Karen Stintz wanders in to school board Territory

I have come out in support of John Tory's candidacy for the office of Mayor of Toronto. However, this should not suggest that I cannot appreciate the plans coming from other candidates. Sarah Thomson, in particular, I think has some very thoughtful ideas. But yesterday, Karen Stintz, the former Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), came out with an innovative and ingenious idea. She proposed opening access to city and school board owned fields.

Some of what Stintz is proposing will seek assistance from the private sector to repair and improve fields. While not a guarantee to work, this would be welcome, as it would finally get away from the Miller-Ford record of raising property taxes and begging the higher orders of government for more public cash.

More importantly, Stintz is proposing consolidating operations between city and board owned sport facilities, while also limiting a board's ability to sell property in areas where fields are scarce. While this weighs into an area that is arguably out of the reach of the Office of the Mayor, Stintz should be commended for finally standing up to school board chairs, in particular Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Chair Chris Bolton and his allies like York Centre Trustee Howard Kaplan, who have long advocated spending while selling key assets. The Miller-Ford administration was always too fearful to wade into such waters.

The fact is, citizens do not care who owns their public fields. They just want them to be there when the need them. Having the City and the four school boards work together is absolutely necessary to make this happen. This will prevent future Mayor and school board representatives from having to turn their pockets inside out in front of the Premier; something we have seen far to much of during the tenures of both Bolton and Ford.

Kudos to Ms. Stintz. I still intend to vote for John, but I do hope this is an idea that he is willing to implement should he become the next Mayor.