And yet all the centrists are gathering around Tory. How could it be?
Yes. How could this be? The leftists on here either don't get how far they are to the left (from the mainstream) or seem to think the public has been duped by Tory. It couldn't possibly be that Tory is just plain right of centre and the public is fine with that?
Chow, on the other hand, does have leftist baggage. Just look at her history with OCAP. She was forced to resign from the Police Services Board because of her interference at an OCAP protest that turned violent. She voted against action to remove squatters off the Cherry St. lands. She voted against banning raves despite deaths from Ecstacy users at raves. 4th highest spending MP in FY2012/2013, with her riding a few hours away from Ottawa. Not to mention her history with retaining public housing while having a combined income of over $120k. She's a rather firm leftist. As such it's rather difficult to take her seriously now as she appeals to centrists. She should have started moderating a decade ago if she wanted to pass for a centrist.
And while statements like this might go down well on UT, they won't really sell well with the general public:
"If I had $26 million, I'd build one community centre in a high-risk neighbourhood first than fix any more roads." (During 2004 budget deliberations....)
Those attack ads on John Tory by her friends. She really should be careful. A few ads reflecting on some of her actions in the 90s and 80s would drop her to under 20%. I can just imagine a spot highlighting the fact that she voted herself (with other trustees) an 86% pay hike in 1988, as a school trustee.
Tory has his baggage. Mostly they are boneheaded, foot-in-mouth comments or missteps (like supporting Ford). But they pale in comparison to the history of Chow and her longstanding belief in leftist policies that the majority of the public would not support today.
And if anyone needs any proof of her leftist bonafides, please refer to her platform where she proposes taxing home sakes above $2 million (basically every slightly upper middle class homeowner in Toronto) to fund programs (such as school lunch programs) that really should be administered by the province.