Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon finishes her "embarrassed" speech
At the start of last week's council meeting -- the first real working session with Mayor Rob Ford and the new council -- the ever-chipper Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon stood up and released a blast that surprised many of her colleagues.
“I was embarrassed to be a Toronto councillor that day,” McMahon said, reflecting on a one-day session the previous week where council took care of some housekeeping itms . “We had three small items on our agenda, one being whether to have sandwiches at our meeting or not. It took us five hours, that is ridiculous.
“It was a complete and utter waste of our time, money and effort,” she said. “That is not why I ran for council.”
McMahon had more to say but was ruled out of order by Speaker Frances Nunziata, amid a chorus of grumbling from the veterans. McMahon, who calls herself one of council's "neutral newbies", now says she should have spoken to Nunziata earlier, to let her know her plans and make sure it was done in the appropriate way.
On Dec. 23, we visited McMahon's City Hall office and gave her a chance to complete her thoughts. Click the link at the top of this post to hear it in Quick Time format. If you don't have the free software, you can download it here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
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