The city's defenders of libraries, senior citizens and animal welfare rallied this weekend on the eve of the release of a report that some inside City Hall say will show that the past two months of petitions and protests have been much ado about nothing.
Community leaders, activists and author Margaret Atwood have been up in arms since July, when a review of the city's core services conducted by consultants for KPMG suggested sweeping cuts, including closing library branches, eliminating Toronto Animal Services and reducing the scope of the green bin composting program.
The report, which will be released Monday morning, will outline possible savings identified by city manager Joe Pennachetti based on KPMG's review. It will provide a first look at how closely Mayor Rob Ford intends to follow the accounting firm's slash-and-burn approach to finding savings.
A senior official in the mayor's office was quick to play down Mr. Pennachetti's report.
"Everyone thinks this will be some sort of guillotine day," the official said. "It's going to be very anticlimactic."
Whether their fears are warranted or not, the service review has mobilized Mr. Ford's critics, hundreds of whom gathered at Dufferin Grove Park on Saturday and then at a Riverdale church on Sunday.
Hosted by east-end councillors Paula Fletcher and Mary Fragedakis, Sunday's event saw about a dozen community leaders step forward to detail the dire consequences they believe will ensue if city hall embraces KPMG's suggestions.
Speaking to a crowd of about 300, which nearly filled the pews at Eastminster United Church, Liz White, of Animal Alliance of Canada, warned against privatizing animal control or rolling back emergency animal care provided by Toronto Animal Services.
"Cuts to this program will result in more animals dying," she said. "The only way to reduce the cost of this service is by sticking needles into animals and burning them. I think that is a travesty."
John Campey of the Social Planning Council said privatizing homes for the aged could negatively affect the elderly.
"Private operators do what is called creaming, they take the residents that are the easiest to care for, the cheapest to care for, and push out or don't admit those who require the highest levels of care. Those are the folk, the most vulnerable, the most in need, who will be dumped."
Councillor Janet Davis said there is a hidden agenda behind the services review.
"This is all a cover for privatization," she said. "[The Ford administration]see that government should get out if there's a private sector offering those services."
Reaction to the potential cuts has been strong, including a call from Margaret Atwood to sign an online petition that crashed the host website, and a marathon 22-hour meeting for which hundreds of residents gathered to rail at Mr. Ford and his executive committee.
Until now, the suggested cuts have been purely hypothetical, but Monday's report will show which ones Mr. Ford has taken seriously, where exactly he smells gravy that could help make up a projected $774-million budget shortfall. The executive committee will meet to examine Mr. Pennachetti's proposals on Sept. 19. Most of his suggestions, if approved by executive, will feed in to 2012 budget deliberations.
With files from Patrick White