what do you consider our boy Jimmy? centrist because he was a provincial liberal? Chiarelli?
if you only consider the dippers as left leaning ya it's been a while but that's not reflective of how the city has functioned.
Watson and Chiarelli were both left leaning
Watson and Chiarelli are the emitome of centrist governments. They pander to whatever electoral issues are important enough at the time to the electorate to win elections / retain power.
Heck, let's talk about Watson for a second here. He's lowered municipal taxes to their lowest point in years. He froze the mayorial salary and fought hard against increases in salaries across the board for municipal employees, and helmed the first municipal layoffs since amalgamation. He has cut many city services, all in the name of attempting to balance the budget. Most municipal increases in spending have been on infrastructure, not any left-leaning programs, which have all been cut since he took office.
Honestly, Watson leans far more towards fiscal conservatism than he does anything even closely resembling left-wing politics. If you think Watson is "left", then I really have to question whether or not you're even paying attention to municipal politics. I mean... I've been out of the country for 7 years, have only been back in Canada for 4 mknths, and even then this is like BASIC knowledge for anyone that cares enough to keep them informed.
Jim Watson as left-leaning... I can't even imagine the argument in favor of that.