Miller Time

When the going gets tough -- the tough get going. And sometimes, when the going gets really tough -- the tough get really gone.

During the toughest negotiation Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union has faced, Mayor David Miller got himself gone all the way to China. Then, returning just when a strike-averting agreement was being reached, Miller somehow managed becoming situated as if he’d saved the day.

Union president Bob Kinnear, for instance, had some suspicions the day got saved by Miller. Though uncertain how transit strike was averted entirely by Miller, Kinnear must have had profound suspicions when saying,

I think it's evident the mayor did get involved. If it wasn't the mayor, somebody from city hall sent a new directive.

But Mayor Miller is far too modest, smart or magnanimous to accept such false credit. Mayor Miller stomps false credit down flat. Insists it was TTC negotiators that did the bargaining. And not just this time around. All that credit Miller got for TTC strike-averting 3 years ago when speaking directly to Kinnear? Ayup. Miller stomped it all flatter’n shoe-paste. Said it amounted to a five-minute phone call in which he merely asked the union leader to go back to the table. Which phone call he could as easily have made from China. Maybe even called collect -- as a cost-cutting measure.

Goes to show how well we do without Mayor Miller when the going really gets tough in Greater Toronto. Heck. Some might say we’d do far better without. But here’s the thing. They’re having a rough go of it in China. Falling over themselves, tumbling all over the world stage. Yet they listen to Mayor Miller in China. In China, it might be singularly when Miller raises Tibet human rights issues that the rights message gets clearly heard.

That’s where our Mayor can do the most good. In China -- not in Greater Toronto. Seriously. He could tell Chinese partisans how, despite being for human rights in Tibet, the West is absolutely not against China. How fascinated by Chinese capitalism we are in the West -- having not ourselves experienced capitalism so unrestrained since the English industrial revolution. How, despite always rejecting communism, we have become far more socialist in the West than in China. What embarrassment demonizing the Dalai Lama is for China. What shame abducting Panchen Lama -- world’s youngest political prisoner -- brings to China. What humiliation staging anti-Western protests constitutes for China. As if nobody knew what happens to unauthorized protest rallies in China. Come on, Chinese partisans -- there's no staging anything that inept without laugh-tracks.

Most of all, Miller should venture Canadian help and expertise when it comes to Tibet. China would do well to seek Canadian advice instead of silence. Because China’s sovereignty issues can’t hold either water or candles relative to Canada’s. Chinese partisans would not be called upon to permit referenda -- as in Canada. Chinese partisans would never have to seriously negotiate land claims -- as in Canada. None of the above. All Tibetans seek is some cultural autonomy. Come on, Chinese partisans -- what's the big deal? Relative to Canada’s sovereignty issues, China’s can be walked through parks off-leash most sunny days.

They really listen to Mayor Miller in China. In China, Mayor Miller gets clearly heard. So never mind talking to Dalai Lama -- since no way would Chinese partisans listen to anything he’d have to say. Never mind releasing Panchen Lama –- who’s not likely talking or even breathing by now. It’s Mayor Miller Chinese partisans should be talking and listening to. Some quality Miller time might chill them right out. And if Greater Toronto gets lost without him -- we’re just a phone call away. Toronto would never hang up on Miller -- not even if he did call collect.

Miller overlooking Great Wall of China screenshot from here.