The City of Toronto has recently created a newsletter called Our Toronto which will be mailed to every household in the city. You should have received it by now or will be receiving it any day now. This comic book size publication will be published up to four times a year at a cost of $800,000. Mayor Miller insists that this is good value and that it will keep us in touch with our government. Others have said that it is no more than propaganda.

At a time when the city should be cutting costs, they seem to be looking for ways to spend even more money. Many feel that Our Toronto has been created as an electioneering vehicle, giving the Mayor pages and pages in which to wax eloquent about his great plans for Toronto. Considering that Our Toronto includes a 2 page message from the mayor along with quotes on his positions on everything from handguns to transit, it’s not a difficult stretch to believe that this is newsletter will be used very effectively by Mayor Miller to push his own agenda.

Our Toronto is available online in 10 languages - Chinese, Tamil, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, Urdu, Russian, Farsi and Korean – in addition to English and French in your choice of HTML or audio format and in English in Braille upon request.

The one positive aspect of the newsletter that cannot be disputed is that Our Toronto is environmentally friendly. It is printed on 100% recycled paper and uses vegetable inks. What do you think of Our Toronto – good idea, waste of money, propaganda rag?