Doug Holyday, Toronto's deputy mayor, fields reporters' questions on March 8, 2011.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
It was like the contentious weigh-in before a heavyweight bout.
On Wednesday morning, Doug Holyday, the seasoned conservative councillor and deputy mayor, took to the airwaves in a sometimes contentious back-and-forth with councillor Adam Vaughan, who has led the left-leaning counterattack against Mayor Rob Ford's attempts to dismantle the Toronto Community Housing Corp.'s beleaguered board.
The two debated on NEWSTALK 1010's Moore in the Morning hours before council is set to meet in a rare special meeting where Mr. Ford will try once again to temporarily install retired councillor Case Ootes as a one-man board.
A similar attempt failed Tuesday morning, when Mr. Ford failed to gain enough votes to bring a motion dissolving the board to the council floor.
On the radio, Mr. Holyday listened in as John Moore interviewed Mr. Vaughan, who said that razing the board is part of a mayoral scheme to privatize the TCHC.
When Mr. Holyday finally joined in the fray, he didn't hold back. "Adam Vaughan's nuts," he said. "There is no attempt to sell off public housing whatsoever."
Mr. Vaughan countered: "The mayor has been walking around community to community to community in the TCH projects telling tenants he's going to privatize, and the reality is is that the tenants are scared."
Sounding agitated, Mr. Holyday broke in: "None of that's true, none of that's true. All the mayor has said is that we might look at private outside managers of property, not selling off buildings, not privatizing anything. … For Adam to come on and say all this nonsense is absurd."
The TCHC has been under fire since Feb. 28, when the city's auditor-general released two reports chastising the corporation for sloppy purchasing practices and lavish spending.
At the mayor's request, nine board members tendered resignations. The remaining four refuse to quit.
Their fates may be decided during Wednesday night's special meeting, where the two councillors will have another opportunity to joust.
Patrick White