On the 6^th day of Christmas and I could go for the easy goose egg joke on this one but it’s all about being Xmas-y positive, right?

Jaye Robinson, Ward 25 Don Valley West

This one I write, torn, as Councillor Robinson could just as easily be on the 2011 Most Disappointing Councillor List if such a thing existed which it doesn’t because, well, it’s Christmas and that would just be mean. Appointed as an at-large member of Mayor Ford’s powerful Executive Committee along with fellow rookie councillor Michelle Berardinetti, there was some hope of the two bringing a moderating voice to the otherwise largely hard right boys club. While, given recent events, Councillor Berardinetti has gone all in with the mayor, Robinson has remained an infuriating fence sitter.

A long time city bureaucrat, Councillor Robinson unseated a right of centre incumbent, Cliff Jenkins, in the 2010 election on a vaguely Fordish platform of fiscal efficiency and accountability. Yet she was part of a department that brought Nuit Blanche to life, showing that the public and private sectors could work together in a positive fashion that benefitted the city. Jaye Robinson wasn’t one of those conservatives whose sole interest in governing was to destroy government.

But she stood by silently as the Ford administration did its best to inflict grievous damage on Toronto. Rarely speaking up, Councillor Robinson even made a habit of ducking out of votes in order to not be attached to them while helping to enable their passage. Principled in her lack of guiding principles.

Then came the Ford Brothers’attempted waterfront land grab. Robinson found her voice. Leading the charge from the Executive Committee, she spoke out passionately and loudly in defence of the current plans in progress for the area, signalling to the mayor that he simply would not have the votes to pull of the coup. A consensus was quickly found, covering the mayor’s tactical retreat.

Councillor Robinson is also helping to fend off the mayor’s axe wielding on the Toronto Public Library system. Along with another rookie councillor, Sarah Doucette, Robinson has helped stiffen the backbone of the mayor’s handpicked board and may well find herself back in the spotlight in the new year as the budget chief has vowed to enact the 10% cut Mayor Ford has demanded. It could be a defining moment in her relationship with this administration.

That is the bright light of hope I latch onto. In 2012, Councillor Jaye Robinson will find her way as a voice of reason and compromise at city council and establish the tone for what it is to be a moderate conservative.

— shining starly submitted by Cityslikr

On the 7^th day of Christmas, the swans were a-swooning for…

Councillor Sarah Doucette, Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park

Do not let the prim and proper British accent with a Julie Andrews flourish fool you. Residents of Ward 13 have elected a representative to City Hall with steely resolve. Pip, pip and all that, what?

Inheriting the same stomping grounds that the then outgoing and supposedly vilified mayor, David Miller, once strode as city councillor, Doucette ousted incumbent Bill Saundercook by nearly 11% with 47% of the popular vote. Those numbers sound vaguely familiar. Where have I heard them before? Oh yeah. Rob Ford elected as mayor in a landslide with a huge mandate.

Upon assuming her council seat, Doucette was the lone rookie councillor, and only one of 6 councillors in total to vote against repealing the vehicle registration tax. So a year on, with the city and its supposed no revenue problem now desperately searching for revenue, nary a peep of woeful contrition comes from Councillor Doucette. Taking a principled stands means never having to say you’re sorry.

Perhaps Mayor Ford was unaware of the councillor’s steadfastness when he put her on the board of the Toronto Public Library, bamboozled by her accent into thinking she’d maintain a stiff upper lip when he commenced his assault on it. It’s been just the opposite, in fact. Doucette has been a tireless defender against the completely arbitrary 10% the administration seems determined to inflict upon the organization which has led to a looming showdown with Team Ford as the budget process gets down to brass tacks in the new year. The budget chief’s vow to extract the cuts from the TPL suggests he too is underestimating who he’s running up against in Councillor Doucette.

While still finding her sea legs in the rough and tumble of the council chambers, she does yeoman’s duty at the committee level. She is especially effective during public deputations, serving up a calm and reassuring presence to oftentimes nervous members of the public. During this month’s budget deputations, Councillor Doucette provided some childcare duty to a single mom who was there to speak to the committee, holding her baby while she spoke. “I have one question,” the councillor asked the deputant afterwards. “Can I keep her?”

So disarmingly civil. Just don’t mistake it for being a pushover.

— spoon full of sugarly submitted by Cityslikr