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The Urban Jungle
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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

TheTigerMaster said:
I'm puzzled by this. The province has committed to funding 100% of the Relief Line. Unless he's planning to built something more than the 13km Relief Line that the province has committed to building, there's no need for any plan at the municipal level to pay for it.
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Yes, he has to have some kind of plan to help pay for the Relief Line as he knows that if the PC party wins the most likely spring election, funding from the Tories may take a long time to come in as they will not raise any taxes or tolls. If the Grits get back in power, then yes, there is a chance the Relief Line will be completely paid for, but it's smart to have a funding plan regardless. As a voter, I want to know how this subway line could be funded and not just be told the province will pay for all of it.

We don't need another broken promise like the free subways slogan Ford ran on in 2010.
 
Yeah, that caught my attention as well. He said that rather early (in an interview on Sun News Network). I rarely give personal anecdotes in support of a candidate (it's usually tacky) but after meeting Mr. Soknacki and talking with him he really has my confidence. I think he's socially sensitive, and compassionate.

About a year or so ago I thought about supporting Chow. She pays a lot of attention to the politics of intersectionality, structural violence, and housing affordability. It's just that I have a fundamental disagreement with her as to how to address those issues. I think the private sector can do more than she thinks.
 
Johnny Au said:
If the 2014 election had ranked ballots, then I would put Chow first, Soknacki second, Stintz third, Tory fourth, and Ford very much dead last (behind all sorts of fringe candidates). However, the upcoming election is first-past-the-post, so Chow gets my vote.
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In ranked-ballot system you should leave Ford's box blank. ;)
 
Silence&Motion said:
why are we paying for fire trucks to show up when someone's having a stroke or a heart attack??). Just like it took Nixon to open relations with China and Thatcher to become the first woman Prime Minister, we may need a conservative to take on the TPS (a conservative who is himself not subject to an ongoing investigation, that is).
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We're paying them to show up because they save lives!! Fire fighters are not only trained to fight fires, they are also trained EMT's. They are able to provide basic sometimes lifesaving care in a medical emergency prior to the arrival of paramedics in an Ambulance. Usually fire fighters are able to get to a medical emergency faster than paramedics. When someone is having a heart attack or stroke every second counts.
 
I lean more left than right (or in the centre.) And I like Chow. But she seems like a bit of a boring speaker. She will need to liven it up, if she wants to engage people. Everyone is used to weekly drama with Ford. Chow in comparison will come across as boring.
 
newearthling said:
I lean more left than right (or in the centre.) And I like Chow. But she seems like a bit of a boring speaker. She will need to liven it up, if she wants to engage people. Everyone is used to weekly drama with Ford. Chow in comparison will come across as boring.
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Too early for me to say. I really don't know what her platform is and what she stands for. Tory and Stintz are saying the right things but silent on funding issues for the DRL. So far, I'd agree with Soknacki the most: LRT in Scarborough, close look at police budget etc etc.

But we have another 9 months to go.
 
Full disclosure: I'm volunteering for Team Soknacki.

I'm not trying to trash Chow. I must admit I am sympathetic to some of the NDP's social policy. It's their fiscal policy that lead me to join the (federal) Liberals. But I'd just like to ask,

what is it that attracts Torontonians to Chow so much? It must be something more than her late husband (who I had a lot of respect for). I also know she was a councilor in Toronto as well.

Is it that she isn't afraid to raise taxes in order to pay for social programming (not trying to be crass here. It's a legitimate question)? A long time ago I considered supporting Chow but I have a few issues with her:

- I don't believe in the tax and spend model. Toronto is largely a city of commerce, and I'd be more than glad to have private/public partnerships to pay for our initiatives and endeavours.

- I truly believe that regardless of personal sentiments we ought to have a mayor that can compromise. I don't like the idea that because you have majority support in council (or parliament) that it is okay to ram through legislation. In order to harbour a culture of civility it is best to compromise. I sincerely doubt Olivia Chow would compromise and work with councilors that think differently from her.

- Quite simply, I don't see her as being a leader. She isn't the best communicator (no, I am not talking about her accent. We live in Toronto. Accents are embraced here!). She strikes me as being rather divisive, and I don't like to see that (even if I did agree with her).

- Lastly, I worry that her term in office would be followed by the election of a slash 'n' burn conservative that is here to A) change the direction of Toronto public policy (in a resentful reaction to the socially progressive initiatives of Chow) and B) fix the deficit (this I cannot prove will occur, but I believe under Chow it is likely to occur - I'm more than glad to discuss this point with anyone here).

Again, I'm not trying to trash Chow, I'm just outlining why I wouldn't support her, and simultaneously asking what is so special about her that attracts so many constituents.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Yes. That must explain why Metrolinx has committed to building a Relief Line while anti-Relief Line RoFo is in office...

Like I said before, the Relief Line is coming regardless of who wins this election. Our next mayor could be brain dead and it would still be built.

The only situation I see this not being built because of the muni election is if we have a strongly anti-RL candidate. But even then Metrolinx would probably go ahead and build it regardless of what the mayor has to say.
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Right, the same Metrolinx that had actual funding, support from Council, and was committed to building an LRT to replace the SRT. How did that work out?
 
what is it that attracts Torontonians to Chow so much? It must be something more than her late husband
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Of course there is. I don't associate Chow with Layton at all. She's a grass roots Toronto person. Toronto is a big city, with big city issues that conservatives like to pretend don't exist. And I don't believe in this ridiculous "socially liberal conservative"...the conservative-thinking mind doesn't deviate that much. Toronto needs a mayor can deal with the reality of the issues it uniquely faces. Big cities need to be liberal places...end of effing story.


I don't believe in the tax and spend model. Toronto is largely a city of commerce, and I'd be more than glad to have private/public partnerships to pay for our initiatives and endeavours.
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First thing you should do, is stop using conservtive-invented hyperbolic terms like "Tax and Spend" to describe things. Things need to be paid for. Pretending they don't is wasting our money, as it will have to be spent. "Fiscal conservatism" is just a bizarre term I don't think people who claim to adhere to actually know what it really means. And why conservatives STILL talk about public/private endeavours as if it were actually going to magically eliminate taxes is proof that they just haven't been paying attention.


Lastly, I worry that her term in office would be followed by the election of a slash 'n' burn conservative that is here to A) change the direction of Toronto public policy (in a resentful reaction to the socially progressive initiatives of Chow) and B) fix the deficit (this I cannot prove will occur, but I believe under Chow it is likely to occur
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Sorry...I am going to have to have a good long laugh at that before I can even attempt to comment on it.
 
newearthling said:
I lean more left than right (or in the centre.) And I like Chow. But she seems like a bit of a boring speaker. She will need to liven it up, if she wants to engage people. Everyone is used to weekly drama with Ford. Chow in comparison will come across as boring.
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Why all this chatter about a hypothetical candidate?
 
gabe said:
We're paying them to show up because they save lives!! Fire fighters are not only trained to fight fires, they are also trained EMT's. They are able to provide basic sometimes lifesaving care in a medical emergency prior to the arrival of paramedics in an Ambulance. Usually fire fighters are able to get to a medical emergency faster than paramedics. When someone is having a heart attack or stroke every second counts.
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This is complete redundancy. We shouldn't have two departments to do the exact same thing. The EMS have better training and are better equipped to provide emergency medical care. We should be transferring resources from the fire department to the paramedics. And during the budget debates last year, it was mentioned that reports show that the EMS arrives, on average, faster than the fire department these days. And really, why are we sending these gigantic fire trucks to medical emergencies anyway?
 
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