Civilian TCHC board members to resign
Posted March 3, 2011 2:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – All seven civilian board members of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation will be resigning.
The announcement came during the board’s emergency meeting, Thursday, in the wake of an auditor general report on the social housing agency’s expenses.
At the meeting, board chairman David Mitchell gave his report saying that all seven civilian members will step down.
“I and my fellow citizen members will be submitting our resignations at TCHC directors with immediate effect to city council,” chairman David Mitchell said.
Mitchell criticized Mayor Rob Ford saying he only received an official letter on Thursday. The board also blamed the media coverage as part of the reason for stepping down.
“Unfortunately, the present political reality has made it untenable to effectively govern,” he said.
The announcement was emotional for some tenants who spoke up to actually support the board.
“You want good people to work for you, you give them perks, that’s a fact of business life, it’s just the way it is,” one man said.
The resignation was something Mayor Rob Ford asked for after the spending scandal — which the auditor general called a “blatant disrespect for taxpayer money” — surfaced earlier this week.
Thousands of taxpayer money was spent on things like boat cruises, manicures, pedicures, spas, staff meetings and two Christmas parties, and the total of that bill was around $90,000.
“I’m not going to condone $50,000 Christmas parties and all the other nonsense that went on. Everything’s on the table,” Ford said on Wednesday.
“I’m going to look at everything,” Ford added. “The first thing that we have to deal with is the civilian board members, their CEO and the only thing to do is resign. Obviously, if they condone that sort of reckless spending like obviously they do, I don’t as mayor.”
Ford said as a councillor, he had toured several TCHC properties and would consistently find small items, such as a new screen or a new door that tenants needed. However, he said he was always told that there were no funds to pay for the repairs.
He also said he may consider privatizing the TCHC.
