These are fair points. From what we know so far, we need to consider three things.
1. Was there any romantic behaviour between the two when on taxpayer-funded overnight trips? Hotel rooms, dinners, etc. Also, did the staffer need to be on these trips, or was her attendance in the junkets suspect? In either scenarios, this would be a misuse of public money.
To the extent that this was the case; its certainly not ideal; but ya know, IMIT gives away tens of millions each and every year to big business, so do subsidized water rates for heavy industry, so do subsidies for the World Cup (there is a tourism/marketing argument, I'm not convinced on the payback, but I digress); point being....... If the argument is one over perhaps a single plane ticket, or per diem for food for a night; I think we'd really be missing the big picture for the small. I don't endorse any politician or staffer mooching the public dime; but I'm not nearly as phased by $1,500 in questionable spending as I am 50M
2. What was the power dynamic like in the office? Was blackmail involved?
Sure, but at this point we have no evidence of any 'power play'. I don't see our soon to be former Mayor as Harvey Weinstein. The power imbalance is real enough, and unavoidable on its face. Its not as if I think this sort of thing is a good idea; I'm just aware its incredibly common; and mostly consensual. We need not infantalize this woman, any woman (or man) and suggest its impossible for them to make their own choices. If there was any clear evidence of coercion or tying sexual favours to employment or advancement, that is a serious matter; but again, we don't have any evidence of that at this time
3. The ex-staffer reportedlty left Tory's office for a position at Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, working on the FIFA World Cup bid. Rogers has has a 37.5% stake in MLSE. Was Tory involved in getting the staffer a job at MLSE, and were promises made between Tory and MLSE?
IF Tory secured a job for someone, in exchange for access to the public purse or other favourable treatment, that would be both unacceptable and I would argue, illegal. However, we have no evidence of that. Its certainly possible that he phoned a friend and asked if they had work for such a person........(though we don't know that to be the case either); but there is nothing illegal or even bad about that; if your former employer, current employer or ex-lover helps get you a good job through their connections, that's actually a pretty good deal if you can snag it. Only if there was evidence of quid pro quo would we have a problem.
You can bet David Rider and the Star are looking into these possibilities, and more.
Entirely possible, but I'd honestly prefer he didn't bother. There are so many more genuinely scandalous things in this world to focus energy on...........
I want a story on the front page every day on the amount of homelessness, inadequate shelter capacity, insane waiting lists for affordable housing, and the complete bungling of the Housing Now program, before I want to know if Tory called in a favour.
I want a story a day on the record number of Food Bank users and the anemic level of social benefits, until we raise said benefits materially. I want that story before we discuss the Premier's sexual choices.
I just think there are much bigger fish to fry. I'm not giving Tory a pass, I just want to fail him for the bad things he did to my City, not to his wife or former lover; that's for them to address (assuming no crimes were committed), not me.
torontosun.com
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