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About seven years ago, I had a coffee with my city councillor. He talked to me about his plan to run for mayor of Toronto, and asked me if I'd like to sit in on his campaign committee.

I didn't need much convincing.

David Miller was obviously smart, sharp, experienced (he was already a veteran councillor) and clear in his mind about what needed to be done.

That he had 5 per cent name recognition at the time just made his campaign more fun.

One of Miller's political problems since then might well rest in the fact that he knew what needed to be done.

Public transit needed to be planned and put on track. The city needed to grow upwards (into towers and other high density), not outwards (into ever-more-sprawling suburbs). The city's taxes needed to be rationalized and rebalanced. Its economic development strategy needed to be modernized. Broken neighbourhoods needed to be addressed, and the hopeless people living there given hope. The city needed to be, literally, cleaned up. The city's lobbyist/insider culture needed to be, figuratively and literally, cleaned up.

These and many other priorities could not be addressed by mayoral decree.

They needed to be tackled through careful coalition-building on a large city council, careful planning by expert staff, and careful consultation among stakeholders and citizens.

"Boring works," we used to tell ourselves in the government of Saskatchewan.

But it is also true that things that work can be boring in an entertainment/political culture that thrives on conflict, winning/losing, and showboating.

That's the opposite of what David Miller is all about. He's about cooperation and agreement (when it can be found); win/win; and quiet competence.

Perhaps Canada's much-abused largest city is in the mood for some fighting, some winners and losers, and some showboating.

But if that is what it's in for in the years to come, I'm betting Torontonians will quickly come to miss David Miller, and his more than honourable mandate.