In 1994, he opposed a plan by Metro's Separate School Board to consolidate storage of 18,000 gallons of PCBs in North York.

In 2000, Lastman appointed him to the position of the city's budget chief, replacing the retiring Tom Jakobek.

It passed 9-1, as Howard Moscoe and John Filion who were allies of the mayor voted for Shiner's motion, with Shelley Carroll as the lone dissenter.

Miller had directed City Manager Shirley Hoy to implement $34 million in service cuts to the 2007 budget in August 2007 without seeking council approval, arguing that it addressed a financial shortfall.

[2] An arbitrator later ruled that the library closures violated the collective bargaining agreement with the union.

Shiner's lobbyist registrations all listed 11th-floor apartment (88 Erskine Avenue) which itself has also been a source of controversy.

Specifically, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that Shiner and another city councillor (Councillor Giorgio Mamolotti) both received a "hefty" rent discounts at that address for their rental apartments compared to other tenants in the same building, from a real estate development and management company (Greenwin-Verdiroc Group) that did millions of dollars of business with the City of Toronto.

The same article reported that neither Shiner, Mamolotti, or Greenwin-Verdiroc were willing to answer questions regarding the favorable rent discount.