Karen Stintz - Councillor

Councillor

Stintz is seen as one of the centre-right members of council, and backed John Tory for mayor. On council she has been a leader of the conservative Responsible Government Group with Case Ootes. She has been a member of the both provincial and federal conservative parties.

She easily retained her seat in the 2006 municipal election, taking 64.6% of the vote versus 12.5% for her nearest opponent.

In March 2009, Stintz came under some scrutiny when it was revealed that she spent $4,500 of her councillor's office budget on voice lessons. She defended her expenditure by saying that it improved her speaking during council meetings.

In April, 2009, Stintz accused Mayor David Miller of lying during a debate about payroll costs. Miller said "I know a group of you went up to see the minister and... asked for a $25,000 grant in order to study political parties in the city of Toronto,". Stintz retorted, "I'm actually shocked that you would... so blatantly lie,". Stintz later produced a document addressed to Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Watson and titled, Next Steps for the Strong Mayor Model in the Toronto Context. She told reporters "I did not ask, we did not ask for a grant. No one asked for a grant to study political parties. We were not offered a grant, we did not ask for a grant." She insisted the proposed study would not include political parties. However the document uses phrases such as political parties, party discipline and party labels. The document specifically asks for $25,000 to be paid to the Conference Board of Canada to study the options. A spokesman for the minister said the request for a study, which was turned down, was for a "study of city hall governance that would have included a look at political parties."