LEVY: Councillor Michael Thompson defends his travel spending
Sue-Ann LevyMore from Sue-Ann Levy
Updated: July 9, 2018 9:38 PM EDT
Mayor John Tory speaks with Councillor Michael Thompson at a committee meeting. (CRAIG ROBERTSON, Toronto Sun)
Under fire for collecting frequent flyer points at taxpayers' expense and given a free ride by council last week after an integrity commissioner report concluded he used "undue influence" with a developer, Councillor Michael Thompson pontificated Monday morning about the great work he's done for we ordinary Toronto peons in the past seven years.
In his final report to economic development committee — a committee full of like-minded councillors like Mark Grimes, Norm Kelly and Michelle Holland who've helped themselves to plenty of taxpayer-funded trips– the highly self-serving councillor informed us that both he and the mayor have (almost singlehandedly from the sounds of it) brought down unemployment in the city, increased job creation, increased building permits, and reduced vacancy rates in commercial buildings.
(Of course, he was reporting on the years from 2011-18 and Mayor John Tory has only held the job since 2014. But who's counting.)
What's more, said Thompson — using a PowerPoint presentation that featured pictures mostly of himself shaking hands with various international officials — film and TV shoots are up (the Shape of Water was produced here) and the long-running Netflix special Suits led to a royal wedding!
For heaven's sake, something should have come out of the mayor's three missions to Los Angeles in February, 2016, January, 2017 and this past April. Just sayin'.
As I also reported in April, in the past three years, Thompson has been to 52 cities outside of Canada (many more than once), has spent $115,042 in taxpayer funds and has been given $50,259 in freebies. During the weekend of the ice storm in mid-April, Thompson and Holland posted on Instagram that they were at the Coral Gables stately Biltmore Hotel at a conference. On that same Sunday, they ventured out to dinner with Nick DiDonato at his Coral Gables Cibo's — DiDonato being the same restaurateur who has the city contract for Casa Loma.
(Thompson has since blocked me on Instagram and on Twitter.)
The Toronto brand is "strong and growing" he contended, using the Pan Am Games of 2015 and last year's Indigenous Games as an example of what triggered the growth.
Thompson also told us he wanted to make one thing perfectly clear (he pronounced it "clar") — he and Tory are "committed" to establishing international partnerships.
"On our watch (meaning Tory and Thompson), Toronto has increased its formal international relationships from nine to 28," he said, including the requisite putdown of U.S. President Donald Trump and the tariff situation by alluding to "chaos and belligerence south of the border."
Councillor Michael Thompson
And then, being sure to invest in his own future as a frequent flyer should Tory return as mayor in this fall's election, Thompson told the committee he wanted to give "special recognition" to the civic leader.
"He's told me to 'Sell, sell, sell,'" he said. "This committee is the only one about wealth creation."
During his initial presentation, he skipped (deliberately?) through the PowerPoint display showing that nearly $1.2 million has been spent on these missions, later returning to emphasize that $1.4-billion in wealth has been generated from them.
How that $1.4-billioin was calculated was never really explained; however, I suspect Thompson and his economic development posse included commitments that have not yet come to fruition and may or may not happen.
He did refer to a Collision hi-tech conference that is coming to Toronto next May for three years, which is a good thing.
However, I would caution the Tory/Thompson duo that if they don't deal with the proliferation of drug dealers and escalating violence in the city's downtown core in particular, that conference could go the way of the dodo bird like the one that recently pulled out of San Francisco.
Just this past week, the city by the Bay — plagued with homeless, drug dealers, violence and defecation on the streets — lost a major mecial conference, one that drew 15,000 participants and generated $40-million in wealth.
But then I'm guessing Thompson has been too busy jet-setting and creating wealth to notice the same thing is happening here.
SLevy@postmedia.com