Canadian budget chief demands return of his missing piggy bank

Toronto police are not investigating the alleged theft of a small, red plastic piggy bank, which belongs to budget chair Mike Del Grande. Councillor Del Grande reported the pig missing shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Councillors had just returned following a lengthy closed session. “Whoever took my pig, give it back,” Del Grande angrily told council.



The budget chair has been taking the pig to meetings as a prop. In an impassioned plea for its return, Councillor David Shiner said: “He was saving very hard for our budget with that pig and it’s hard to balance the budget without it. It definitely was a member of council that may have been asked to collude with it and hide it somewhere.” Security footage is being reviewed. There are 44 suspects.

The pig, which goes by the alias Mini Mike, was reportedly last seen on the desks of Councillors Michelle Berardinetti and Chin Lee, Shiner said. Speaker Frances Nunziata vowed she would ask the integrity commissioner to investigate. Jonathan Goldsbie, a city hall pundit, says he feels unsafe at 100 Queen St. W. following the afternoon theft. “It was just there. And then it wasn’t. It could be any one of them,” he said. “I’m going to have to watch my stuff more closely.”


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Suspicion immediately fell on Councillor Adam Vaughan, an outspoken leader with ties to council’s left-wing gang. “I’ve never stolen a pig. Although I have Irish ancestors who were sent to Australia after stealing horses from the British army,” he later admitted. Others rose in council to question the budget chief's supervisory skills. “If the budget chair can't take care of a pig, how can he look after a budget?” asked Joe Mihevc.

Many thanks Cath!