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COVER STORY

GRADING RESTAURANTS AND COUNCILLORS

by Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor
November29, 1999

Toronto Health board chair, John Filion wants Toronto to adopt a rating or grading system for the city's restaurants. Grades would be based upon cleanliness of the establishment as well as the quality of food handling and compliance with existing laws. The grades would have to be prominently posted in restaurants as well as easily accessible to the public on such sources as the internet.

We now essentially have a pass/fail system where eateries are either closed down for infractions or failing to remedy infractions of health by laws or allowed to operate. A grading system would give the public more information and patrons would have more information when deciding where to dine.

The restaurant industry is generally critical of the proposal. The primary objection being that the rating given a restaurant would be the result of a subjective decision made by an inspector. There is merit in this argument.

It is one thing for an inspector to determine which restaurants pose a risk and which ones do not. It is another to distinguish between a Grade A establishement and a Grade B; or to put it another way, between a clean restaurant and a cleaner one. In the end however, addditional information provided to the consumer should be paramount.

But why restrict giving grades to restaurants? Why not grade Toronto councillors? Unlike MPs and MPPs, each resident of the City of Toronto has 2 councillors in their ward (except East York which has 3). The councillors in a ward have overlapping jurisdiction and residents who seek the assistance of "their councillor" have a choice. But are citizens in a position to decide which councillor to go to for help? Perhaps they are, but if grades are necessary in order to make an informed choice about where to have lunch, then they are equally important in determining where to go when your garbage is not picked up.

Of course the same criticisms will apply; deciding which councillors should get the highest grade will be too subjective. But, the reason the councillors got elected in the first place was due to the subjective views of the voters. There is only one way to grade the councillors; since council is democratically elected, the people should decide the grades. We would ask readers to circle the grades and fax or email their answers to us. The results will be published in a future edition of Toronto Free Press.

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