Many products are stamped with a “best before” date. Using the product after the “best before” date has its risks. Knowing this, we abide by the date to ensure our safety and well being. Ask any parent and they will tell you they don’t give their children things that have gone beyond the “best before” date.
Seems like politicians, by and large, also have a “best before” date. There are exceptions of course and we don’t mean to lump all politicians into the same category.
In Toronto’s Ward 16 we have a history of checking the "best before" information on our elected representatives. For example, the current Councillor won in 2003 because her predecessor had reached her “best before” date. And, there's nothing predictable about the actual date of deterioration. Rather it is something that seems to be central to the person. Shortly after her first 3 year term, current Ward Councillor – Karen Stintz – had already passed her “best before” date.
When she was first elected in 2003 there were many supporters who were happy that she won and would bring a freshness to the Ward. In her first term she was open, willing to listen, willing to work with, and for, constituents. This continued for only a short time after her re-election in 2006. In 2007 there was a marked changed of attitude. Like someone leaving the bag of bread open, the councillor started becoming “crusty”. Despite massive objections, a huge, misplaced development won approval in the "Upper Avenue". The following year, the hugely-out-of-place development at 1066 Avenue Road (St James Bond UC) also met with her approval.
Like eggs that had been kept too long, the air was starting to smell as the community sensed something was foul. Next, Riocan’s desire to close in the public open space on the north west corner of Yonge and Eglinton. While in 2004 Stintz was against such a proposal, she chose to support it now despite major push-back from the Community and many other areas of Toronto. With this, many in the Ward felt they had consumed something that was well past the “best before” date and were sickened by her turncoat attitude. Most recently, Karen Stintz reversed her support for the community and approved of an over-sized, misplaced building to be erected at Orchard View and Duplex.
This was the one that 'broke the camel's back'. Many more residents now believed she too had consumed something that was past its “best before” date. She stands staunchly on her decision to change her opinion and now supports a development that is outside the “growth area” and outside the City’s “Official Plan”. This has left many feeling betrayed, disappointed and solidifying the commonly held view that she is well beyond her “best before” date.
