Профиль

It was a highlight of the week, up there with watching City Manager Paul Johnson attempt to wrap his head around Angine de Poitrine: “I'm not sure I quite get that… viral sensation… yet. But I'll tell ya what: they can play."

This is Gord Perks's final meeting of Toronto City Council. Gear up for the farewells with a clip of Mayor Chow's tribute at last week's Executive Committee meeting:

Going by calendar month is surprising, given that Labour Day weekend is September 5-7.

887! Betroffenheit! The Watershed! It Comes in Waves!

This was the correct choice, but now they have the privilege of watching Cllr Crisanti opine about <looks up at screen> Restoring Road Safety Markings After Utility Cuts.

Young children from a summer camp visit the chamber. Cllr Kandavel says they'd been given a choice of trips today between the CN Tower, a park, and City Hall, and overwhelmingly chose the latter.

(Speaking of which, 887 is getting a third Toronto run this December: showoneproductions.ca/portfolio/887/)

Cllr Bravo takes a more John Oliver view of the World Cup, adoring the game and the event while being acutely aware that FIFA itself is farcically corrupt.

I snap back to attention when Councillor Perruzza bellows, "At war with the United States! The power of football!"

Toronto's hosting of a half-dozen World Cup games reminds me of its Pan Am Games experience, in that superior organization turned a pricy nuisance into something resembling a public good. Though this time we got neither a giant sign nor new commissions from Crystal Pite and Robert Lepage.

Councillor Saxe now seems surprised that street parties in her ward has giant screens, that Cafe Diplomatico was showing games on the patio. I'm really not sure where she's been every previous summer of a year divisible by two but not by four.

He resents that Councillor Matlow is requesting a value-for-money audit, on the basis that the auditor general would be unable to quantify fans' enthusiasm.

It's as though he's never been in Toronto during a World Cup before. He seems genuinely surprised. "The world was talking about soccer!"

"We actually achieved a success! The people of Toronto loved this!" shouts Cllr Colle, taking to task those who predicted the World Cup would cause calamity for Toronto. All around Toronto, people were excited about the World Cup, he says. "They were watching the TVs in their bars and restaurants!"

Bradford isn't the only one who does this, but I'm perplexed by the phenomenon of councillors zooming in to meetings using backgrounds that resemble their City Hall offices, which makes it look like they're nearby and just don't want to come out of their room.

(Though she didn't recuse herself from an item concerning 240 McCaul Street, which is just one more block over.)

As a follow-up, Bradford was asked whether he'd *really* never heard of Alexander, a former cabinet minister, and he maintained that there are lots of federal ministers with whose names he's never become acquainted.

It's clear that councillors' workload has doubled because, at least from behind, Shelley Carroll appears to have also taken the role of John Filion.

Is that a crop, or was that actually how it was framed on the feed?

In which this also happened: