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.

Culture Heroes #1: Michael Healey

Michael Healey – Art by Jody Hewston

For the inaugural edition of our new series Culture Heroes by Jody Hewston, we look back at the past few months, and declare Michael Healey our clear Culture Hero of Summer, 2011.

In response to the Canadian Heritage department cutting its funding of Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival, Healey put out a call to action for all Artistic Directors of theatre companies that receive federal arts funding to come together in an act of solidarity for freedom of speech. His words were straight to the point:

If you find yourself anxious about the potential ramifications for your own company’s federal funding as a consequence of taking part in this demonstration, I can think of no better reason for participating in it.”

You can read an analysis of the SummerWorks Homegrown controversy here on the Praxis blog. Michael Healey’s own words in the Globe & Mail can be found here, and Globe theatre critic J. Kelly Nestruck’s views on the matter here. A great backgrounder on the story, as well as a list of the companies who answered Healey’s call is available here on the Wrecking Ball blog.