Councillor Michelle Berardinetti speaks at Monday’s executive committee meeting while Mayor Rob Ford looks on. (Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun)
During Monday night’s debate over Toronto’s 5-cent bag fee, Mayor Rob Ford came over to have a chat with Councillor Michelle Berardinetti. It ended with the two laughing heartily.
That seemed usual because Ford was trying to kill the bag fee while Berardinetti, who doesn’t want to scrap the fee, was trying to get approval of a plan to beg the retailers to donate a portion of the bag profits back to the city’s tree canopy efforts.
Berardinetti was about to lose the vote, Ford was about to win. No matter what the issue still has to go to council where there could be a very different outcome (story here).
So why Ford and Berardinetti laughing?
“He said I was kicking him out of the sandbox,” Berardinetti said, when asked about the private conversation between her and the mayor.
“I’m not kicking him out of the sandbox. I wish that he would still play, we can play nicely in the sandbox and I wish that he would support it.”
Berardinetti – a member of Ford’s executive committee – said she understands Ford’s position on the bag fee but she stressed council will have a different position.
“I know the majority of councillors support keeping because it has been so effective,” she said.
City council will deal with the bag fee at its next meeting on June 6 and 7.
Categories: General
When your playing with the Mayor in the sandbox make sure you play with “common sense” rather
than the “5 cent” bag approach. The “Mayor” has been in office long enough for council to know
it’s not the spend,spend, spend approach as it was previously.
Nickel and diming the taxpayers does not make for a city “shopping friendly”. And if Councillor Michelle Berardinetti is that serious to keep playing in the ”sandbox”, I suggest every Councillor
that disagrees with this Rob Ford to cut the particular “nickel and diming” of taxpayers monies, for
the bags…….begin with contributing a portion of your income to the “replenishing the tree fund”, and maybe you can stay in the “sandbox” and on sunny days, have your donated salary with the trees you you yourself contributed too be used as shade……..then you perhaps can play there all day and not get sunburned……
I hate paying anything any store to carry my groceries, or merchandise
This councilor
Is just trying to make a name for herself, like the dead brained stints. The sooner they get the boot, the better. Let go play in millers sand box. Along with his overpaid union buddies.
Read my lips………..”Axe the Bag Tax”!! Deduct a portion of your income…..contribute to the “tree fund”. Enough said.