(In case you missed it here yesterday, throughout the next couple weeks we’ll be posting responses we’ve received from city councillors who answered two questions we floated by them. First up! Ward 21 St. Paul’s, Councillor Joe Mihevc!)

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1) The Gift of Councilling: What is the one moment in 2012 that struck you as the best example of why it was you became a councillor?

Two events and highlights stand out for me: the victory in returning to the Transit City plans in the early part of the year is probably the biggest shift in public policy this term of Council. It has saved millions of dollars and will build the transit system that we had been planning for years before Mayor Ford made his “subways only” announcement.

The opening of the new Cedarvale Skating Rink at the rear of Phil White arena is my local highlight. We had been working on this for about 4 years. Every time I go by now it is packed with skaters and hockey players. In the end good local politics is about facilitating this kind of local neighbourhood improvements.

2) Going Forward: In 2013, what is the one aspect you would like to see happen that would help develop better civic discourse going forward?

If I could dictate a policy at city Council, it would be that each member of Council, before making our own speech, would have to summarize the previous speaker’s points in less than a minute to the satisfaction of the previous speaker. This would help on the active listening side of things and help us all to see the best in our political opponents’ perspective. We need to better appreciate the good reasons that stand behind some of the bad choices and votes that each one of us makes.

— 1st day of winterly submitted by Councillor Joe Mihevc