Corporations operating $9.4-billion budgets generally aren’t run by part-timers. But Toronto seems a rare exception with Mayor Rob Ford’s itinerary showing huge blocks of “private” time and remarkably few meetings.

Given this mayor’s epic incompetence, a cynic might say the fewer hours Ford spends on the job the better. But, joking aside, Toronto suffers when it isn’t led by an energetic, highly involved chief executive. And municipalities across Canada are hurt, too.

What’s particularly troubling is that instead of stepping up his game, Ford is increasingly off-duty. As the Star’s Daniel Dale reports, over a period of more than three months starting Nov. 1, Ford’s itinerary listed just seven meetings with businesspeople, community groups and politicians from other governments. Meanwhile, 88 blocks of time were labelled “private.”

Ford insists he’s kept busy, day and night, answering calls from Toronto residents. Even if that’s true, he was elected to serve as mayor, not as the city’s head receptionist. His job isn’t to spend hours with random callers discussing potholes, barking dogs or plugged sewers — it’s to lead Canada’s sixth largest government.

Compare Ford’s record to that of his immediate predecessor, David Miller. Never lacking in energy, Miller was relentless in pressing Toronto’s case at the federal and provincial level. Rather than avoiding meetings with other municipal leaders, as Ford does, Miller was deeply involved in setting a national urban agenda. He used the mayoralty of Canada’s largest city as a bully pulpit to demand more respect, cash and consideration for all cities. And it worked.

Through relentless activism, Miller, other big-city mayors and urban advocates — including this newspaper — managed to have a share of provincial and federal gasoline tax money diverted to local budgets. The GST was waived for purchases made by municipalities. And provincial downloading, which had long crippled city finances, was finally reversed. Ontario has begun a gradual process of, once again, picking up costs that had been unfairly imposed on communities. All this brings hundreds of millions of dollars to Toronto each year. (Far more than any casino could.)

But that’s not all. Through relentless pressure, Miller and other urban advocates secured an $8.4-billion investment in Toronto’s Transit City light rail network and passage of the City of Toronto Act, giving this municipality historic rights, autonomy and powers.

What has Ford managed to wring from Ottawa and Queen’s Park? Not much, in comparison. And don’t just blame constrained federal and provincial budgets. As the Star’s Paul Moloney has reported, Toronto was specifically invited by federal officials last summer to apply for a program offering $50 million to Ontario cities for parks and recreation projects. Ford submitted a letter, a week before the Aug. 31 deadline, asking for $16 million but got nothing.

On the basis of population alone, Toronto should have received $10 million. Instead, federal money flowed to places like Hamilton, Burlington, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

Maybe their mayors spent more time at the office.

In the recent federal budget, Ottawa devoted $14 billion over 10 years to infrastructure work . That money has yet to be portioned out and, lacking a strong mayor, Toronto could find itself shortchanged.

It’s a testament to municipal civil service resilience that Toronto City Hall functions as well as it does in the absence of full-time leadership. But with Ford at the helm this city is just coasting — and not in the right direction.