2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[kEiThZ]

Chow got sideswiped. Let's face it. She basically committed to status quo transit planning according to Metrolinx with some added rhetoric on extra buses and the DRL. I doubt she expected Tory to come up with something like Smart Track. And she certainly didn't expect the public to be immune to attacks against Smart Track's financing.

 

[kEiThZ]

Quite frankly with Smart Track, I also suspect many members of the public may well see a way out between the constant LRT vs. Subway battle.

 

[SunriseChampion]

If you listen to enough fools, you too can convince yourself that the city will implode come the 28th.

As soon as I saw people who would rather a Ford than Tory if Chow couldn't make it....my eyes hit the back of my head with such force only a slap could fix them.
That's when I finally wished it were the 27th already.

As my friends and I like to say: It's ovah!

 

[ehlow]

I was pretty excited about Chow and liked her a lot earlier in the campaign. It seemed like she would run a positive & inspirational campaign.

However, when both her campaign and her supporters started claiming that Tory was just as bad as Ford, that they are the same, the negativity was really unappealing to me. It also really demonstrated to me that my views are not aligned with them at all. To say that Tory is the same as Ford seems ridiculous and extreme to me.

I really dislike the current campaign message that "Tory is as bad as Ford", or "Chow is the only progressive, Ford & Tory are conservatives", which many of Chow's supporters seem to believe.

Many Chow supporters seem to also have the view that the only logical or reasonable choice is Chow, and that everyone else is crazy, or that all Tory voters secretly prefer Chow. I found this kind of thinking really unappealing.

Next, she made her whole campaign about attacking & finding flaws in SmartTrack. So Chow's whole campaign focused on destroying someone else's idea that caught on and provides hope for Torontonians for better transit. Very inspirational.

 

[ehlow]

Quite frankly with Smart Track, I also suspect many members of the public may well see a way out between the constant LRT vs. Subway battle.

The Fords thought the election would be all about subway vs LRT, and tried to attack SmartTrack as if it were LRT ("it will rip up the roads!").

Now they've resorted to teaming up with Chow to find flaws in SmartTrack.

 

[salsa]

I honestly don't know how to take snippets of screen shot. I swear I used to have a tool for it, but there's this gem:

Augustus Oktavius Well, better Olivia.

Or better Ford because he, like his brother, might lose control of council and would therefore be easier to beat when he tries to implement this shit.

But if Tory does win, instead of partying, it might make more sense to take the rest of the day to go to the library, go to a park, take the TTC, take a look at a fire department, or, if you live in social housing, just go home and enjoy some time in your apartment. Basically, take some time to really enjoy these things like it's the last time you're ever going to see them, because it's entirely possible that it will be.

Then, get a good night's sleep, because you'll all have a looooooong fight ahead of you for the next 4 years.


+++++++++

Then there are gratuitious links to toryisatory.tumblr.com which, after you get past all the unreasonable memes (which are being blown around ad naseaum) contains this:

The thing that self-proclaimed “progressive” Liberal supporters of the diehard Conservative John Tory cannot comprehend is that real progressives do not want Tory in office, period. They do not see Tory as an improvement over Ford, because Tory is, in fact, not an improvement over Ford.

Ford and Tory would both be terrible mayors, just different. Their main difference is in style, not substance. Both Conservative candidates have policies and outlooks that primarily serve the rich and powerful while screwing over the rest of society. They both want to privatize public services (including healthcare, if they had that ability), want to sabotage the public transit system, want to irresponsibly slash taxes, and want to drastically cut services that benefit the poor, the working class and the environment. They both promote brutal competition and greed over cooperation and pooling our resources for the common good.


++++++


I don't know......sounds pretty...um.......ridiculous to me.

Yikes. I definitely don't align with these kinds of Chow supporters. The only similarities I see between Ford and Tory are their dumb-ass fiscal policies, but that's about it. Tory is still way better than Ford.

 

[Crazy]

If you listen to enough fools, you too can convince yourself that the city will implode come the 28th.

As soon as I saw people who would rather a Ford than Tory if Chow couldn't make it....my eyes hit the back of my head with such force only a slap could fix them.
That's when I finally wished it were the 27th already.

As my friends and I like to say: It's ovah!

Lately, I don't think there's been a bigger fool than you on this forum. I'm going to put you on ignore for now, because I'm really sick of your garbage. Every post makes me cringe.

 

[ShonTron]

Tory is not the same as Ford. That said, there's a lot I don't like about Tory, especially the 2014 edition brought to you by Kouvalis. SmartTrack and the DRL flip-flop and the Scarborough LRT/Subway stance, his Mitt Romneyesque out-of-touch statements, his refusal to take on policing issues (paid duty and overtime, carding, etc). He isn't a friend to cyclists; his dislike of Eglinton Connects bugs me.

I expect that Tory will be a more polished Lastman. We survived Lastman's two terms, and Tory will provide less embarrassment. We do have to watch what cuts Tory will try to make to keep property tax increases low. That's the danger of electing a corporatist conservative to City Hall. He has the backing of the provincial Liberals, which either means they seem him as controllable (like the Harris government saw Lastman) or actually willing to get some shit done.

But Chow ran a horrible campaign. I, like a lot of "progressives" that should have been Chow loyalists ended up checking out Ari Goldkind and David Soknacki. I went to events where they were present and speaking, even went to a Soks fundraiser. So I don't count myself as part of some Chow Nation, though I know hard-core NDPers that are.

I'm now resigning myself to a Tory win, and as such, I'm more interested in the council he's going to have to work with. Hopefully it leans a bit more left with a few Ford allies/conservatives dumped. People like Mark Grimes, Vincent Crisanti, Cesar Palacio, David Shiner, and if we're really lucky, we'll get progressives in Wards 7, 12, 16, 35 and/or 36 as well.

 

[freshcutgrass]

Ford and Tory would both be terrible mayors, just different. Their main difference is in style, not substance.

I agree.

I see them both as sociopaths. Tory is just a higher functioning version. The proverbial charming serial killer. Yea...your basic Paul Bernardo.

Before I lose the sliver of credibility I might have had...kidding (mostly)

 

[Ramako]

With respect to voting "strategically" versus voting on the basis of conviction... yes, to some degree democracy is about espousing or supporting certain ideals or principles via your ballot - but that's mostly what free speech is for. Ultimately democracy is about choice. Would I prefer candidate X or candidate Y? I might love candidate Z, but if I know with a high degree of certainty that he's not going to win then by voting for him anyway I'm not actually making a choice so much as making a statement. At the ballot box, I'm there to make a choice. If someone who prefers Tory over Ford nevertheless votes for Chow, then I think that they're surrendering their ability to choose in order to make a statement. To me, the ability to exercise the choice is far more valuable than the opportunity to make a statement given that there are a great number of other ways to make a political statement (such as on UT, Twitter or in person), whereas there is no other way to exercise your choice in this matter.

 

[freshcutgrass]

What could be LESS emotional than a purely strategic decision? Most of the time it's a compliment when we say, "He acted strategically." That said, spend a few minutes surfing #TOpoli and tell me it's not emotional. Read the Polley/Addario article I just posted and tell me it's not emotional.

When you're actions are more motivated by what you are against, rather than what you are for, then you're really letting your emotions dictate your actions.

Voting for me is simply a case of supporting a candidate. If I feel no candidate is worthy of my support, I just don't vote (as was the case for mayor in 2010)

So, OK, her transit plan is to cancel the LRT - first stopping its progress, bringing it back to council, voting on it again etc. etc. I think it's pointless, as much as I hate the decision, but I get that it saves money....that's ironic, given who she is, but OK. And then she wants more buses which, yes, we also need.

There's been no progress, so we haven't reached a point of no return (I love when I can make Kansas references). And yea...I'll waste some more time in council with it....BECAUSE 1.6 FREAKING BILLION DOLLARS!!!!. Plus the rather minor detail of how it will actually give the people in the local area better service in the process. And I fail to see where the irony is. Lefty city-builders like to raise and spend money because that's the way you build things....it doesn't mean they like to waste money, which the 3-stop BD extension is...a waste as well as a huge liability for the TTC.

Speaking of which...yea...buses. How boring. Except how many Scarberians live within walking distance of these three stations? Exactly....they will need to take a bus to get there. Toronto subways live and die by feeder routes. What's the point of splitting hairs over the difference between LRT vs subway trip times if the bus route you have to take to get to it has been eliminated or had the frequency reduced because the TTC has to deal with more funding shortages and yet another revenue-losing subway?

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I really dislike the current campaign message that "Tory is as bad as Ford", or "Chow is the only progressive, Ford & Tory are conservatives", which many of Chow's supporters seem to believe.

Saying Tory is as bad is utterly ridiculous. But there is truth in the statement "Chow is the only progressive, Ford & Tory are conservatives". Tory is definitely a fiscal conservative, and though he is more socially liberal than Ford(s) (obviously), I think it would be a stretch to label him a social progressive.

 

[nfitz]

She then told me she is trying to convince people to vote for Chow by reminding them if they liked Jack Layton, they should vote Chow because she believes in all of the same things he did.

Let's hope not ... Layton was passionately opposed to the downtown relief line - he was afraid it would bring more people downtown. He fought very hard to kill it in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was instrumental in getting the Rae government to fund suburban subway lines rather than the DRL.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

When you're actions are more motivated by what you are against, rather than what you are for, then you're really letting your emotions dictate your actions.

Voting for me is simply a case of supporting a candidate. If I feel no candidate is worthy of my support, I just don't vote (as was the case for mayor in 2010)

I think that choice will be simpler when there's ranked balloting. In the meantime, the mathematical reality is someone can rule the city with 35% of the vote or less. I think anyone who is voting for "Anyone But Ford", someone who doesn't like Tory but is sucking it up to vote for him, may well be voting "emotionally," but I'm talking about making a rational choice to vote for Tory.

There's been no progress, so we haven't reached a point of no return (I love when I can make Kansas references). And yea...I'll waste some more time in council with it....BECAUSE 1.6 FREAKING BILLION DOLLARS!!!!. Plus the rather minor detail of how it will actually give the people in the local area better service in the process. And I fail to see where the irony is. Lefty city-builders like to raise and spend money because that's the way you build things....it doesn't mean they like to waste money, which the 3-stop BD extension is...a waste as well as a huge liability for the TTC.

I'm not disagreeing. However, I also know the money has been sitting in the bank for this project since 2007 and I agree with Tory it's time to move on. You also make a legit argument for going the other way. It's an amazingly stupid thing council did but bear in mind that even if Chow gets elected there is no guarantee council agrees to it you can expect another days-long debate that culminates in a divisive, close vote. Then, if it passes, you go BACK to the province, head bowed and say, "Yeah, we changed our mind again. That thing we came up with in 2007? We're gonna build that now." That's your BEST case scenario. I don't think it's worth it. I'd have built an LRT but....time to move on.

I'm not disagreeing about buses either. But there's a difference between being mayor and RUNNING for mayor. The bus thing is practical and sensible, and not what people want to hear. I'm just happy they seem to have wised up even slightly from "Subways, subways, subways!"

I think you were being glib/ironic, tossing around things like "John Tory is a sociopath." I think that's hysterical and factually inaccurate and irrational. Doug Ford is a charming guy who seems to have no grasp on the truth and no ability to actually see people as anything but objects, that's true. But most sociopaths don't do fundraising for United Way. Mostly, it substantiates my feeling that these last few weeks Chow supporters have totally lost their perspective on all this. (See, again, the pro-Chow Star article that spends WAY more time trying to tear down Tory. Reminds me a bit of the Charlie Sheen scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ferris's sister is complaining how it's not fair he ditches and he gets away with everything and she'd get caught and Sheen says, "your problem is you. You oughta spend a little more time dealing with yourself and a little less time worrying about what your brother does. It's just an opinion."

Words of wisdom.

 

[kEiThZ]

Not too many of you have lived in Scarborough I guess. There's a reason politicians are backing away from the LRT and that's the multi-year closure of the SRT during construction. Won't fly with most residents. And if it does happen, every councillor, MPP, MP is likely to suffer at the polls. I suspect this was the reason for the sudden flip flop from the provincial Liberals. The subway can be built while the SRT is running and I still think this will be the end result.

Smart Track is a wild card though. And Tory may just have enough latitude to change his mind on the subway if councillors reopen the debate. We'll see if they are. Keep in mind, Tory is one vote. Any councillor could reopen the subway issue.

Personally, now that real suburban rail is on the table, wouldn't mind passing on the subway for LRT as the SRT replacement.

As far as the campaign, all their transit plans are being paid for by the province. Nothing happens without Queen's Park. This is why i find all these debates between candidates about spending billions on transit odd. Even the accusations about Tory's funding plan are odd. Province could pivot tomorrow to fund the whole thing if they wanted. The candidates are essentially pitching top up funding for certain aspects of provincial plans. And they are choosing which aspects to highlight in their platform. Chow chose the DRL. Tory chose the RER.