Council is not about left or right camps

Re Rookies on Toronto city council could hold balance of power, Oct 23 It was a surprise to me to see a recent article in the Star that subjectively lumped councillors into left and right camps while ignoring the role that multiple councillors play to bring people together toward the centre. As someone who has consistently worked with our labour partners to support working people, opposing the sell off and privatization of public services, working to enact progressive policy changes, and differing with a majority of my colleagues on some key issues, I feel compelled to respond. While singular votes do not provide a full picture of what actually happens at council, you will find that as the last term progressed, some on the “right” have voted with the Mayor less and some on the “left” have voted with the Mayor more. The arbitrary labels of left and right do not reflect reality and as someone who has been labelled, often incorrectly since immigrating to Canada many years ago, I reject this notion completely. But more than this, it does the public and our democracy a disservice when we turn toward an “Americanization” of our political system of opposing left and right camps — the idea of which we should oppose wholeheartedly.

Torontonians elected 25 councillors and a mayor, many of whom with strong mandates to work together to make our city more affordable, livable and safe. With all that has happened over the last few months and with the start of a new term, it is incumbent on all of us to demonstrate that council can work together for the betterment of our city. Deputy Mayor Ana Bailao was re-elected to Toronto City Council representing Ward 9 — Davenport