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eye WEEKLY                                            February 22 1996
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
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NEWS & VIEWS                                              NEWS & VIEWS

                       IN SEARCH OF MARIO SILVA

                                  by
                         ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST

Campaigning and election expenses aside, it took 13 months, three
recounts, two appeals and $300,000 of taxpayers' money to put Ward 3
City Councillor Mario Silva into office. And during the wait we've
found out just who we voted for -- a smooth-talking city hall
greenhorn who can be charmed by both the right and the left.

The uncertainty of Silva's future could explain his indecisiveness,
but Silva's political neighbor, Ward 4 councillor Martin Silva, says
Mario plays the centre because it allows him to extract concessions
from both sides. "This is typical of someone from the Liberal party,"
Martin Silva says.

City Councillor John Adams adds: "Mario didn't have the background and
it takes a year to learn the ropes. He was inscrutable."

Prior to seeking municipal office, Mario Silva worked as an assistant
to Liberal Elinor Caplan when she was health minister. He has also
been involved in various government contracts, including a million-
dollar Jobs Ontario project to revamp a Ward 3 community centre.

In November, 1994, few people expected the then 28-year-old Silva to
defeat incumbent Tony O'Donohue, who had warmed the seat for 25 years.
Now, when discussing the victory, the cocky new councillor sounds like
he won by a landslide. He claims O'Donohue was out of touch with the
ward. "If I had been prepared, six years ago I could've won the seat,"
Silva says. Uh-huh. His margin of victory was 10 votes.

Silva's win can be more likely attributed to the fact that the NDP
didn't run a candidate in Ward 3. If they had, it would have split the
anti-incumbent vote. Metro Councillor Joe Pantalone says that the NDP
decided to focus on re-electing the party's incumbents in west Toronto
-- people such as himself and Martin Silva.

Mario Silva's victory pleased many Toronto Liberals and New Democrats.
He was perceived as being different enough from fellow Grit O'Donohue
to bring changes to the ward and to the dynamics of city council.

An examination of Silva's voting record shows him to be more
progressive than his predecessor on social issues. For instance,
during last summer's council debate on prostitution, Silva voted in
favor of asking the feds to decriminalize the profession. In
comparison, in 1994 O'Donohue helped dream up a bylaw to prohibit
three or more people from hanging out in public places, an idea that
was canned after council's deep thinkers pointed out that the bylaw
was "too fascist."

But many were taken aback by Silva's right-wing partisanship during
council's committee chair selection process. Insiders say he had
agreed to back Adams in his run for budget committee chief, but in the
end he supported Tom Jakobek, who captured the coveted position. In
turn, Jakobek backed Silva in a bid for the chair of the economic
development committee. Now both sit on council's powerful executive
committee.

Silva allies himself with the mayor on most issues, but when it comes
to money -- the power issues -- he votes with right-winger Jakobek.

Observers claim Silva has been successfully courted by the right, but
the councillor denies it. "I believe in a strong mayor and a centre
policy; you have to look at compromises between the left and the right
to get work done in the city."

One of the best ways for a politician to get re-elected is not to do
anything, a tactic Silva seems to understand.

"The only thing Mario Silva's ever done on council was get elected,"
says Councillor Pam McConnell.

Silva may be content to straddle the fence in an effort to please
everyone and avoid future defeat, but his peers want him to become
more decisive, which will mean taking sides.

Pantalone says, "As politicians we're used to saying yes, but Mario
must learn when to say no, and to whom."

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