A brief spat at Durham Region’s headquarters led to a regional councillor being ordered out of the chamber.
During discussion on a motion regarding food banks, Steve Yamada shifted into his own criticism of the federal carbon tax. This prompted Regional Chair John Henry to tell him to withdraw the comments or face expulsion.
Yamada opted to walk out.
The incident
The motion-at-hand was one of four that were moved by Whitby Councillor Maleeha Shahid at Wednesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
It asks the federal government to take a number of measures to better support food banks, including providing emergency funding and tackling systemic issues such as affordability.
During his turn to speak, Yamada started by listing statistics on food bank usage. However, he then became critical of federal carbon taxation.
“Canadians are being forced to visit food banks; again, it’s because the carbon tax is driving up the cost of food. In spite of these record numbers, [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau has again decided to hike his carbon tax by 23 per cent this past April.”
It should be noted that Yamada has been tapped by the federal Conservatives to run in the next election, in the Whitby riding.
At this point, Henry chimed in. “I’m sorry,” he said. “No. Councillor, I’m calling you to order now.”
Yamada kept going, but his microphone was swiftly muted.
“Councillor, I have made a commitment to this council not to bring politics from another level of government into this room,” continued Henry. “I’m going to ask you to withdraw your comments, and if not, I’m going to eject you from the meeting.”
After a little more back-and-forth between the two, Yamada exited the room.
“Mister clerk, note it in the meeting,” said Henry.
“Members of council, this is probably the most difficult time in the history of this country since the Second World War,” he said. “I am not going to let politics from other levels of government come into these council chambers, and I refuse to turn this council chamber into what you see at Question Period [at] Queen’s Park or in Ottawa.”
“I don’t get angry very many times, but I’m upset right now,” he added.
“I want to say thank you very much,” said Clarington Councillor Willie Woo, shortly after. “There is a respectful level of decorum that we should have in these chambers.”
Food insecurity
The remaining committee members wound up supporting the motion unanimously. It will go to regional council for a final vote later in the month.
“Alarming data from Food Banks Canada shows an 80 per cent increase in food bank usage since 2019, with nearly two-million Canadians seeking help as of March 2023,” said Shahid. “This increase is unsustainable, and yet the federal government no longer provides ongoing support for food banks, relying instead on community donations which are themselves declining due to financial strain on our donors.”
“We’re seeing a lot of people that are on the edge, with housing,” said Whitby Councillor Rhonda Mulcahy. “They’re accessing food banks in order to keep their roofs over their heads. We know that Feed the Need can take a dollar and turn it into three meals. And with a little help from other levels of government, we can definitely feed a lot more people and hopefully keep them in their homes.”
“There will be some that will not be having a happy Thanksgiving,” said Clarington Councillor Willie Woo. “I challenge my colleagues around the table to give to a food bank this weekend.”
“I do know that we have local businesses and farms that do support food banks directly through their donations already,” said Scugog Councillor Ian McDougall. “I can appreciate the idea that we want to collect money to buy from larger corporate vendors who might provide us with a better deal. But I also want to remind us that some of those same corporate vendors, when we’re out buying groceries for our family and we’re looking for deals, that ’30 per cent off’ on that already-expired item from three days ago is not exactly a deal.”
“In order to understand how we got here today, you need to reflect on where the system failed,” said Henry. “In order to fix a system that has failed, you have to find a way to put the repairs into the system that get us down the road. And I’m not talking about tomorrow, I’m talking about five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. I hope that conversation is happening somewhere today.”
“I know what you do in the communities,” he continued. “I know the charity events that you go to. I know the money the mayors raise in their communities. I know the money that councillors raise in their communities. And it’s still not enough to meet the needs of our communities.”
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