Deputy Premier and Toronto Centre MPP George Smitherman was scheduled to spend much of his Saturday at photo opportunities for volunteer garbage clean-up efforts.

"It's one small thing that we can do," he said. "First and foremost, I'm a citizen of Toronto, and I had the opportunity to ask folks to lend a hand, and people have been so willing."

He made stops at five locations on Saturday, the 27th day of the civic strike:

  • 8:30 a.m. - Broadview Parkette (TTC Broadview subway station) with Coun. Case Ootes
  • 9:45 a.m. - 2609 Eglinton (South side), with York-South Weston MPP Laura Albanese
  • 11 a.m. - Wellesley Subway Station
  • 12:15 p.m. - Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue with Christine Innes
  • 3 p.m. - Yonge Street and Finch Avenue, with Willowdale MPP David Zimmer

Zimmer and Albanese are Liberals, while Innes ran federally for the Liberals in the 2008 election. She is married to former Liberal MP Tony Ianno.

Ootes, a member of the Responsible Government Group of conservative-leaning councillors, is an opponent of Mayor David Miller.

Smitherman was out with a group called OneToronto.ca, which he helped launch on Tuesday.

They claimed to have 150 volunteers out in Toronto-Centre, 60 in York-South Weston and 50 in Toronto-Danforth.

Smitherman told reporters that the collected trash isn't going into the numerous temporary landfills that have sprung up in neighbourhoods.

"The city asked people who are collecting garbage in larger volumes to use commercial services where possible," he said.

"So through all of these cleanups that we've done, we've either taken them right to the city's transfer facilities or we've actually paid to take them to commercial facilities ... ."

The group's website, OneToronto.ca, allows citizens to identify hotspots by posting photos. The group then tries to match up volunteers who can tackle the trash, he said.

Smitherman has insisted he has no plans to run for mayor in next year's civic election, that his efforts are solely about civic pride.

"Toronto has a mayor, and this is July of 2009, and I have a really, really exciting job that I am privileged to hold," he said.

As an aside, he was holding a broom -- a famous campaign prop of Miller in his 2003 campaign.

Miller has seen his popularity take a hit over the 27 days of the strike, which currently shows no signs of ending any time soon.

In an online poll conducted between July 8 and 10 for CTV and The Globe and Mail by The Strategic Counsel, only 30 per cent of overall respondents thought Toronto was on the right track.

That percentage drops to 24 per cent among those who consider themselves greatly affected by the strike.

City Hall and the mayor had the support of 33 per cent compared to 13 per cent who supported striking unions, CUPE Locals 416 and 79.

However, 55 per cent supported neither side.

For Miller, his standing improved among six per cent of respondents, remained unchanged with 49 per cent and worsened among 45 per cent of respondents.

One question in the poll was whether former mayoral candidate and provincial Progressive Conservative leader John Tory should run for the mayor's job in 2010. Fifty-six per cent supported the idea.

Frustrations

Negotiations were continuing through the weekend, but neither the unions nor the city would comment. Miller said Friday he was frustrated by the very slow pace.

Meanwhile, Brenda Ross, who is disabled, is reduced to leaving trash on her porch and even storing some in her home. This attracts flies and makes for poor living conditions.

Calls for help have gone unanswered.

"Whoever you can think of them, I have already called them," she said, adding her local councillor suggested she start a compost heap.

David Wisniowski has been helping his neighbours, taking about 70 loads of trash to help out elderly and disabled people in his area.

"That's what it's about. If you don't help each other, what are you going to do?" he told CTV Toronto.

At temporary dumps, people coming to leave their trash expressed their sympathies for residents.

"You gotta keep you door closed, your window closed because the smell goes inside your house," said Rosa Qirimonte, who leaves near the Campbell Avenue dump.

One striker told CTV Toronto that everyone wants to go back to work. They just want a fair deal.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby