Since Mayor Rob Ford took office and declared the city “open for business” lobbying activity at city hall has exploded.
Three times more lobbyists signed up with the city in 2012 as in 2010. The number of subjects they’re pushing has doubled. Allegations of misconduct have tripled. And the daily communications logged between lobbyists and public office holders appears to be 10 times higher last year than the year before Ford took office, an analysis by the Star has shown.
And with the numbers on the rise, lobbyist registrar Linda Gehrke worries there is dwindling awareness around the “ethical” guidelines set out in the code of conduct.
But for many councillors, the most worrisome result of the new reality is that average citizens and community associations — people without the means to hire Bay Street professionals to plead their case — are being shut out.
“Unless you can hire a lobbyist, you can’t get a vote through the mayor’s office,” said left-wing councillor Adam Vaughan, a staunch opponent of the mayor’s.
It used to just be “the big money items. Now it’s every item. Two lobbyists were just working the floor of council on whether to widen a sidewalk,” he said referring to the recent debate over valet parking at Pusateri’s.
This year, even the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association felt they couldn’t go it alone during budget negotiations.
For the second year in a row, Toronto Fire was being targeted for cuts. The service stood to permanently lose 101 currently vacant jobs, five trucks and a station, at a time when the union was begging for more resources to deal with a booming population.
President Ed Kennedy tried to plead his case to the decision makers, but he couldn’t get meetings with a sizeable chunk of councillors, particularly on the right and those recently elected.
“And we didn’t seem to have the ear of the mayor’s office like we wish we would have. Like we had before,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy then called Sussex Strategy Group, the most prominent, powerful and sought-after lobbyist firm working city hall. The mayor backed down on the cuts.
