Former Toronto budget chief Coun. Mike Del Grande has been hospitalized, his office confirms to CityNews.
They say he is currently “resting and undergoing some routine tests.”
There has been no word on why he has been hospitalized.
Del Grande stepped down as budget chief in January shortly after city council passed the 2013 budget.
“I handed in my resignation after everything had been completed with the budget,” Del Grande told CityNews shortly after announcing his resignation. “I wanted to make sure I had completed 2013 and didn’t leave before the final vote. After that was done I took time to think about certain things that had transpired in council and that I would just step aside.”
The Ward 39 councillor said the decision was based on personal and emotional decisions by council.
“I think the icing on the cake was asking council not to approve motion 1D which basically indicated that they wanted more transparency in the budget process and I indicated that that was a vindictive point of view – a personal point of view – and they voted 25-20 to do just that and I said well it’s time for me to go.”
Del Grande said during his time as budget chief his motivation was to benefit the people of Toronto.
“I literally lived the budget and gave up a lot of things – I gave up birthdays, I gave up holidays, I gave up all kinds of things – and I did it for the benefit of the people of Toronto – that was my motivation.”
Unless you know the personal details, it’s hard to know whether he was ill during the budget process, and forced himself to continue with the job as in “mind-over-matter” or whether he became ill as a result of pressures from his fellow council members.
There’s been a lot of discussion of “bullying” in schools, doesn’t that happen a lot in politics too?
On the same subject, you have to admire the resiliency of Mayor Ford in spite of all the oppressive media hounding he has received.
Get better soon, Mr. Del Grande!