Responsibility is key

There’s no question Toronto, the fourth-largest city in North America, is playing in the big leagues when it comes to competing for foreign investment.

But that doesn’t mean the chair of the city’s economic development committee, Councillor Michael Thompson, should get carte blanche on spending to promote it.

Instead, he should recognize that he can achieve results while also watching more carefully how he spends taxpayer dollars. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Fiscal responsibility on this file appears to be least of Thompson’s concerns. It shouldn’t be.

First, as reported by the Star’s Samantha Beattie, Thompson spent $75,338 in 2016 and 2017, more than the previous chair, any city councillors and even the mayor.

Just as troubling as the amount was the fact that half the money spent ($38,482) remains unexplained.

That’s because under current city policy, travel receipts filed through councillors’ offices are automatically made public online, but expenses paid for by city divisions are not.

Why that is so could not even be explained, never mind justified, by a city spokesperson. That has to change.

Second, although Thompson insists the money was well spent, a close examination of the expenses that are public puts that in doubt.

For example, he almost always claimed the full allowance for food and other expenses, even when meals were provided. And he was reimbursed for cellphone roaming charges, including one of $2,000, when those costs are avoidable.

Further, he stayed in a Hollywood hotel at a cost of $919 a night, even though Mayor John Tory chose to stay at a different hotel and billed the city much less for the same trip. It all smacks of entitlement. Tory, who named Thompson as economic development chair and is now defending him, needs to rein Thompson in.

Anything less would be irresponsible.