Vaughan
June 26, 2009 09:40 AM
Caroline Grech
A proposed trip to the Philippines by Mayor Linda Jackson and Regional Councillor Gino Rosati has been temporarily grounded.
A report from the mayor was sent to the city’s economic development committee meeting Monday recommending that a trip to Baguio City be approved for her and Mr. Rosati.
The pair would have helped mark that city’s centenary celebration.
In a letter from Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr., the official invited Ms Jackson to attend a host of activities, including a forum that would focus on environment, tourism and sustainable development.
The trip was to take place between Aug. 28 and Sept. 10.
Baguio City has been a friendship city with Vaughan since 1997.
That government would have picked up costs for ground transportation and two hotel rooms. As well, the Filipino-Canadian Association of Vaughan was going to cover meals and additional accommodations.
But the trip still got shot down.
The cost of airfare and incidentals would come from the mayor’s and Mr. Rosati’s own budgets.
Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, chair of the economic development committee, said that even though Baguio City is a sister city, the committee felt that in the current economic downturn it wouldn’t be fiscally responsible to send Ms Jackson and Mr. Rosati.
The committee also recommended that if the mayor and regional councillor felt strongly about taking the trip, they should pay for it out of their own pocket, rather than have it come from their budget or the corporate council budget.
Ms Jackson said that although she would really like to go, she admitted the timing is not the greatest given that the city is hosting the National Symposium on Parks and Grounds and the National Communities in Bloom Awards ceremony this fall.
The Filipino-Canadian Association of Vaughan approached the mayor about a year ago to organize this trip.
The no-trip decision ultimately needs to be approved at council’s final meeting next week, before it breaks for the summer.