Quiet Raymond Cho is a thoughtful, middle-of-the-road voting veteran on city council, who tends to shun the spotlight and political pomp.

So when the Scarborough councillor suddenly broke out of character earlier this week and delivered an impassioned rebuke of the mayor’s “cut, cut, cut” agenda, it left opposition councillors banging their desks and cheering aloud.

“I have a great idea to save billions of dollars and give lots of money to taxpayers,” Cho began sarcastically during budget debate. “Why don’t we sell half the Toronto city parks to the private sector?”

Or, Cho continued, addressing plans to contract out half of the city’s garbage collection, “why don’t we … cut the number of police by half? So that east of Yonge (is) the police. West of Yonge (would be) by private security. We could save billions and billions of dollars.”

Cho implored council to think about the kind of city they want to leave their grandchildren and to not just blindly vote with the mayor.

“If you keep cutting, you know, you’re going to cut the vision. What kind of city are we going to have? We don’t hear the word ‘build’ … we are elected to lead the city,” he concluded.

It was a speech reminiscent of those delivered by progressive mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone during the campaign — and a marked swing to the left for a councillor who, to date, has backed the Ford agenda.

The soft-spoken Cho has spent 20 years in the background. His reluctance to grandstand has earned him a reputation for being a nice guy, but it rarely lands his opinions in the newspapers. And until now, Cho has been content with that. But after weeks of listening to Ford talk about slashing programs — and seeing cuts to services such as Toronto libraries — Cho hit a breaking point.

“I felt I had to say something. I wouldn’t say it’s a voice of opposition. I would say it’s a voice of waking up,” said Cho.

For left-winger Pam McConnell, it was an encouraging shift.

“When you have a rousing speech like we had from Councillor Cho, it reignites my hope that council may stand up for its people, rather than align with the mayor,” she said. “It was a very brave speech.”

In his three months in power, Ford has been successful pushing through his agenda, including his controversial plans, such as making the TTC an essential service. On Thursday council passed the city’s 2011 budget which includes a tax freeze for property owners. The mayor currently holds hardline support from just under half of the 44 members on city council.

They are ideologically aligned and have been given high-level positions on city boards and committees.

The opposition is made up of about 15 progressives, leaving the balance of power with the “mushy middle” — which so far has split in favour of Ford.

So on a council where every vote counts, Cho’s apparent dissent is significant. Councillor Gord Perks, one of Ford’s harshest critics, said it may be a sign of things to come.

“As the impossibility of Ford’s agenda becomes clear, he’s going to lose more and more votes on council. He’ll lose more and more of the Raymond Chos,” he said.

Deputy mayor Doug Holyday politely disagreed, noting Cho’s voting pattern has changed in the past and it will change again.

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Right-winger Giorgio Mammoliti later quipped that Cho was acting out because last week he lost his beloved position as chair of the zoo board, a title Cho has held since 2003.

That has nothing to do with it, Cho said. He saw his ousting coming.

Cho was first elected as a councillor in Metro Toronto back in 1991. At the time, the former social worker ran as an NDP candidate, although he has since left the party.

Cho, who holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Toronto, immigrated to Canada from Korea in 1967, and he frequently references his country of birth in council.

He now represents Ward 42, Scarborough-Rouge River. He has lived in the inner suburb for 30 years with his wife, with whom he has three grown sons.

Even as a centrist, Cho often votes progressive on social issues. On other issues of the day, he has been known to flip-flop. This was the case with David Miller’s Transit City, which Cho initially supported, then backtracked on in favour of Ford’s subway plan.

Now Cho has flopped back. After better understanding the plan, Cho has concerns about how to pay for it, as well as how many people will benefit.

“Even if the subway comes to Scarborough, it only comes to the Town Centre. What about my ward?” he said. “I supported Rob Ford’s subway plan, hoping that the new mayor would be supported by the province and federal government especially. Now I’m back to David Miller’s Transit City because there’s no money.”

At the end of the day, Cho says, he likes to keep an open mind. Whether that makes him left or right depends on the day.

Although, he added: With the 2012 budget debate fast approaching and major service cuts looming to fix a $774 million shortfall, it looks like a lot of left-leaning days are in his future.