| January 31, 2009 -
"City's
$93-million snow job" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Del Grande feels the city
certainly has not gotten off to a good start. "I feel with all
the snow they had last year, overall they did a better job
than so far this year," he said. "This year between sidewalks
and windrows, it's been terrible." Read Full Story...
|
| January 21, 2009 -
"Council's $980,000 gift" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande, who voted
against the proposal to give the hospital the $980,000 to buy
the laneway, said the city should not be responsible for
hospital funding but if they want to be, they should at least
discuss the policy before handing over the money carte
blanche. Read Full Story...
|
| December 23, 2008 -
"Merit pay
blues at City Hall" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
So much for Miller's broom.
As Coun. Mike Del Grande notes: "I think that broom is
probably in splinters." Read Full Story...
|
| December 11, 2008 -
"Big black
capital budget hole" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
For one thing, those new jobs
Miller talks about are more dream than reality. As Coun. Mike
Del Grande observed, the city is not spending anything more
"significant" on capital projects than in the
past. Read Full Story...
|
| October 31, 2008 - "Road Repairs
in the Slow Lane"
(The Toronto Sun: Bryn Weese) |
| |
"The frustration is that the
basics continue to take second stage to pet projects," Del
Grande said, noting while only $173 million is being spent on
roads this year, $70 million is being spent on bike lanes over
the next four years, and $100 million to cut greenhouse gas
emissions. Read Full Story...
|
| October 30, 2008 -
"Repair
roads, rinks, not Nathan Phillips Square:
councillor"
(The National Post: Allison Hanes) |
| |
But Councillor Mike Del Grande
(Scarborough Agincourt) argued the city should not be
increasing its debt, raising property taxes, creating new
taxes and imposing user fees without re-evaluating what is
truly necessary spending. Read Full Story...
|
| October 28, 2008 -
"Beat the
taxman, toss it now" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande said he
suspects it will not be an easy transition to the new garbage
tax scheme. He's already getting "phone calls all over the
place" about the bins and the pink tags. Read Full Story...
|
| October 19, 2008 - "Flushing will
cost 9% more"
(The Toronto Sun: Bryn Weese) |
| |
But Coun. Mike Del Grande said if
any of the user-pay customers are being told to flush their
system while the city replaces lead service connections, it's
not fair to make them pay more Read Full Story...
|
| October 19, 2008 -
"Raiding
the reserve funds" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
At the community services
committee last week, a plan was approved to yank $2.9 million
-- virtually all the money left in the city's Social Housing
Stabilization Reserve Fund -- to subsidize dozens of homeless
projects should funding not come through from the feds by the
end of next March. Read Full Story...
|
| October 19, 2008 -
"Raiding
the reserve funds" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
At the community services
committee last week, a plan was approved to yank $2.9 million
-- virtually all the money left in the city's Social Housing
Stabilization Reserve Fund -- to subsidize dozens of homeless
projects should funding not come through from the feds by the
end of next March. Read Full Story...
|
| September 24, 2008 -
"City
Considers $1 Tax For Emergency
Preparedness" (City TV Staff) |
| |
"I think citizens are well
prepared to fund a pool of money that the city would
administer, and when we get these types of issues and
concerns, et cetera, then there's a pool of money to help deal
with it," Mike Del Grande outlined Wednesday. Read Full Story...
|
| July 10, 2008 -
"Expense
account policy set to go before city council" (The National Post: Allison
Hanes) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande
(Scarborough Agincourt) shares Mr. Ford’s views on restraint
when it comes to taxpayer-funded expense accounts. He cuts a
cheque each year to the clerk’s office to reimburse free food
offered at council meetings and finds most of his supplies at
the Dollar Store.
Read Full Story...
|
| May 27, 2008 - "Filling the
Panhandlers Cup"
(The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
It's not just the obscene amount
of money being poured into the problem with no targets, but
the signal Socialist Silly Hall sends to the public with this
plan -- namely that beggars have more rights than hardworking
taxpaying citizens. Read Full Story...
|
| April 23, 2008 -
"Discipline Lacking in TTCs IT
Spending"
(The National Post: Peter Kuitenbrouwer) |
| |
"It's very disconcerting," said
Councillor Michael Del Grande, the committee's vice-chair. "I
have great concerns that with projects of an IT nature the TTC
has no grasp of how long projects are going to take or how
much they will cost."
Read Full Story...
|
| April 22, 2008 -
"North York
Arts centre cost taxpayers $1.25 million in
2007"
(The Scarborough Mirror) |
| |
"The mayor's blue ribbon panel
talked about looking at assets strategically and determining
whether you keep them or sell them - well as long as I've been
on audit committee this has been coming up over and over
again," said Ward 39 (Scarborough Agincourt) Councillor Mike
Del Grande.
Read Full Story...
|
| April 1, 2008 - "Council's Joke is on
Us" (The
Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Del Grande figures the actual tax
levy is another 15%, if one factors in the land transfer and
vehicle ownership taxes -- expected to raise $175 million this
year. Read Full Story...
|
| March 27, 2008 - "Fiscal Fruitcakes Laud
Budget"
(The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande so
eloquently described, just a case of "collective euphoric
amnesia" orchestrated by their puppeteer, the
mayor. Read Full Story...
|
| March 3, 2008 - "Toronto's Budget: Show me
the money!"
(The Toronto Sun: Theo Caldwell) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande, the only
chartered accountant on Toronto city council, has requested
complete budget data for years, to no avail. Moreover, despite
accounting credentials that are unique among his peers, Del
Grande remains excluded from the city’s budget
committee. Read Full Story...
|
| January 27, 2008 -
"David
Miller's money juggle" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
There's also newly proposed fees
to take down private trees, the garbage levy slated to begin
in June, higher water rates and new recreational user
fees. "Life is great (at City Hall) as long as the
outreached hand gets more," says Coun. Mike Del Grande. "It's
a pay as you go if you're in the middle
class."
Read Full Story...
|
| December 9, 2007 -
"Searching for City Savings" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
I suspect they simply don't have
the time to sift through the hyperbole and won't be in a
position to "peel back the layers of the onion" to find the
real savings, as Coun. Mike Del Grande puts it. Read Full Story...
|
| November 21, 2007 -
"Unhooking Downspouts May Cost
$65M" (The
National Post: Kelly Grant) |
| |
Toronto Water estimated it could
cost as much as $65-million -- or the equivalent of a 10%
increase in water rates -- to unhook that many downspouts from
the city's combined sewer system. Read Full Story...
|
| October 23, 2007 -
"Pay a bit more, Miller tells Toronto
taxpayers" (The Globe & Mail: Jeff
Gray) |
| |
Councillors endorse mayor's
controversial land-transfer and vehicle licensing fees 26 to
19 after bitter, day-long debate Read Full Story...
|
| October 23, 2007 -
"Council approves new
taxes" (The Scarborough Mirror: David
Nickle) |
| |
In
the 26-19 council vote that approved the land transfer tax,
Norm Kelly (Ward 40, Scarborough-Agincourt), Raymond Cho (Ward
42, Scarborough-Rouge River), Glen De Baeremaeker (Ward 38,
Scarborough Centre) and Adrian Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough
Southwest) supported it, while Paul Ainslie (Ward 43,
Scarborough East), Ashton, Mike Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt), Chin Lee (Ward 41, Scarborough-Rouge
River), Ron Moeser (Ward 44, Scarborough East) and Michael
Thompson (Ward 37, Scarborough Centre)
opposed. Read Full
Story... |
| October 18, 2007 - "Mayor
Dismisses Savings Plan" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
"The
fact is, instead of commenting they are items worth looking
at, his dismissiveness indicates he's not open to any kind of
change," he said. "The mayor's broom has lost its bristles ...
he continues to play the role of the emperor with no
clothes." Read Full
Story... |
| October 14, 2007 - "Swing Her
Axe" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Del
Grande challenges Miller & Co. to take a look at these
cuts before he goes to taxpayers for more tax money -- that
this proves the city is not as efficient as the mayor and his
media mouthpieces constantly maintain. "It's like an
onion ... you have to continually peel," he said. "You have to
look under the numbers and question the numbers."
Read Full
Story... |
September 10, 2007 -
"Debate
heats up as Scarborough councillors vote on community centre
closures"
(The Scarborough Mirror: David
Nickle) |
| |
"The essence I get is those who voted on
this (to defer) are the bad guys," Del Grande said. "Well I
didn't get to vote on which services should be cut...so it's
OK to spend a million and a half to buy a theatre, but not to
fund this." Read Full
Story... |
| July 12, 2007 - "Hunting City's
Pet Projects" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Kudos to Mike Del Grande:
Here's a man who puts his money where his mouth is. Instead of
taking the pay hike which brought councillor salaries to
$95,000 this year, he donated the $5,700 extra to some 11
charities, including many dedicated to the environment. He
even gave $100 to the city's chief financial officer to cover
his city-sponsored dinners and coffee breaks. Read Full
Story... |
| May 26, 2007 - "Councillors at
odds over $17M land purchase" (The Toronto Star: John
Spears) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt) decried purchase. Citizens at public
hearings on new taxes have told the city to put its financial
house in order, but instead, he said: "Our priority here is
spending every last dime so we can say: Our reserve accounts
are gone. Woe is us, we need more money." Read Full
Story... |
| April 10, 2007 - "Dumping dollars
down the chute" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande, in fact, believes the
garbage tax is all "smoke and mirrors." As he told me
yesterday, Miller now has a $220-million-plus dump (the Green
Land landfill) to pay for and no idea how he'll finance it. (A
report on just how it will be financed is due within a matter
of days.) Read Full
Story... |
| February 9, 2007 - "Councillors
Call For Progress On LandFill Deal" (The Scarborough
Mirror: David Nickle) |
| |
A group of 14 Toronto councillors are
petitioning Mayor David Miller for a full council progress
report on the city's Green Lane Landfill purchase. Council
voted last September to purchase the landfill site near
London, Ont. as a place to store Toronto's garbage after 2010,
when the city's contract to toss its trash in Michigan will
have expired. Read Full
Story... |
| November 12, 2006 - "Spending
Like There's No Tomorrow" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande: “Accountability isn’t a word that
means anything at City Hall ... I’ve always predicted we’re
going to end up like New York City and have to declare
bankruptcy ... we’re definitely headed in that
direction.” Read Full
Story... |
| November 3, 2006 - "Top Secret
Deal Maker" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
With his trademark pitbull-like
persistence, Coun. Mike Del Grande has at long last solved the
mystery of who was behind the move to award an exclusive
$710-million subway car contract to Bombardier.
Read Full
Story... |
| October 17, 2006 - "Little
Piggies That Won't" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Del Grande said he wants to roll
back the hike because he doesn't think council collectively
has proven that it merits an increase -- especially since the
city's debt has gone up by $1-billion while services have
declined in the past three years. "We have not demonstrated
that we've been good stewards of the responsibilities we've
undertaken," he said. Read Full
Story... |
| September 29, 2006 - "Mega Blue
Bins on Way to Your Curb" (The Toronto Star: John
Spears) |
| |
One of the
few skeptics about the new bins was Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt). Read Full
Story... |
September 29, 2006 - "Pitfield,
supporters sign pledge to roll back council pay
raise"
(The Scarborough Mirror: David
Nickle) |
| |
Pitfield was likewise pleased
to unveil her list of supporters among council candidates.
While 46 people signed, only a handful of incumbents put their
names down: Ward 39 Councillor Mike
Del Grande, Ward 2 Councillor Rob
Ford, Ward 25 Councillor Cliff
Jenkins, Ward 11 Councillor Frances
Nunziata, Ward 17 Councillor Cesar Palacio, and Ward 22 Councillor Michael Walker.
Read Full
Story... |
| September 26, 2006 - "TTC Cars
get the nod" (The Toronto Star: John Spears) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt) accused fellow councillors of hypocrisy for insisting on
made-in-Canada subway cars while buying foreign-built cars for
personal use. "Even the mayor drives a Prius, which is built in
Japan ," he said.
Read Full
Story... |
| September 25, 2006 - "Ban Eyed on
Downspouts Tied to Sewer" (The Toronto Sun: Rob
Granatstien) |
| |
"It's
another tax," said Councillor Mike
Del Grande. "It affects every homeowner in Toronto . Once this gets out
to the public they will be furious." Read Full
Story... |
| August 31, 2006 - "Oh the
Hypocrisy" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande, who's had
to file two Freedom of Information requests to track the
decision-making by the TTC commissioners on the deal, says the
whole process has been "fundamentally wrong.
Read Full
Story... |
| July 27, 2006 - "Toronto To Buy
EMS Equipment Without Bids" (The Toronto Star: Donovan
Vincent) |
| |
The argument that's it's easier to stick with Zoll for
the defibrillator upgrades rankled Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt). He was joined in his objections by
Councillors Michael Walker and Frances Nunziata.
Read Full
Story... |
| July 7, 2006 - "City pays for stadium, but
can't play" (The Toronto Star: Vanessa Lu) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande, a
vocal opponent to the stadium, said he worries that this will
be like the SkyDome mess. When the baseball dome opened in
1989, it had a final price tag of more than $600 million, paid
mostly by taxpayers. Rogers Communications bought it in 2004
for $30 million. Read Full
Story... |
| June 29, 2006 - "TTC "Bomb
Shell" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
These confidential documents
surfaced this week, only after Coun. Mike Del Grande filed a
recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The fact that a
councillor had to go to FOI for information that should be
readily available to him and others on council is in itself
absurd, given all of Mayor David Miller's talk about
"openness" and "transparency" at City Hall. Read Full
Story... |
| July 26, 2006 - "T.O. ponders how
to spend $1B" (The Toronto Star: John Spears) |
| |
Councillor Mike
Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) objected to
spending money on the Spadina subway line when the aging
Scarborough Rapid Transit line needs replacing. Read Full
Story... |
| June 29, 2006 - "Close Vote
Preserves Private Garbage Contract " (The Scarborough
Mirror: David Nickle) |
| |
A
simmering plan to bring contracted-out city garbage collection
in Etobicoke and York back in-house moved to the back-burner
late Thursday, as Toronto Council voted narrowly in favour of
re-tendering the contracts. Read Full
Story... |
| June 7, 2006 - "Expo: Gambling On
a Legacy" (Now Magazine: Mike Smith) |
| |
"Something
has to happen before other levels of government will put money
in," said Councillor Mike Del Grande on the council floor.
"Any investment in Toronto is by excuse." Read Full
Story... |
| February 22, 2006 - "Cost To Ship
Garbage Rising" (AM640: John Oakley Morning
Show) |
| |
8:15am:
Cost to Ship Garbage Rising/Trucking company “knows they have
us between a rock and hard place.” Councilor Mike Del Grande
Ward 39
Scarborough-Agincourt |
| February 21, 2006 - "Cost To Ship
Garbage Rising" (The Toronto Star: Paul
Moloney) |
| |
At least one councillor warned Toronto residents would
be paying more because the tight deadline would give trucking
companies the advantage. Read Full
Story... |
| December 12, 2005 - "Streetcar
Plan Soars to $95M" (The Toronto Star: Paul
Moloney) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward
39, Scarborough-Agincourt) said the timing of the new spending
is highly suspect. "This is sneaky," said Del Grande. "It's
underhandedness. This is why people from Scarborough, the area
I represent, have no confidence in the politicians down here."
Read Full
Story... |
| November 6, 2005 - "The Never
Ending War on Government Waste" (The Toronto
Star) |
| |
Mike Del Grande, of Scarborough-Agincourt, wants the
amount of money found to be wasted by a city department to be
trimmed from that department's budget. Read Full
Story... |
| November 3, 2005 - "Councillors
To Wage War on Waste" (The Toronto Star: Paul
Moloney) |
| |
City of Toronto
managers found by the auditor general to have wasted public
money should have the amount deducted from their budgets, says
Councillor Mike Del Grande. Read Full
Story... |
November 1, 2005 - "Council rams
through "affordable" housing, but the trick will be to find
the funding"
(The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann
Levy |
| |
Added Del
Grande: "This strikes me as another backroom arrangement ...
council just doesn't care how much they spend."
Read Full
Story... |
| October 28, 2005 - "Soccer
Stadium a Go" (The Toronto Sun: Zen Ruryk) |
| |
"It's a backroom deal," Del Grande charged. "You can
have all the money in the world, you're still putting my
taxpayers' money into this thing." Read Full
Story... |
| July 28, 2005 - "Metro Hall
Brawl" (Now Magazine) |
| |
Debate over converting old council
chambers into 3-1-1 call centre more hysterical than
historical Read Full
Story... |
| July 15, 2005 - "Police Rapped
Over Computer System" (The Scarborough
Mirror) |
| |
When I see this, that you start
with something at $8 million and you go to $20 million and you
basically bury stuff in the books so it doesn't show, that's
wrong," Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande
(Scarborough-Agincourt), a chartered accountant by training,
fumed. "That's wrong and we're no different than Enron." Read Full
Story... |
| March 15, 2005 - "Toronto City
Councillors spending your money" (Canadian Free
Press) |
| |
Though the financial picture is
generally foreboding at City Hall, there are some bright new
faces, who were near the bottom of the spending list, headed
by Cliff Jenkins, followed by newcomers Gay Cowbourne, Karen
Stintz, and Mike Del Grande. Too bad they are in the minority.
Read Full
Story... |
| March 3, 2005 - "Garbage tax is a
cash grab" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
But the levy is nothing more than
one of the many desperate methods Mayor David Miller and his
fellow leftists utilized to balance the books. If I ruled
things at City Hall, they'd be slapped with another kind of
Waste Reduction Levy (let's call it the Levy levy) for
throwing endless money away on their pet projects. Read Full
Story... |
| February 27, 2005 - "Is city
budget the worst yet?" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande doesn't
think it's that far-fetched to speculate that the city -- if
it can't meet its debt obligation -- could be "on the verge of
bankruptcy." Read Full
Story... |
| February 3, 2005 - "Can we spare
$219M?" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande perhaps put
it most succinctly when he said in the business (i.e. the
real) world, problems are not solved without clear performance
criteria. But at City Hall, "goals are foggy and
accountability is non-existent ... the product of failure is
more money," he said. Read Full
Story... |
| January 24, 2005 - "Let's Build
program must be probed" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann
Levy) |
| |
As far as Del Grande is concerned,
this speaks to the issue of the culture of how business is
done at the city. "Without question this needs further
investigation," he said. Read Full
Story... |
| January 24, 2005 - "Alarm sounds
on housing plan" (The Toronto Sun: Zen Ruryk) |
| |
"Based on my review, the actions
and decisions of the administrators of the Let's Build program
raise a number of concerns," Rosen writes in a two-page
response to Del Grande. Read Full
Story... |
| December 19, 2004 - "Budget
report is plain truth" (The Toronto Sun: Sue Ann
Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande says prior
to amalgamation the old city of Toronto was close to
bankruptcy -- and he's worried it's just a matter of time
before the megacity, which he feels is dominated by a
"downtown mentality," is "broke too." Read Full
Story... |
| December 10, 2004 - "Del Grande
bows out of budget talks" (The Mirror-Guardian: David
Nickle) |
| |
"I went through the budget process
last year and the numbers were announced, and not one iota,
not one decimal place changed, and I'm not going to legitimize
the process with my participation," said Del Grande at the
outset of the city's works committee 2005 budget presentation.
Read Full
Story... |
| October 22, 2004 - "Zoo seeks
more funding despite improved attendance" (The
Mirror-Guardian: Stuart Green) |
| |
Despite having one if its best
attendance years since 1999 and even though it is predicting a
year-end surplus, the Toronto Zoo is planning to ask the city
for a 14 per cent increase in its operating subsidy in 2005.
Read Full
Story... |
| September 28, 2004 - "Did MFP
teach them anything? New city computers to cost $38
million" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande, who in
March managed to convince council to take a second look at the
proposed purchase, with the help of an expert panel, feels his
concerns weren't addressed. Total waste He's convinced staff
and few councillors have learned nothing from the inquiry.
"MFP is a total waste of money if no one learns anything," he
said. Read Full
Story... |
| August 31, 2004 - "The MFP black
hole" (The Toronto Sun - Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
And has the present council
learned any lessons? Not really, judging from Del Grande's
ill-fated attempt to stall approval of $100 million in new
computers to replace the MFP ones. Read Full
Story... |
| July 29, 2004 - "Councillor
challenges computer proposal" (The Toronto Star: Kerry
Gilespie) |
| |
In a letter, Councillor Mike Del
Grande has accused the city of planning to buy
"soon-to-be-obsolete computers from a pre-determined supplier
and pay more than (it) should." Read Full
Story... |
| May 24, 2004 - "Pipe funds
diverted" (The Scarborough Mirror: Paul
Moloney) |
| |
"The difficulty I have is we
increased the water rates to build up the reserve and do
repair," said Councillor Mike Del Grande, a member of the
works committee. "I feel deceived, and I think my ratepayers
in Scarborough have been deceived." Read Full
Story... |
| May 14, 2004 - "Ford hoards, but
Moscoe gets the last laugh on office budget" (The Globe
& Mail) |
| |
Although the matter officially
died, six councillors advised city clerk Ulli Watkiss this
week that they will pinch some civic pennies in 2004. Read Full
Story... |
| May 12, 2004 - "Six councillors
say they will curtail their office spending " (The
Scarborugh Mirror: Stuart Green) |
| |
Under city policy, each councillor
is entitled to spend up to $53,100 on such things as
newsletters, mailings, office supplies and anything deemed
necessary to do their jobs. Mike Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt) reduced his to $50,000 Read Full
Story... |
| April 27, 2004 - "We Pay for
their raises" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande feels
the focus of council this past week has been completely wrong.
It should have been on labour costs. Read Full
Story... |
| April 23, 2004 - "Police win some
and lose some in budget debate " (The Scarborough Mirror:
Stuart Green) |
| |
Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande
(Scarborough-Agincourt) said he would have preferred to see
the money come from the Information Technology department that
he contends is spending money on unnecessary computer
upgrades. Read Full
Story... |
| April 17, 2004 - "Squandering on
garbage" (The Toronto Star: Rob Granatstein) |
| |
Each year Toronto ships more than
one million tonnes of garbage over the border -- 125
truckloads each day. It costs the city $55 million a year to
ship the trash to Michigan and then dump it there. Read Full
Story... |
| March 23, 2004 - "City Hall
budget crunch: But don't expect the feds to answer council's
prayers" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
Coun. Mike Del Grande thinks the
city will be forced to "raid" the $980 million loan
outstanding with Toronto Hydro and "sell the furniture to pay
the rent." Read Full
Story... |
| March 4, 2004 - "To council
newbie, wild spending doesn't compute" (The Toronto Sun:
Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
Taxpayers should give rookie
councillor Mike Del Grande a big thank-you today. For had Del
Grande not asked the tough questions, council would have
rammed through an absurd and certainly less than
well-thought-out plan to spend $83.4 million this city does
not have on new, state-of-the-art computer technology over the
next two years. Read Full
Story... |
| February 22, 2004 - "Hosed again?
Auditor zeroes in on inefficiencies in the city's fleet
operations " (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
"This is an amalgamation of
inefficiency," bristled Coun. Mike Del Grande. "It's
incredulous." Read Full
Story... |
| February 12, 2004 - "City
firefighters' contract talks heat up" (The Toronto Sun:
Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
The heat will be on council this
morning to approve a sweet deal for my Toronto firefighter
friends that will end up costing this city at least $36
million yearly by 2006. Read Full
Story... |
| February 9, 2004 - "Rookies
grapple with budget" (The Toronto Star: Paul
Moloney) |
| |
Councillor Mike Del Grande, an
accountant and former school board trustee, said he doesn't
detect a sense of urgency to grapple with the city's financial
challenges. "What they do is they take last year's budget and
they add or subtract from it," said Del Grande (Ward 39,
Scarborough-Agincourt). "But nobody questions the numbers in
last year's budget." Read Full
Story... |
| January 11, 2004 - "Hear 'ye"
(The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
The public gets the mayor's ear on
budget priorities ... for $110,000 Read Full
Story... |
| January 8, 2004 - "Troubled
waters" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann Levy) |
| |
Regional Airline Holdings Inc.
president Bob Deluce has served the city with a
$500-million-plus lawsuit. New councillor Mike Del Grande, who
voted against killing the bridge, said he thinks the lawyers
are going to collect "a lot of toonies." Read Full
Story... |
| December 16, 2003 - "Your tax
dollars at work" (The Toronto Sun: Sue-Ann
Levy) |
| |
Budget crunch? Not at some city
councillors' offices New fiscally conservative city councillor
Mike Del Grande has already decided one thing. His modus
operandi will be to treat "every (tax) dollar spent" as if it
comes from his own pocket. Read Full
Story... |
| December 15, 2003 - "City to seek
input on budget in meetings with public" (The Globe &
Mail: Jennifer Lewingston) |
| |
Several new councillors praised
the effort to engage citizens on the budget. "I think the idea
philosophically is a good one," said Mike Del Grande,
councillor for Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt. Read Full
Story... |
| December 12, 2003 - "Airline
gives city notice of $500-million lawsuit" (The
Scarborough Mirror: David Nickle) |
| |
"I'm not surprised," said Ward 39
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Scarborough-Agincourt). "If I was
in that person's shoes I'd probably be doing the same thing.
But I kept hearing councillors and the mayor saying it wasn't
going to cost us a toonie. Then legal staff said, 'Oh, it
might cost us a little bit.' From a toonie to a little bit to
who knows what? I'm going to have a lot of unhappy people in
my part of town." Read Full
Story... |
| December 10, 2003 - "Doom and
gloom report given on city's finances " (The Scarborough
Mirror: Stuart Green) |
| |
"It was basically a doom and gloom
picture with respect to the financial side," said Councillor
Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough Agincourt). "They think
all of a sudden people are going to live up to their
commitments on other levels of government and give us all
kinds of dough. Read Full
Story... |
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