Fiorito: Councillors’ ‘gravy plane’ was on a mission

Doug Ford called it the gravy plane.

He was referring to the flights that carried 18 of our city councillors to Vancouver for the annual meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

He was, as usual, glib and wrong.

Let’s deal with the glibness first: The term “gravy plane” is neither original nor his; he appropriated it from Adam Vaughan, who used it to describe Porter Airlines. Glib is as glib does.

Now let’s deal with wrong:

Toronto is the biggest city in the country; there is no school for municipal councillors; our councillors have an obligation to learn and to teach; they also have a responsibility to further Toronto’s interests by helping to set the national municipal agenda.

So I went to city hall the other day to learn what some of our finest saw, and to hear what good ideas they picked up, while they were in Vancouver:

Adam Vaughan took a tour of social housing; he spoke with passion about the Vancouver way: “They have quite a bit of scattered housing . . . they do mental health training for landlords; building managers can assess people, and they’re trained to do triage.”

That’s so simple it’s radical.

Social work can be costly, and social isolation can be crippling; here is something else he picked up:

“They give (some tenants) laptops with Skype; they can check on people visually, they can converse, they can ask if you’ve eaten, if your meds are OK.

“They can log the conversation so that, if a professional has to intervene, they can call up the records.” Smart stuff; good use of technology; simple way to stay connected and save money.

He also saw something in Vancouver that solves or simplifies a common problem here: “They have recycling of plastic bottles and pop cans.” Which means people can collect these things, in addition to liquor and beer bottles, on garbage day and turn them in for cash.

Now the neat bit:

“They have garbage cans with bins on the side for cans and bottles.” Which means bottle collectors don’t have to rummage through your trash to make a bit of cash; it keep neighbourhoods clean, and simplifies things for the homeowner.

Karen Stintz also attended.

She said, “It was my first FCM. Every councillor should attend at least once.” She said, “I saw incredible urban design, midrise; they use a combination of materials, not just glass; there are awnings and eaves so people can walk without getting wet.”

What sticks out in her memory?

“Things to do with energy. They have the ability to signal when electrical usage is too high in a neighbourhood.”

How?

“There are neighbourhood beacons; if the beacon is flashing red — if usage is too high — you can turn down your AC; if enough people do that, it will turn blue.”

A smart way, in other words, to make energy conservation personal and visible.

Anything else?

“The food trucks; grilled cheese, shawarma, falafel. I’m a grilled cheese person. And they don’t standardize the trucks, they’re painted differently, old trucks, new trucks.” Yum.

She added this: “Did 18 need to go? Probably not. But the mayor should have gone.”

Finally, Pam McConnell: “I chaired the women’s committee for nine years. I presented the results of the work we’ve done. There are 700 more women on councils over the previous six years.

“I talked about the next ten years; we’re 1,400 short of achieving 30 per cent of women on municipal councils.” That’s shocking.

She said, “We talked about a scholarship fund to encourage women to think about municipal government as an option.” And that is more useful, I think, than our mayor’s offer to explain politics to women over coffee.

McConnell said, “We reported to the membership on our work to increase the gas tax . . . it will be indexed at 2% a year in perpetuity. For us, the gas tax and the GST rebate mean a quarter-billion dollars a year.”

That’s not chump change.

Our mayor?

He won’t change.

McConnell said that two priorities have been underlined for the new board of the FCM: the need for a nation public transportation strategy, and a national fund for housing.

I would not have been upset if everyone on council had attended.

Joe Fiorito appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca