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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Transit Plans

Another article I read suggested that several Liberal caucus members privately support Tory.

Don't think this is an earth shattering revelation. You really think any sitting Liberal wants to endorse a hard core NDP politician whose next ambition after the mayoral chair would be Queen's Park?

I figure some might have pulled for Stintz or Sokanacki. But their campaigns didn't/aren't panning out.
 
Well polling shows that more Liberals support Chow than Tory. I'd be shocked if the OLP officially endorsed Tory.

Yes there a a huge amount of Liberals who support him, but dont count on an endorsement.
 
kEiThZ said:
Another article I read suggested that several Liberal caucus members privately support Tory.

Don't think this is an earth shattering revelation. You really think any sitting Liberal wants to endorse a hard core NDP politician whose next ambition after the mayoral chair would be Queen's Park?

I figure some might have pulled for Stintz or Sokanacki. But their campaigns didn't/aren't panning out.
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Chow would be done after mayor of Toronto, don't you think she wants to rest? And the people you describe are the Scarborough Liberal caucus, who want the Sheppard East subway as well.
 
Nanos poll now has Tory at 42%. Should be an interesting home stretch. See if he "gaffes" again.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
John has the best chance of winning. I think if Chow is not tied with him by Thanksgiving she should drop out. No reason to finish tied for second with Rob.
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Can't drop out after September 15th. I can't seeing her staying on the ballot, but endorsing Tory.

If the polls continue like this, I fear Rob Ford will drop out and run for his old council seat again - which he might well win.
 
nfitz said:
Can't drop out after September 15th. I can't seeing her staying on the ballot, but endorsing Tory.

If the polls continue like this, I fear Rob Ford will drop out and run for his old council seat again - which he might well win.
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I don't care if stays on council. He's powerless then. Chow better have a plan to win.
 
nfitz said:
How will Tory build this without council support? How will Chow cancel this without council support?

Neither candidate thrills me. Hopefully someone more centrist appears.
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There is no chance of a new candidate entering the race at this point, and gaining any significant % of the vote. Tory is already a centrist, compared to Ford.

Regarding the role of council in the Scarborough Subway issue, technically you are right; any mayor can neither finalize nor undo this plan without the council's support.

However, a proper mayor usually have some influence on the council, and can persuade at least 15-20% of the members to vote with him rather than against him. Obviously, Ford is not a proper mayor, as in the second half of his term he irritated the members more often then persuaded them. But either Tory or Chow will be a proper mayor, and as such will have some influence.
 
RogerB said:
Toronto has only so many billions lying around. If Toronto puts itself on the hook for 30 years of property tax hikes (which still doesn't cover city's share), in order to build huge capacity, where it is unneeded, it will have less financial leverage to add capacity where it is desperately needed.
Tory's vote buying plan, adds another $2.5 billion (his estimate) in debt, in order to alter Provincial RER plans, by taking the line west along the formerly vacant Richview corridor. The debt and TIF role, would require changes to Provincial legislation, and can only be considered 'financially responsible' in the wake of a Ford mayoralty.
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This logic would work if there existed a constant revenue stream for transit expansion.

In practice, revenues are getting allocated on case-by-case basis. If Scarborough subway is cancelled, then the city's portion will not automatically get allocated to another transit project. Most likely, it will be simply cancelled.

Moreover, the whole process (lots of noise about switching to subway, then apparent consensus of the 3 levels of government, and finally going back) will create a lot of resentment in Scarborough. Next time you ask for a property surtax to support DRL, or another project elsewhere in the city, you will see those Scarberians writing to their councillors to turn down any tax increases.

On the other hand, if Scarborough subway is built based on those property surtax money, that sets a good precedent. The same model can be used for other transit projects, including DRL. The absolute amount of surtax is not that big, in the range of $30 to $100 per year per household for most of residents. Hence, it does not preclude funding other projects.

RogerB said:
If we vote for unrealistic promises, we are rewarding politicians who lie.

The truth is that a project this costly needs to be funded by higher levels of government. The city can cheerlead, it can offer money & persuasion, but the Province is likely to propose the timeline. Even if a Toronto politician were to tell you otherwise, complex subways require a time consuming EA, procurement contracts, maybe even an AFP. I would not expect to see any real construction progress in the next 4 years on it or any other unapproved subway.
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I am not blaming Chow for not promising to build DRL in 4 years. Obviously, that is not doable.

All I am saying is that Chow is not a strong proponent of DRL, rather a casual supporter. Tory is not a strong opponent of DRL, rather a casual defector who might come back to DRL if his SmartTrack plan does not work out as expected. Therefore, I am not going to take their position on DRL as the main reason to chose between the two.

Although, if their positions on all issues other than DRL were identical, I would chose Chow, as currently she is more supportive of DRL.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
I don't care if stays on council. He's powerless then.
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He's powerless as mayor. If he remains on council in any form, he'll remain a distraction. He'll have all the media attention, and we'll still never hear the end of it, every time he's out drinking, whoring, or just being a racist.

What Toronto needs is him out of the spotlight.

denfromoakvillemilton said:
Chow better have a plan to win.
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I'm sure all the candidates have a plan to win.
 
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