything that was advocated for in our previous post, went down when the rookie Councillor, who had previously sided with Rob Ford as often as not, became the face and instrument by which Toronto got its services back. Rob Ford’s budget was rewritten and passed in a single day astonishing even seasoned observers.
The eventual vote was 23-21, as other centrist Councillors joined Colle along with progressive pols who had been advocating saving services from the beginning. (Note to progressive councillors: Thanks – you guys are heroes too – it’s just important to encourage this behaviour.)
Is this a turning point for Toronto city politics? Certainly overnight it seems that Rob Ford has become a lame duck mayor. In Federal or Provincial politics if a government’s budget is defeated, the government falls and an election is required. Of course city government doesn’t work the same, but it’s a pretty big deal either way.
As a final note – please draw your attention to the fact that we have suggested a ‘Culture Hero’ is a Councillor who was not involved in the behind the scenes machinations that spared culture funding at the Executive Committee level a few days previous.
This was important because A) It embraces a broad definition of culture that encompasses the complex experience of being a Torontonian and B) takes an approach to cultural advocacy that recognizes saving arts funding while stripping away things like homeless shelters and bus routes is bad strategy that will hurt us in the long run with our allies and fellow citizens.
I believe there were many councillors behind his ammendments. During my deputation in July Mr. Colle was rude and very distracting to those there to give a deputation. I know every movement needs a poster boy but lets not cannonize him yet!
Hey John,
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!
Colle represents something sorely lacking in a lot of politics these days – cooperation and an eye for the bigger picture.
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.