Port directors take concerns to Ottawa
A divisive internal fight over the recent election of a new chair of the Toronto Port Authority has prompted two directors of the federal agency to take the unusual step of writing to the Minister of Transport.
Yesterday, in separate interviews, board directors Douglas Reid and Christopher Henley said they each sent a letter a week ago to Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon (with a copy to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the minister responsible for Toronto) describing an impasse that has split the board.
The fight, kept under wraps for almost two months until this week, has some board members still trying to find a solution before the next board meeting later this month. The dustup has stalled the release of 2007 audited financial statements, described by one director as "improving," compared with a net financial loss of $4.6-million last year.
The impasse over the chair comes as the port authority, according to several directors, seeks to turn a page in its often-sour dealings with local residents and the city, which has declined to fill its seat on the board since 2004.
At issue for the directors who wrote to Mr. Cannon is the process that led to the ouster of former chairwoman Michele McCarthy, a provincial Liberal appointee, in favour of financier Mark McQueen, a federal Conservative nominee who joined the board last fall.
The TPA website lists Mr. McQueen as the chairman.
However, both Mr. Reid and Mr. Henley cite a letter from the board's law firm, Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg, that Mr. McQueen's election came without two days' notice to select a new chair "and is therefore invalid." The letter said "the office of chairperson of the TPA is currently vacant."
Citing that, Mr. Reid, a Queen's University business professor with Toronto roots, said "Mr. McQueen is therefore not the chair."
Mr. Reid was out of the country for the March meeting but had been assured there were no controversial items. He says the "odious" vote to dump Ms. McCarthy, to which he objected on his return, "came as a complete bolt out of the blue."
Mr. Henley, chairman of the corporate governance committee that sought the legal opinion, said he wrote to Mr. Cannon to say "I will not participate in something that I am advised by counsel is unlawful nor will I acquiesce or turn a blind eye to something."
Mr. McQueen contends the election was "conducted appropriately," adding TPA bylaws indicate a failure to give notice is "not fatal" to votes at a duly-constituted meeting.
"When an election is lost, it is not unusual for people to yearn for a procedural angle to overcome the democratic will," he said, adding "the precise notice process was followed last year by the very directors who are now crying foul."
Not so, says Mr. Reid, who said all board members were present for last year's election, with notice, of Ms. McCarthy.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Cannon could not confirm receipt of the two letters, but emphasized the minister has "absolutely nothing to do with" naming the chair of the TPA.
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