Which issues would you like to see / expect to see addressed during the election?
|
|
|
2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election
- Thread starter SJD_Toronto
- Start date
LemonCondo
Active Member
Can the left get it together and support one guy (Gil) so we don't loose to whatever PC suit they hand selected to be the new mayor?
EDIT: Okay the streetcar thing is a little sus (I'm young enough to say that), he seems great apart from that... We are probably going to get Brad Bradford. Imagine having the last name Bradford and naming your kid Brad.
EDIT: Okay the streetcar thing is a little sus (I'm young enough to say that), he seems great apart from that... We are probably going to get Brad Bradford. Imagine having the last name Bradford and naming your kid Brad.
Last edited:
toonderly
Active Member
I can't find the direct citation for Gil's anti streetcar comments, only secondhand complaints about it. Can anyone provide the link?
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Many and this could be one of them. I'm not saying let's not discuss issues related to the election or issues people want to see as an election issue, I just think we're just getting off into the weeds here on this topic in a way that doesn't really relate to the election and could benefit from its own discussion. But If others want pages of discussion on what speeds people should or shouldn't be getting tickets at and if cameras are a good idea in the election thread I'll just deal with it and read it though. I'm not trying to overly police the discussion here and that's not my job, it's just seeming to stray a bit far from topic and derailing focus from the election itself.
Anyway now I'm just contributing to the derail. Carry on if people want to continue to do pages on if 42 in a 30 should be a ticket or not when that hasn't even come up as an election issue yet, but to me that seems like it should be another thread. I shouldn't have said anything.
Speaking of issues, I'm not uniting around an anti-streetcar candidate who says they are "cute" and belong in a "museum" but wouldn't respond to criticism that streetcars are a better riding experience and more accessible and who doesn't grapple with the opposing position and its points meaningfully. That's not the approach towards major material infrastructure and future of the city questions and working well with others that I want in a mayor, regardless of the streetcar issue or one's position on it (and he's right they do have issues). It just seems non-serious. And unless he clarifies his position on this I don't think he'll have much success building a coalition of progressive voters with that position and approach from a practical perspective. This isn't the left being ridiculous, but rather people wanting a responsible candidate for mayor and not just some guy with opinions who would make major infrastructure decisions from a ~my opinion is right and the simple solution because I'm Gil the City Expert~ perspective that doesn't take into account good faith critiques of his position from different perspectives.
And it's way too early to say Gil should be the candidate people on the left unite around anyway. I may still support him (and I did last election!) and he could do some good as Mayor! But we don't know who else is going to be in the race. And just because Gil got his self promotion machine fired up again first doesn't mean we all have to automatically fall in line behind him when we don't know who the other options are yet.
Gil also needs people pushing him seriously on issues and policy and show that he can respond meaningfully for him to become a serious candidate.
Here it is:
Last edited:
JacindaArdern
New Member
I don't know if he'll do better in his second try but Gil has too little name recognition among the common voters. It's crazy to think that looking at the voting location individual results how commonly people seemed vote for the Ausma Malik-John Tory or the Brava-Tory pairing simply because not a lot of people ever heard who Penalosa was. Hell, I'm sure lots of people voted for Perks for councilor and Tory for mayor, as ironic as that is.
That's why I'm hoping Mike Layton joins in. I have not been to impressed by how unambitious he seems but can't always be chasing 'perfect'. His name will help a lot and the media (as well as the left wing political machine) will definitely give him more recognition than they did to Penalosa (or Keesmat).
That's why I'm hoping Mike Layton joins in. I have not been to impressed by how unambitious he seems but can't always be chasing 'perfect'. His name will help a lot and the media (as well as the left wing political machine) will definitely give him more recognition than they did to Penalosa (or Keesmat).
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Some threads I found of HousingNowTO trying to engage substantively with Gil on his housing policy and funding:
Last edited:
W. K. Lis
Superstar
:format(webp)/https://www.therecord.com/content/dam/therecord/opinion/contributors/2021/05/16/with-or-without-doug-ford-ontario-voters-deserve-a-better-choice-than-they-have-now/ford.jpg)
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Gil also didn't run a serious campaign last time. He didn't have a campaign apparatus, no signs, and spent most of his time jogging around and posting tweets. That's not a viable way to get to the Mayor's office. Last time that was fine because everyone knew he wouldn't win including Gil himself and he was just a protest/advocacy candidate. So he didn't need to be as serious on the issues and policy and campaigning as a result. But if he just tries to do the same thing this time it's not going to work out I don't think. He needs to build a serious campaign and serious policy or otherwise he's just going to be splitting votes from other more viable candidates.
I completely agree with you and was merely prompting you to begin that discussion.
See GIl's Twitter feed
W. K. Lis
Superstar
This twitter? Looks like Gil Penalosa lost my endorsement.
Click on the above to see the responses.
(BTW. When a subway train breaks down, it also shuts most of line down. Same on the 401, backups can hold many up. What is needed is more alternative routes or detour tracks or crossover tracks that could be used by double-ended streetcars).
Last edited:
That's the one. I don't think he's the candidate that the left will get behind.
concrete_and_light
Active Member
Since I'm pushing this streetcar/Penalosa issue pretty hard, I wanted to share that I found this pro-streetcar tweet from him in the past few days which advocates for improving how they work with the street, which is great and a very positive indication!
I think Gil just needs to get ahead of this issue and clarify his position and what he would do and not do as mayor. He probably just got on the bus one day after experiencing the frustration of the King streetcar endless shutdown (when he was not running for mayor and didn't think he would be running again — it was after the election) and felt the impulse to post a hot take tweet. Understandable. But running for leader of the city now it would help him and help diffuse this as an issue if he communicates clearly that he supports Toronto's existing streetcar system and making it even better.
I think Gil just needs to get ahead of this issue and clarify his position and what he would do and not do as mayor. He probably just got on the bus one day after experiencing the frustration of the King streetcar endless shutdown (when he was not running for mayor and didn't think he would be running again — it was after the election) and felt the impulse to post a hot take tweet. Understandable. But running for leader of the city now it would help him and help diffuse this as an issue if he communicates clearly that he supports Toronto's existing streetcar system and making it even better.
Last edited:
Amare
Senior Member
Brace yourselves everyone, we now have word that chief dummy (Denzil Minnen-Wong) is considering running for mayor...
Fresco
Active Member
Mammoliti says he will run.
Rumor is Tory hasnt resigned yet because he wants to stay on and ram his budget through before he leaves
Rumor is Tory hasnt resigned yet because he wants to stay on and ram his budget through before he leaves