There are two things that might have stopped Counc. Adam Vaughan from giving up his council seat.
The outspoken Ward 20 councillor announced last week that he would be leaving local politics in order to seek the Liberal nomination in Trinity-Spadina, the riding vacated by Olivia Chow when she announced that she would run for mayor.
Sitting down with cp24.com a day after winning the Liberal nomination, Vaughan says there are just a couple of unfinished projects that have made him think twice about leaving council after almost seven years on the job.
One, he says, is the plan to redesign John Street as a cultural corridor.
“Not seeing that start yet, just seeing it designed is one thing that made making the decision a bit tougher than it might have been,” Vaughan says.
The other is the Alexandra Park revitalization project, a plan to link hundreds of new community housing units with amenities and retail space.
“I’d love to have moved the first family in by now,” Vaughan says. “We’re just starting. The demolition of the first phase is complete. But I know that project is fully funded and underway and the residents have carriage of it. The residents have always had carriage of it, but I’m confident they’ll finish the job.”
Ford not a factor
He’s also adamant that his frequent battles with Mayor Rob Ford and the antics around the mayor’s behaviour at city council have nothing to do with his departure. While he says Ford tried to block almost everything he was working on, Vaughan says he still managed to get things done.
“There’s big tent politics and there’s circus tent politics. And quite clearly city hall has had a one-man circus in the mayor’s office for the last four years,” Vaughan says. “The good news is that council gets along with itself. I’ve had really productive relationships with the centre, the left and the right.
“When it comes to how you build a youth shelter… I can work with someone like David Shiner and deliver a program and a building to make that thing happen.”
National housing strategy in mind
A voice often associated with local issues like bike lanes and walkable spaces and a representative known for speaking his mind, Vaughan’s announcement took some by surprise, himself included.
“If you’d talked to me this time last month I’d have told you I’m running for council,” Vaughan says. In fact, Vaughan’s office staff told CP24.com in early April he would “probably” put his name on the municipal ballot.
However a conversation with friends after Chow resigned the seat led him to an eventual chat with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau about the possibility of creating a national housing strategy, an issue Vaughan is passionate about.
“He is as excited about (a housing strategy) as I am and he is as committed to it as I am because he needs it in his own riding,” Vaughan says.
To that point, he says Stephen Harper is a “fundamentalist” when it comes to the role prescribed for the federal government around housing.
“He (Harper) does not believe the federal government has a role to play where 80 per cent of Canadians live – in urban centres. That’s absurd,” Vaughan says.
He says he’d like to continue the work that he’s done locally in order to develop a national housing strategy that would strengthen cities like Winnipeg and Vancouver as well as Toronto.
Comfortable being a Liberal
If some people were surprised that Vaughan is running federally, some were equally surprised to see him run as a Liberal candidate as opposed to running for the NDP, a party strongly associated with Chow and with a strong connection to the riding.
“I’ve heard that,” Vaughan says. “I never considered and they never asked.”
He adds he feels “very comfortable” being a part of the Liberal party. He notes his parents were Liberals and were even at the convention that elected Pierre Trudeau.
“We built some of the strongest housing neighbourhoods in the city with a past partnership between a Trudeau government and a Vaughan at city hall,” Vaughan says of the time when his father was on council. “Imagine what we can do with a Vaughan in parliament and Justin Trudeau as prime minister.”
He says he’s also fine with the party discipline that comes with federal politics as opposed to the more open discussions that happen on city council.
“Party politics brings a requirement for discipline,” Vaughan says. “If you want to win a political argument or debate you’ve got to be able to bring people together and provide leadership around an issue. Part of that is knowing who should lead when.”
For now Vaughan plans to remain on council until the byelection is called by the prime minister, possibly as early as June.
Done with municipal politics
Though he says he fully expects to win the byelection, he’s adamant that he won’t run for council again if he loses.
“I think that once you decide you’re going to represent a political party... the obligation is to the party and to secure that seat,” he says.
He also says he has no interest in backing a local candidate to replace him, trusting instead that the people he’s served will make their own decision.
“The neighbourhoods that I represent are smart enough to choose their own councillor,” Vaughan says. “They don’t need this party or that to choose a candidate and tell them who to support.”
A Q & A with Adam Vaughan
What will you miss about city hall?
It’s hand on. the hands-on projects you work on are extremely rewarding. Housing projects, major road revitalization, bike lanes. I’m very proud of my record in Trinity-Spadina. It’s a record of accomplishing things.
Who would you like to see representing your ward next?
I will not recommend a candidate, I will not choose a candidate, I will not structure a candidate to become part of a political machine that keeps me re-elected and I quite frankly will not use the seat to further my career.
On Rob Ford:
He held every item in my ward, every meeting. He railed against every crane in the sky. Rob Ford is the mayor of the word ‘no’ and when you say no you accomplish nothing.
Rob Ford has said he’s interested in getting into federal politics. Do you think you might one day be federal colleagues?
I doubt it. It’s good that he’s finally gone off to get the medical help that he needs… but I would be shocked if anybody let him occupy elected office ever again. I mean would you let him babysit your kids, would you let him walk your dog? The idea that you’d turn over the keys to the city to this man is ridiculous and every poll shows that.
He’d be lucky to finish third. The era of Ford, the era of that kind of politics has come to an end and that’s a good thing.
On Stephen Harper:
I’ve had a hard-enough time getting into Rob Ford’s head over the last year, I’m not going to try and get into Stephen Harper’s head.
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