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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

BurlOak said:
Ford did not open the debate, the people of Toronto opened the debate by electing Ford.

Why did the Liberals re-open the subway debate in the summer (or was it spring) of 2013 - was it based on a mandate from the people or were they just trying to save seats and money be damned?
Click to expand...

You got it wrong the Liberals did not reopen the subway debate in the summer...that was done at the May City Council when the majority decided they would support the "McM"...then again in July when Council reinterated their support and directed Pennachetti to write letters to Metrolinx advising of the change in direction, to Province for assurance the 1.8B for the LRT would be transferred to a subway build and finally to the Feds with an ask for funding..
 
ehlow said:
The map of "overground" systems is missing quite a few places with LRT, like Portland, New Jersey
Click to expand...

I guess if you want to show how LRT is found on most continents using a map of the world, you're going to run out of room in some places, especially with multiple cities in the same country/region: Strasbourg, Geneva (?), Nottingham, Sheffield, etc.

They could have added Oslo and Minneapolis to help counter the 'LRTs don't work in the cold' crowd.
 
Greg Banks said:
You got it wrong the Liberals did not reopen the subway debate in the summer...that was done at the May City Council when the majority decided they would support the "McM"...then again in July when Council reinterated their support and directed Pennachetti to write letters to Metrolinx advising of the change in direction, to Province for assurance the 1.8B for the LRT would be transferred to a subway build and finally to the Feds with an ask for funding..
Click to expand...

I got my timelines wrong.

Before the May City Council meeting, the Province definitely did ask the City to make a decision on subways, even though the City had already thrown its support behind the LRT.
 
In terms of the "I'm just like you" strategy of relating to people, I find the contrast between Stintz and Chow interesting.

Stintz seems to being trying to relate to the upper class mid-town soccer moms (which she is one of).

Chow is appealing to the immigrant story in Toronto, a very strong story given that 43% of the city was not born in Canada.

If Chow is fluent in Cantonese and/or Mandarin, it could be actually be a significant advantage in Scarborough. She would be able to communicate directly to a big share of people that no other candidate can.

I usually don't vote based on the candidate's personal story, but maybe it will be effective in our city, where lots of people can definitely relate as immigrants.
 
BurlOak said:
I got my timelines wrong.

Before the May City Council meeting, the Province definitely did ask the City to make a decision on subways, even though the City had already thrown its support behind the LRT.
Click to expand...
Moving target aren't you...maybe this will end the debate...a letter to Pennachetti from Mertolinx dated June 28, 2013 outlining history and previous decisions
www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pdf/21030628_Letter_to_Joe_Pennachetti-Response_to_Council.pdf

I noticed when posted the address was not complete you'll have to add /21030628_letter_to_Joe_Pennachetti-Response_to_Council
 
Last edited:
ehlow said:
In terms of the "I'm just like you" strategy of relating to people, I find the contrast between Stintz and Chow interesting.

Stintz seems to being trying to relate to the upper class mid-town soccer moms (which she is one of).

Chow is appealing to the immigrant story in Toronto, a very strong story given that 43% of the city was not born in Canada.

If Chow is fluent in Cantonese and/or Mandarin, it could be actually be a significant advantage in Scarborough. She would be able to communicate directly to a big share of people that no other candidate can.

I usually don't vote based on the candidate's personal story, but maybe it will be effective in our city, where lots of people can definitely relate as immigrants.
Click to expand...

She is fluent in Cantonese. Don't know about Mandarin though.
 
Couple thoughts on Chow's first day.

Regarding the DRL, I am sure her moderate, show-me-the-money-first stance threw the Tory and Stintz camps for a loop. I think they were trying to gain the upper hand on the downtown/central Toronto voting bloc by running with the DRL as a key plank of their platform before Chow did. Like it or not, the DRL is still framed as a downtown vs. suburban issue where only the downtown residents (BS of course) will benefit. Chow has more to lose strictly placating her left wing downtown base than ignoring the interests of residents from Mimico, Willowdale and L'Amoreaux. Chow threw her base a few bones - opposing jets on the island, investing in children recreation programs, etc - but her talk of fiscal restraint, minding the public purse and even donating her MP pension - suggest she is squaring in on the the moderates.

I agree with others who have suggested that Stintz's campaign has been a disaster from the get-go. John Tory's shrewd but smart decision to start his campaign the same day as Stintz sucked a lot of life out of her momentum. With Chow and Tory running on both engines and eyes and ears following Ford's every step, Stintz - and Soknacki, for that matter - will be left in the dust.
 
ehlow said:
In terms of the "I'm just like you" strategy of relating to people, I find the contrast between Stintz and Chow interesting.

Stintz seems to being trying to relate to the upper class mid-town soccer moms (which she is one of).

Chow is appealing to the immigrant story in Toronto, a very strong story given that 43% of the city was not born in Canada.

If Chow is fluent in Cantonese and/or Mandarin, it could be actually be a significant advantage in Scarborough. She would be able to communicate directly to a big share of people that no other candidate can.

I usually don't vote based on the candidate's personal story, but maybe it will be effective in our city, where lots of people can definitely relate as immigrants.
Click to expand...

Yes considering those who speak an East Asian tongue are at least 118,915 in Scarborough according to the 2011 census..the breakdown looks something like this: Cantonese 39,145 Chinese not specified 34,895 Mandarin 22,305 and Tagalog 22,570
 
VTB said:
She is fluent in Cantonese. Don't know about Mandarin though.
Click to expand...

Thought I'd be able to find video of her speaking to Mandarin media (OMNI, Global Mandarin) but no luck. Anyone seen it and able to comment?
 
Greg Banks said:
Yes considering those who speak an East Asian tongue are at least 118,915 in Scarborough according to the 2011 census..the breakdown looks something like this: Cantonese 39,145 Chinese not specified 34,895 Mandarin 22,305 and Tagalog 22,570
Click to expand...

According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto#Languages, 8% of Toronto speaks Chinese as a mother tongue. That's a pretty big group.

I saw a tweet that she was talking to Chinese language media. She'll be on all the Chinese news programs tonight speaking without requiring translation. That to me seems like it could be a big advantage, especially in the suburbs. (I'm making the assumption here that the others don't speak Chinese, so correct me if I'm wrong)

If the immigrant personal story works, it would be a huge benefit in the suburbs which have a large portion of immigrants.

I'm not an immigrant but I am a Chinese-Canadian, and I have to say that I find it pretty amazing that a Chinese-Canadian has a good shot at becoming Mayor. I just never thought it would happen until I was much older than I am now. Having said that, I wouldn't vote for someone based on that, and I haven't decided who to vote for yet.
 
It's going to be interesting to see how the city councilors align themselves. So far Soknacki has the support of Ainslie. Chow has the support of McConnell and Layton. I'm not sure if anyone else has declared support.

Some things I've been wondering:

Will Ford get a single supporter?

Will Vaughan support Chow?

Will Perruzza support fellow NDPer Chow or his buddy Ford?

Will council's right-wing fracture between the conservative candidates, rally behind Tory, or withhold support entirely?
 
ehlow said:
According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto#Languages, 8% of Toronto speaks Chinese as a mother tongue. That's a pretty big group.

I saw a tweet that she was talking to Chinese language media. She'll be on all the Chinese news programs tonight speaking without requiring translation. That to me seems like it could be a big advantage, especially in the suburbs. (I'm making the assumption here that the others don't speak Chinese, so correct me if I'm wrong)

If the immigrant personal story works, it would be a huge benefit in the suburbs which have a large portion of immigrants.

I'm not an immigrant but I am a Chinese-Canadian, and I have to say that I find it pretty amazing that a Chinese-Canadian has a good shot at becoming Mayor. I just never thought it would happen until I was much older than I am now. Having said that, I wouldn't vote for someone based on that, and I haven't decided who to vote for yet.
Click to expand...

If you are interested you can Ward Profile information at.....just click on whatever ward you are interested in and you can get a lot of good info on population, households, languages from 2001/2006/2011 census


app.toronto.ca/wards/jsp/wards.jsp
 
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