September 16, 2002
Naïve Etobicoke public school board supporters were surprised to find their trustee had thrown in his lot with the dysfunctional trustees who refuse to balance the $90 million deficit budget.
Etobicoke trustee Bruce Davis, elected to his first term in November of 2000, is much more than a single vote to the 11 trustees who maintain a stranglehold grip over the Toronto District School Board. He makes it all possible.
Like the infamous New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus that caused such turmoil for the board in the `80s, 11 present day trustees dubbed "dysfunctional" by the mainline media hold exactly half of the board’s 22 seats. The 11 therefore exert control over each and every vote--because motions fail on a tie.
Dysfunctional or merely rogue, radical or just progressive, at least voters had some idea where the other 10 trustees stood prior to election.
That does not seem to be the case for rookie Trustee Bruce Davis.
…"Although we were very supportive of the government’s actions with regard to education, we decided that our vote would go to the candidate who wasn’t flying any particular flag," Kati Smith said in a letter to the Toronto Star.
"Not too long after the election, Davis announced that his views had changed. As indicated in the media, he is now a member of what has come to be known as The Caucus."
Dyed-in-the-wool in political stripe and absolute masters of the technique known as filibuster, the 11-member caucus could wear anybody down.
Some current members, Sheila Carey-Meagher, for one, were kicking around when the NDP caucus was doing its strategic damage to public education in Toronto.
Others like Paula Fletcher, Elizabeth Hill and Stan Nemiroff are members of the Communist Party of Canada. But they are at least sincere in their beliefs and didn’t try to hide their leanings while campaigning out on the election hustings. Nor did they go turncoat on their voters after Election Day.
So who exactly is this Bruce Davis, and from whence did he come?
In these days when publishing a newsletter entitles you to claim journalist status, Davis is a founding father of Urban Intelligence Corp., a municipal information, research, urban planning and government relations consulting firm that publishes three newsletters.
Nova Res Urbis (News of the City) may be mostly only available by fax or email, but costs $269 per subscription.
Developers, political lobbyists and some councillors dive into Nova Res Urbis like into the proverbial pot of honey, because that’s where all the hardcore insider lobbyist information is available, and therefore where the money is made.
In its January 2001 News in Brief item entitled Class clown, NOW magazine described Davis as a "Grit organizer, Mel insider, political lobbyist and recently elected school trustee".
"Need a problem fixed or a tip on how to get that municipal contract? Davis is your guy," said NOW.
"If I wanted to hire a trustee, I’d want to hire someone who was political lobbyist who can actually get things done," Davis was quoted in the same article.
"He may have to tread lightly on other issues, he says, where his business is concerned. `I’ve got to make a judgment whether I want to necessarily tackle some of the issues that may have an impact on my business.’
"Hmm. No trustees NOW talked to are willing to say it, but a skeptic might suggest Davis is putting his financial interests ahead of his duty as an elected official."
And then there’s the politically plotted demise of Brother Jeff Lyons, Toronto City Hall lobbyist numero uno until getting caught up in a sticky web courtesy of a civic election financing scandal that surfaced last May.
"How did this affair make it to the front pages?" asked respected municipal affairs scribe Don Wanagas. "It would appear that one of Lyon’s chief competitors in the cutthroat world of municipal influence-peddling actually had a big hand in firing the arrow that pierced the deal-maker’s once impenetrable armour.
It seems that a front-page report carried in Novae Res Urbis advised that financial statements filed with the city clerk indicated that "nearly half of the successful candidates" for Toronto council in 2000 received money from current and former employees of the legal firm Morrison Brown Sosnovitch. The law office just so happens to be where Lyons--who’s also a lawyer--used to hang his corporate chapeau.
"This brings us to Bruce Davis," Wanagas wrote. "His name is being mentioned a lot right now because he’s been competing with Lyons for clients ever since amalgamation turned the new city of Toronto into a fiscal fondue party where everybody’s fighting to get a fork into the pot."
During the noisy funeral dirge of Brother Lyons, Davis was in London, England where Urban Intelligence was expanding its growing consulting business.
This November marks election year, and Davis is rumoured to have his eye on the City Hall seat of Coun. Peter Milczyn. Voters may be better served by the dignified and quiet Milczyn than they would be by opportunism.
Meanwhile, getting back to Kati Smith and her disappointment with the rookie trustee from Etobicoke, who "decided that our vote should go to the candidate who wasn’t flying any particular flag."
Guys not flying flags don’t necessarily make good elected officials.
No Paula Fletchers and Stan Nemiroffs, the Bruce Davis’ are the Liberals of the political spectrum. Never the standard flag bearers, they put themselves and their political careers before their own constituents.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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