David Shiner (politician) - Toronto Council

Toronto Council

When North York was merged with six other municipalities and a regional government to form the new City of Toronto, Shiner was elected to Toronto City Council in 1997. He was the only councillor to oppose a proposal to use both Metro Hall (the former headquarters of Metropolitan Toronto) and Toronto City Hall as the new municipal headquarters, instead advocating that the government be based at the North York Civic Centre.

Shiner was considered one of the closest allies of the new city's first mayor, Mel Lastman (who had previously served as Mayor of North York). In 2000, Lastman appointed him to the position of the city's budget chief, replacing the retiring Tom Jakobek.

A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, he is regarded as moderately to the right of centre. With the election of David Miller as mayor, Shiner was succeeded as budget chief by David Soknacki.

In 2007, at North York community council, Shiner tabled a successful motion asking Toronto council to stop its plan to close community centres on Mondays and delay the opening of ice rinks. It passed 9-1, as Howard Moscoe and John Filion who were allies of the mayor voted for Shiner's motion, with Shelley Carroll as the lone dissenter. Miller had directed City Manager Shirley Hoy to implement $34 million in service cuts to the 2007 budget in August 2007 without seeking council approval, arguing that it addressed a financial shortfall. An arbitrator later ruled that the library closures violated the collective bargaining agreement with the union.

On January 9, 2009, Shiner boycotted a meeting of the Licensing and Standards Committee. Shiner, who was recently appointed to this committee, described by some as a second-tier committee, refused to attend the meeting in protest for not receiving any of his preferred appointments on other committees. Two other committee members, Mike Feldman and Denzil Minnan-Wong, had already sent their regrets so the remaining committee members' presence was required for quorum, and Shiner's boycott meant that the meeting was adjourned to the following month. Shiner criticized Mayor David Miller's leadership style, saying "I find it very disappointing that the mayor has pushed this council into different camps, and rewards those who blindly support him and tries to punish those who don't." The chair of the committee, Howard Moscoe was not amused. "The business of the city has to go on, and childish refusals to attend are not very appropriate," Moscoe said. Shiner had previously never missed a committee meeting in his 17 years in municipal politics.