Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening comments: More at the end. National Post - Apr. 15, 2010 - By Megan O'Toole - motoole@nationalpost.com Mccallion takes aim at Parrish During a tense full-day council meeting, Ms. Mc-Callion broached a scathing memo sent to all of council in which Ms. Parrish derided the Mayor's "ingratitude" and "confrontational style" at a recent federal-provincial infrastructure announcement. "I can assure you that I told the Prime Minister and the Premier we were delighted that the 401-Dixie Road interchange was going to be fixed," Ms. McCallion said, taking a more conciliatory tone than she did at last week's news conference, when the two governments announced $138-million for highway, bridge and road improvements across the province. At the time, while Ms. McCallion cheered the 401-Dixie project, she dismissed the overall funding announcement as "a drop in a big bucket" and said it would have "very little impact" on infrastructure needs across the province. "You appeared ungrateful, ungracious and downright rude," Ms. Parrish told the Mayor in a memo sent to all of council the next day. Ms. McCallion and her council allies yesterday stood by the Mayor's comments about the backlog in infrastructure funding, noting billions more dollars are needed countrywide. Councillor Pat Saito said she was "shocked" upon receiving Ms. Parrish's memo and disappointed at the suggestion that other councillors supported it. She went further in criticizing the federal and provincial governments, scorning them for publicly "patting themselves on the back" whenever they fix a bridge or road. "To remain silent is to endorse everything that was said in that memo and I certainly do not," Ms. Saito said. Ms. Parrish said she felt compelled to send the email memo out of concern for how Ms. McCallion's comments may have affected the city's reputation in Ottawa and Queen's Park. "It was just very ungrateful and nasty.... If I don't like something, I've obviously got a history of telling people I don't like something," Ms. Parrish said. Pointing to her 13 years of federal experience, Ms. Parrish said the Mayor's public comments bode poorly for the city. In one section of the memo, she says while the Mayor may no longer "control" council, "you do in fact speak for us" at major city events. "She has a history of hectoring provincial and federal politicians and they have a history of not giving her money," Ms. Parrish said. In a later scrum, Ms. McCallion said Ms. Parrish's latest memo was the harshest missive she has received during more than three decades in office, but added she has come to expect this type of correspondence from the Ward 6 councillor. "I just take it from where it comes, from whom it comes from," Ms. McCallion said. "It's not unusual." Home Page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
Your Financial Donations are Greatly Appreciated The • |