2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election

[John_Dee]

Municipally speaking, it always was. Remember that Doug Holyday was its last pre-amalgamation mayor, and before him were snoozers like Bruce Sinclair & Dennis Flynn. It's the kind of place where Orange County-style "tax revolts" were likeliest to happen. It's a place where old crabs like Gordon Sinclair & Harold Ballard tended to hunker down, and in Ballard's wake a bunch of nouveau riche jocks w/the same kind of palooka-meathead or don't-tread-on-me values (I guess the Fords w/their football fixations count in that light--but even, at the higher end, St. George's as a magnet for *serious* golf-heads, including your proverbial off-season Maple Leafs). Sure, there were Dryden-esque jock-philosopher exceptions to the rule (and *that* tendency plays out in its present federal good-mannered Lib-moderate inclination); but on the whole it was the meanest, nastiest, most miserable of the boroughs, and past NDP tendencies in its N & S ends were hollowed out by de-industrialization and Ford/Grimes-esque right-populism (and, midway, Lib-variety "uniting the left").

Well said, Adma, and you articulated this little summation far better than I could have. I grew up in Etobicoke (and its surrounding areas), and it's exactly as you describe. That's why I hate the Fords so much. I was surrounded by their ilk when I was a kid. The two words that best describe Thug and his mercifully dead brother are "stupid" and "mean." Their version of the fake right-wing populism that's been sweeping the world in response to the 'enlightened' neoliberal times we find ourselves living in is every bit as shallow as they are...and it's been infuriating watching it unfold in real time. These two dummies never should have been able to get as far as they have, and that they've managed this is in no small way due to the cowardice, incompetence, fecklessness, stupidity and complacency of the people who were supposed to be opposing them. Speaking of which...

I voted for Olivia, feeling very little enthusiasm while doing so. Now that she's won, I'm not expecting much. I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but I know better than to expect "the Left" to come along and save us all.

 

[turini2]

Oof Celina Caesar-Chavannes got just 253 votes. Not even a modicum of name recognition helped...

And I noticed Mammoliti managed to get banned from twitter. Oh well!

 

[nfitz]

Did she win with the least votes of any Mayor since amalgamation?

Yes. By a long-shot.

It kills me that conservatives don't even have a clue as to what "15 minute cities" actually means. They just want to rail against it because it's seen as "progressive".

I think a lot know, and are just snowflakes that want to rail.

You'd think they'd be thrilled, as they could then drive to corner store in 2-3 minutes instead of 15 minutes.

 

[Towered]

Well said, Adma, and you articulated this little summation far better than I could have. I grew up in Etobicoke (and its surrounding areas), and it's exactly as you describe. That's why I hate the Fords so much. I was surrounded by their ilk when I was a kid. The two words that best describe Thug and his mercifully dead brother are "stupid" and "mean." Their version of the fake right-wing populism that's been sweeping the world in response to the 'enlightened' neoliberal times we find ourselves living in is every bit as shallow as they are...and it's been infuriating watching it unfold in real time. These two dummies never should have been able to get as far as they have, and that they've managed this is in no small way due to the cowardice, incompetence, fecklessness, stupidity and complacency of the people who were supposed to be opposing them. Speaking of which...

I voted for Olivia, feeling very little enthusiasm while doing so. Now that she's won, I'm not expecting much. I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but I know better than to expect "the Left" to come along and save us all.

I grew up there too and totally agree about Etobicoke's "culture" (at least in the central, bungalow wasteland part). As I've mentioned on this board previously, Stephen Holyday was in my class in grade school, and even to my 10 year old eyes at the time, he struck me as a dimwit, and his performance and voting record at city council are proof that my young impression was correct...

I really hope that Chow properly sidelines that buffoon, as is deserved. He had way too much say under Tory.

 

[Fresco]

And I noticed Mammoliti managed to get banned from twitter. Oh well!

For what??

He's back already: https://twitter.com/mammolitiward7?lang=en

 

[Videodrome]

Chris Sky is claiming electoral fraud and Gong wants a recount....

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Chris Sky is claiming electoral fraud and Gong wants a recount....

The amount of time and resource we waste on these malcontents. Both belongs in jail.

AoD

 

[adma]

As for Etobicoke being "so Conservative", Bailao was the "Liberal" candidate, not the conservative candidate, so I don't know if that discussion tracks, but they are definitely not not as "left-leaning" as Scarborough appears to have been this time around, but I do think Morley might be a 1-term councillor given the Etobicoke-Lakeshore results. There was no "Liberal" candidate last time there (Grimes was the Centre/Right vs Morley, so if there was a centrist option, E-L might have gone for it).

I wouldn't use mayoral results to jump to conclusions about Amber Morley's future--after all, Lib/Bailao voters aren't necessarily *averse* to having a progressive councillor, even if they didn't vote for their mayoral counterpart. Mayoral results aren't a referendum on councillors (except, maybe, in the case of Brad Bradford in his home ward).

If there's anyone I'd be more concerned about next time, it's Jamaal Myers--but that's because of the unique circumstances by which he got in, in a ward that doesn't typically vote "progressive". And Olivia *won* his ward by a landslide.

 

[adma]

It kills me that conservatives don't even have a clue as to what "15 minute cities" actually means. They just want to rail against it because it's seen as "progressive".

But also, beyond all of that, an impediment to "freedom". That is, they think of it as a plot to *literally* tether everyone to within a 15 minute radius and punish them if they stray beyond. Why do they think that? Because the Internets told them, and because they're stupid, that's why.

 

[adma]

Yes, Davenport appears to have over-taken Parkdale-High Park or Toronto Danforth as the most "left" ward/riding/hood in the city. Davenport had the highest vote share for the NDP in the last provincial and federal elections, as well as the highest vote share for a non-incumbent progressive councillor (Alejandra Bravo) last council election.

But *mayorally*, it has *already* been "most left" for several elections running. It just that on a *council* level, it projected the illusion of being "centre" due to Ana's incumbency and all-but-acclamation in '18 (which *lots* of people have read *way too much* into).

Toronto-Danforth *seems* leftier than it is due to its parliamentary Layton/Tabuns history; but mayorally it gentrified into a spot of John Tory safety through his years. And P-HP is more bourgeois-moderate in the Bloor West/Swansea end--of course, remember that *all* these wards were once split in half, before Dougie did his magic prior to the '18 election...

 

[adma]

Oof Celina Caesar-Chavannes got just 253 votes. Not even a modicum of name recognition helped...

I like to refer to her as "Tennessee Tuxedo". Y'know, CCC ;-)

 

[adma]

Chris Sky is claiming electoral fraud and Gong wants a recount....

Eeesh. I shoulda known this kind of tinpot thing would happen. Squash him like a bug, but fast.

Fringe Toronto mayoral candidate Gong demands recount despite losing by over 266K votes

Despite losing by a whopping 266,389 votes in Monday's byelection, fringe Toronto mayoral candidate Xiao Hua Gong is asking for a recount.

toronto.citynews.ca

And, just as I feared, he's a hit with the meme-a-riffic kiddies.

One surprising Toronto mayoral candidate was shown to be a big hit with the youth

As more than 720,000 adults hit the polls Monday to vote in Toronto's by-election for mayor, their children did, too, in a mock election that showed …

www.blogto.com

When I think of it, I think Gong was on a "no publicity is bad publicity" sugar high from the knocks against his signage onslaught and responded by doubling down, gleefully allowing himself to be memed, etc etc--and now he's facing the consequences of all of that being a house of cards...

 

[adma]

I grew up there too and totally agree about Etobicoke's "culture" (at least in the central, bungalow wasteland part). As I've mentioned on this board previously, Stephen Holyday was in my class in grade school, and even to my 10 year old eyes at the time, he struck me as a dimwit, and his performance and voting record at city council are proof that my young impression was correct...

I really hope that Chow properly sidelines that buffoon, as is deserved. He had way too much say under Tory.

Though I have to say that there has been a bit of a high-operating between-the-cracks stealth-subversive "McLuhanist" element to Etobicoke over the years--the home of Elwy Yost, the place where Barry Duncan pioneered media studies and media literacy education in the 70s, subsequently the home of Etobicoke School of the Arts. But unfortunately, it's hard to help the silent majority of those who sought and seek to move out there, and their motivations in doing so. (And a lot of those youthfully-bred stealth-subversives weren't exactly Etobicoke "lifers"; one can even view the Dave Bidini-founded West End Phoenix as a kind of symbolic "journal of urban ex-Etobians".)

 

[adma]

- While it's more than 3 years away, I expect there to be chatter soon about 2026 candidates to take on Chow. Names that come to mind include Ana Bailao (obviously), Jennifer McKelvie, Stan Cho and *gasp* Michael Ford. 2026 is certain to be a less crowded race than 2023, with the real possibility of the centre/right wing coalescing around a candidate a la Ken Sim in Vancouver or Mark Sutcliffe in Ottawa to take on the left.

But while I can see the *generic* centre/right coalescing, I can *also* see Doug Ford offering his own monkey-wrench candidate anyway, a la Saunders. For you see, those first two names *could* galvanize a big tent--but unlike the very last name in that list, they wouldn't be "Doug's choice". And Doug would be antsy in the absence of "Doug's choice". He probably couldn't resist offering Mikey or Kinga, oblivious to how the "Doug's choice" element is actually an albatross around their necks, much as it was w/Saunders. (That is, *if* Doug's still in power by the time the next election rolls around)

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Speaking of the end of this election - any bet on whether Gong's supporters/campaign office will be removing all their signage?

AoD