16 Critical Toronto City Council Votes, and How your Councillors Voted...

The Toronto City Council votes many times a month on various issues that impact Torontonians. Councillor Rob Ford has captured the results of these votes and how each Councillor voted on his website at Council Votes.

I took a look at the votes, and I pulled out 16 that I felt Torontonians would be most curious about today. Take a look at the Votes, the Results and who actually voted FOR or AGAINST the issues, and see if your Councillor truly is representing your best interests.

Here they are for your review (sorted from recent to oldest):

#1 Jan-10 - Do you agree to give Councillors a pay raise in 2010?
Yes: 22
No: 16
Absent: 7
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted YES:

Ainslie
Bussin
Carroll
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Del Grande
Di Giorgio
Filion
Heaps
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Moscoe
Pantalone
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Thompson
Vaughan


#2 Jan-10 - Do you agree that 1,254 City employees should be able to spend $9 million in 2010 with Tax Payer-funded Master Cards when the City does NOT have a list of cardholders nor review the purchases?
Yes: 30
No: 3
Absent: 12
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted YES:

Ainslie
Ashton
Augimeri
Carroll
Cho
Davis
Del Grande
Di Giorgio
Hall
Heaps
Holyday
Jenkins
Kelly
Lee
Lindsay Luby
McConnell
Milczyn
Minnan-Wong
Moscoe
Palacio
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Saundercook
Shiner
Stintz
Thompson
Vaughan
Walker


#3 Dec-09 - Do you support eliminating union and corporate donations to councillors and mayor's election campaigns?
Yes: 29
No: 12
Absent: 4
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Augimeri
Del Grande
Di Giorgio
Hall
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
Minnan-Wong
Moscoe
Ootes
Parker
Perruzza


#4 Dec-09 - Do you support public disclosure of all contribution amounts over $25 (eligible for a tax receipt)?
Yes: 12
No: 27
Absent: 6
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Ainslie
Augimeri
Carroll
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Hall
Heaps
Holyday
Kelly
Lee
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Minnan-Wong
Moeser
Moscoe
Ootes
Pantalone
Perks
Saundercook
Stintz
Thompson


#5 Aug-09 - Do you agree that we should NOT give each Councillor $25,000 of taxpayers money to be able to sue someone?
Yes: 28
No: 2
Absent: 15
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

De Baeremaeker
Pantalone


#6 Aug-09 - Should EMS (Ambulance) be an essential service?
Yes: 20
No: 19
Absent: 7
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who voted NO:

Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Giambrone
Heaps
Holyday
Kelly
Mammoliti
Mihevc
Miller
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Vaughan


#7 Aug-09 - Should garbage collection be an essential service?
Yes: 9
No: 29
Absent: 7
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who voted NO:

Ainslie
Ashton
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Feldman
Filion
Giambrone
Hall
Heaps
Holyday
Jenkins
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
Mihevc
Milczyn
Miller
Minnan-Wong
Moeser
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Vaughan


#8 Aug-09 - Do you agree to give Councillor Sandra Bussin $175,000 to sue a local newspaper in her ward for defamation of character?
Yes: 25
No: 5
Absent: 15
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted YES:

Ashton
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Feldman
Filion
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
Minnan-Wong
Moeser
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Saundercook
Stintz
Thompson
Vaughan


#9 Jul-09 - Do you agree with the settlement between David Miller and the unions, local 416 & local 79, which gives them pay increases in each of the next three years and allows current employees to continue to bank 18 sick days a year?
Yes: 21
No: 18
Absent: 6
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted YES:

Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Holyday
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Pantalone
Perks
Perruzza
Saundercook
Vaughan


#10 May-09 - Do you agree with spending $6 million to remove one lane on Jarvis St. and replacing it with bike lanes?
Yes: 28
No: 16
Absent: 1
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who voted YES:

Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Milczyn
Miller
Moeser
Moscoe
Nunziata
Palacio
Pantalone
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Vaughan

I thought I would throw in a great picture of Toronto City Hall here as a quick intermission...

#11 Mar-09 - Do you support reducing staffing levels in all areas, except Police, EMS and Fire Service, by 2%, for savings of $80 million?
Yes: 8
No: 36
Absent: 1
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Ainslie
Ashton
Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Del Grande
Di Giorgio
Feldman
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Moeser
Moscoe
Ootes
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Shiner
Stintz
Vaughan
Walker


#12 Mar-09 - Do you want to reduce the Mayor's office budget to $2.4 million, for savings of $200,000?
Yes: 13
No: 32
Absent: 0
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Ainslie
Ashton
Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Milczyn
Miller
Moeser
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Vaughan
Walker


#13 Mar-09 - Do you support reducing the Councillors' Global budget to $30,000 for savings of apprx. $1 million?
Yes: 13
No: 32
Absent: 0
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Ainslie
Ashton
Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
Lee
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Minnan-Wong
Moeser
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Vaughan
Walker


#14 Mar-09 - Do you support eliminating funding for plant watering services at City Hall for savings of $36,000?
Yes: 12
No: 33
Absent: 0
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Ainslie
Ashton
Augimeri
Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Feldman
Filion
Fletcher
Giambrone
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
Lindsay Luby
Mammoliti
McConnell
Mihevc
Milczyn
Miller
Moeser
Moscoe
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Thompson
Vaughan
Walker


#15 Feb-09 - Do you support Mayor Miller appointing 12 people to the "Invest Toronto" Board knowing that 5 out of the 12 people donated to his re-election campaign?
Yes: 35
No: 1
Absent: 9
RESULT: PASS (YES)

Councillors who shamefully voted YES:

Ashton
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Del Grande
Di Giorgio
Feldman
Fletcher
Giambrone
Grimes
Hall
Heaps
Holyday
Kelly
Lee
Lindsay Luby
McConnell
Mihevc
Milczyn
Miller
Minnan-Wong
Moeser
Moscoe
Nunziata
Pantalone
Parker
Perks
Perruzza
Rae
Saundercook
Shiner
Thompson
Vaughan
Walker


#16 Dec-08 - Do you want to go through the Capital Budget item by item?
Yes: 15
No: 17
Absent: 13
RESULT: FAIL (NO)

Councillors who shamefully voted NO:

Bussin
Carroll
Cho
Davis
De Baeremaeker
Di Giorgio
Hall
Heaps
Kelly
McConnell
Mihevc
Miller
Moscoe
Pantalone
Perks
Rae
Saundercook


So, what do you think?  How do you feel about your Toronto City Councillors now?  Do you agree with how they voted?  Or are you disgusted?  And here's a critical question for you, do their votes align with what they say in public?  Do they align with what they tell you when they're going door-to-door and asking for your vote?  Just some things to make you go, hmm... (yes yes... 90s...)

I did some quick stats based on the 16 votes that I showcased above, and I've come up with a table listing the number of times each Councillor voted against something that was in the Public's best interest (Councillors whose names were mentioned the most times above).

Here it is:

Take a look at the top 20 Councillors or so on the list...  I don't think you'll be surprised at who you see there... (hint hint Budget Chief Shelley Carroll, Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, Howard Moscoe, Miller, Giambrone, Saundercook, Mammoliti to name a few...)

One final item...  I also took the liberty of creating a table of the Councillors who were Absent the most at these 16 Critical Votes.  Them being absent, at least to me, is the equivalent of them voting against things that were in the Public's best interest, as they were not there to represent the people in their wards...

Here it is:

For more information on each of these Votes (like who voted the other way and etc.), as well as to see ALL of the Council Votes, take a quick trip to RobFord.ca and check out the Council Votes link (I've provided it above).  It's definitely worth the trip...

--jackandcokewithalime

PS:  If you liked this post, let me know.  There are many other votes that I didn't include here (that I would have loved to include, but I didn't want the post to be too overwhelming), so I can do another follow-up article which includes those, if you are interested...  Drop me a line via a comment or an email and let me know.

Please Note:  For Vote #2, I believe there was a typo on the Rob Ford website where it said, "...should be able to spend $9 million in 2009 with Tax Payer-funded...", but I believe that it was meant to say, "...should be able to spend $9 million in 2010 with Tax Payer-funded...". If I've assumed this incorrectly, please let me know and I will correct it. Thanks.

(Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcaven/2818860328/sizes/o/ by Michael Cavén on flickr (City Hall)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photopia/4152516217/sizes/l/ by HiMY SYeD / photopia on flickr (Council Chambers)
Copyright: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)