There’s been plenty of times we’ve heard residents direct some fairly pointed statements at Stratford city council, and at times, such comments have even been made on these pages.

Most of the time, the criticism stems from decisions made by council; sometimes others are concerned about how councillors conduct themselves both inside and out of council chambers. But reading of the mockery of the public process that’s been going on at Toronto City Hall should make every resident of the Festival City sleep a little easier. While they may not like each of our councillors, they at least appear to hold themselves to a higher standard than some of their big city counterparts.

At a meeting last week, Toronto budget chief Coun. Mike Del Grande tabled a fake motion – to take $36 million of affordable housing money and reallocate it to a proposed project in the ward of right-winger Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti – in an attempt to anger some of his left-leaning opponents on council.

It was, as he explained to media after the executive meeting, meant to “throw it” in his fellow councillors faces after they angered him by daring to speak out against the inadequacy of housing funding at provincial and federal levels. This delayed the meeting by a few minutes, obviously angering Del Grande, who decided to give the lefties a “taste of their own game-playing.”

Such a move, to be blunt, is disgusting and it is our hope that Toronto taxpayers take a stand against Del Grande’s actions, which were childish and showed a complete lack of control, and have no place in council chambers. It was completely unacceptable.

Here in Stratford, our councillors do not always agree, and there’s a chance that some may not even enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes they’ve even been known to let a sarcastic comment or two fly. But we’ve never witnessed such reprehensible actions unfold. And we hope we never will.