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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

Doug Ford doesn't want to be Mayor, Doug Ford wants to be Dictator.

From the Toronto Sun, at this link:

Mayor should have veto powers: Ford

Doug Ford says Toronto needs a strong mayor system. The mayoral candidate isn’t toning down his support for beefing up the mayor’s powers despite the fact he’s locked in an election battle with John Tory and Olivia Chow. Both his opponents oppose the idea of strengthening the mayor’s powers.

“At minimum, budgetary veto powers,†Ford said Monday during a community tour in the Jane St.-Finch Ave. area.

Mayor Rob Ford’s brother said if he had it his way, Toronto would explore adopting a strong mayor system.

“I would like to look at the strong-mayor system in the U.S., New York, Chicago, L.A. — see how that works,†he said.

“I think it just stops all the disagreements. You know, you need one person held accountable, one person,†he added. “At the end of the day, I learned one thing about the mayoral election, the mayor gets blamed for everything — he should be responsible for everything. If not, don’t blame him for everything.â€

He noted the province will review the City of Toronto Act in the next few years and argued that would be the time to ask for the changes.

“The province works this way in a majority government,†Ford said. “It’s ultimate power with the province and the feds when they have a majority government. At least you have to give the same powers to whoever the mayor may be, him or her, of the day. If you don’t like them, you fire them in four years.â€

The Etobicoke North (Ward 2) councillor has long advocated for a strong mayor system. In June 2012, he insisted a more empowered mayor was key to bringing order to City Hall.

Tory campaign spokesman Amanda Galbraith said the frontrunner is happy to work within the current rules.

“But the real story here is that Doug Ford is in favour of a strong-mayor system because he knows he cannot work with council to get things done,†Galbraith said. “Toronto cannot afford four more years of inaction. We need someone who can go to City Hall, work with councillors and both levels of government to get things done on transit and traffic congestion.â€

Chow campaign spokesman Jamey Heath said “it’s positive to have the mayor working with council.

“Only Olivia has shown she can work with councillors to get things done,†Heath said on Monday.

“We don’t need a strong mayor system o overrule council. We need a strong mayor like Olivia to work with council.â€
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kEiThZ said:
I find "Progressive" a dumb word. Says nothing about left-leaning principles. And in the Canadian context belonged to a party that was centrist and merged with a right leaning party.

I, see nothing wrong with "leftist". And the association with violence never occurred to me any more than one would think of say "communist" or "socialist" having connotations of violence.

I suppose one could label Chow a "socialist" seeing as she hails from a social democratic party. I wonder if AoD would consider that an acceptable substitute label for Chow and her supporters.
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Actually I find social democrat or even socialist (with the latter being further on the left) far more accurate a term.

re: Ford and "strong mayor system"

If he haven't noticed, the voters are going to be firing him and his lot soon - guess the system is accountable afterall.

AoD
 
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The system may or may not be entirely accountable, but the idea of Dear Leader Douglas is enough to shit a few people right up.
 
No, really, just the thought of it is the stuff of nightmare. Maybe I'm especially sensitive, being the son of immigrants who escaped an autocratic regime in central Europe. The fear of tyrants goes deep with us.
 
Reporter asks John Tory what his engineering studies are that was conducted on smart track. Tory again referred to U of T prof Miller of how he graded his idea an A. This is not an engineering study regardless of how Miller is a civil engineer prof.
 
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Sketch said:
Reporter asks John Tory what his engineering studies are that was conducted on smart track. Tory again referred to U of T prof Miller of how he graded his an idea an A. This is not an engineering study.
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The whole engineering study thing is a bit silly - not a single candidate ran their transit plan through serious studies.

MTown said:
No, really, just the thought of it is the stuff of nightmare. Maybe I'm especially sensitive, being the son of immigrants who escaped an autocratic regime in central Europe. The fear of tyrants goes deep with us.
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On the more heartening side, they were disposed of rather gloriously.

AoD
 
And on the super heartening side, I'm glad they came to Canada and I was born here. But now I'm just being selfish.


See, that engineering study question is silly to ask but also silly not to answer honestly. Was he afraid that Douglas and Chow had indeed had serious studies done in regards to some of their plans? (LOL!)
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
The whole engineering study thing is a bit silly - not a single candidate ran their transit plan through serious studies.

AoD
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Seriously - what a dumb Q. This is why mayoral candidates shouldn't be proposing things in the first place. But engineering studies? He's not even actually the mayor! He's just a guy with an idea! IF he gets elected and IF council wants to, experts will do a study and figure out the optimal route and all those fine issues. And even then Metrolinx will probably have a pass at some point. The idea that engineers should be vetting these plans....let's just say, I can't wait for election day.
Especially election day 2018, when there's ranked ballots.
 
We keep going on about ranked ballots (because FPTP is a sham), but are they a sure thing in 2018? I may have missed something (yet again).
 
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