Crack cocaine vs Council Corruption

 “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.”

Top that, Oshawa.

You’d have to live under a rock not to know about poor Rob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, as he tries to survive a crack smoking video scandal (alleged) that has already resulted in Toronto being the butt of jokes on the U.S. talk show circuit and will, in all likelihood, lead to Ford’s resignation.

Actually, those people living under rocks will know about this as well. Some with first hand information, I reckon.

Oshawa City Council has its own scandal to deal with, though the story of back room real estate deals and threatened whistle blowers (alleged) isn’t likely to push Ford off the front pages outside of the Motor City.

Not in a GM town, anyway.

It does, however, provide a little more mortar to cement Oshawa’s reputation of having the most fractious and dysfunctional council this side of, well, Toronto.

The shit hit the fan May 16 when Ron Foster, the City’s auditor general, released a report claiming City Manager Bob Duignan misled council on the value of lands on Wentworth Street the Public Works department is eyeing for a new depot. Foster is also alleging senior staff tried to hush-hush the revelations and that Duignan threatened to fire him over the report, despite the fact Foster reports directly to Council.

The issue went to council Tuesday night, and our city leaders decided to hire Toronto municipal law expert George Rust-D’Eye – helluva name, no? – to investigate the allegations. Not that Council could come together on that vote either, as the motion to hire Rust-D’Eye (who has a history here) passed by the slimmest of margins: 5-4.

Oshawa is no stranger to dysfunction, though most of the truly childish antics have tended to take place near the end of political regimes – Nancy Diamond’s final years and John Gray’s last year come to mind – so this latest scandal doesn’t bode well for Mayor John  Henry, who will be asking voters for another term next year.

Already we have tons of chatter on Facebook on the issue, as well as people waving “CORRUPTION” signs in front of city hall. But this scandal is not in the class of, say, ass grabbing, public intoxication or crack smoking videos. Really though, how could it be?  Rob Ford and Toronto City Council are in a class of their own, don’t you think?

Now if there is a video of Duignan and Foster discussing the merits of this works depot deal, and if said video belongs to drug dealers and we get citizens to pony up a few hundred thousand dollars to buy it …

Still not in Ford’s league. But kudos for trying.

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On a sad note, I noticed For Lease signs on a downtown Oshawa landmark recently. Murray Johnston, the go-to place for men’s suits since 1917, is no more.

I ran into store owner Peter McGill, who has worked there since 1977, at the Mayflower Chinese restaurant the other day and asked him what happened.

“When you’re not making money for a couple of years,” he answered, his voice trailing off. “I really wanted to make one hundred years. But we made 96 and I think that’s pretty good.”

It is good, Peter. I hope to see you back downtown soon.