TORONTO – Toronto city council voted 32 to 13 to issue a request for quotations to contract out curb side collection west of Yonge Street, and litter and recycling pick up in city parks.
It also approved issuing an RFQ to expand the private litter vacuuming services. City staff calculate that doing so will save about $8-million a year, and will result in about 300 “temporary” workers losing their jobs.
“At the of the day, this is a huge victory,” Mayor Ford told reporters following the vote. “Like I said, $60-million [over the contract length] taxpayers are going to save, and we’re not going to go through these 40 day strikes.”
In a significant concession, the Ford administration backed off a contentious proposal to have city staff sign off on the winning bid, instead of city council.
Staff had argued that sending the matter back to council would delay the process by six months and shave $3-million off savings, but councillors had raised concerns about the expedited process.
Mayor Rob Ford kicked off a day-long debate by ratcheting up the rhetoric.
“We’re going to divide ourselves up into two groups, this is going to be very simple for the taxpayers to see. You’re going to have one side of council that is going to support high taxes, big spending, out of control union contracts,” said Ford to jeers from the audience, which was packed with union workers. “We’re going to have the other side of council that is going to demonstrate restraint in spending … respect for taxpayers money, that want to bring accountability to City Hall, that are sick and tired of the tax and spend socialists.”
“I hope, for the taxpayers’ sake, that we contract out garbage everything west of Yonge Street by the end of today,” said Mayor Ford, who was clearly in a sparring mood, beckoning with his hands for rivals to pepper him with questions, after he dismissed an inaudible comment from Councillor Shelley Carroll.
“I just look at where it’s coming from and I understand,” said Ford.
Now city staff will write the terms of the contract, to which private haulers will submit bids. City council will then award the winning bid, likely by the end of next year, said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who chairs the public works and infrastructure committee. He said council will not be voting on the details of the contract.
The Toronto Environmental Alliance continued to raise the alarm about the process.
“We’re back to a quarter-billion contract … to be awarded without council looking at it without signing off. It’s a bizarre way to run a city,” said Franz Hartmann, executive director of TEA.
A recent survey by Ipsos Reid found that 61% of respondents are in favour of contracting out garbage west of Yonge Street to the Etobicoke border, versus 30% who are against it. In Etobicoke, where garbage has been picked up privately since the mid-90s, 75% of respondents were in favour of the plan.
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