Mayor John Tory's Toronto

[DonValleyRainbow]

Has it actually been confirmed though? As of this morning, shes still tweeting away like nothing has changed. No sign of any muzzling on social media.

I don't think anything of that sort is going on, just re-directing phone calls. Although have you seen Nick Kouvlais' distasteful reply tweets at her?

 

[the lemur]

I don't think anything of that sort is going on, just re-directing phone calls. Although have you seen Nick Kouvlais' distasteful reply tweets at her?

Tory probably would prefer that she endorse the hybrid as well, but I think he recognizes that she can have a different opinion and express it, as she should be able to it. He doesn't want to be seen trying to muzzle her or demanding that she toe the line. And it's not like she's outright saying 'The Mayor is wrong on this'.

Kouvalis (whose job is what now?) is the last person who should be getting on a high horse about professionalism.

 

[salsa]

Has it actually been confirmed though? As of this morning, shes still tweeting away like nothing has changed. No sign of any muzzling on social media.

When was the last time she had a press conference? We've been hearing a lot from Tory lately, but I haven't heard much from her at all. Also lets not forget that the Board of Health (stacked with Tory appointees) rejected the Gardiner report from the chief medical officer of health because it favoured the teardown. This mayor gets his facts from lobbyists rather than city staff.

 

[Tuscani01]

When was the last time she had a press conference? We've been hearing a lot from Tory lately, but I haven't heard much from her at all.

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I don't think she has ever had a press conference. She's always made her opinion known through social media though, and I don't see any change in her behaviour so far when it comes to social media.

How does rejecting a report = muzzling? The report still got released.

 

[BurlOak]

Think Keesmaat will be getting Gary Webstered?

Webster had a fixed contract - I think he was let go with about a year to go. Do we know if Keesmaat has a similar contract. If so, when will she just go away.

 

[salsa]

I don't think she has ever had a press conference. She's always made her opinion known through social media though, and I don't see any change in her behaviour so far when it comes to social media.

I really don't know what to think to be honest, but there are certain people at city hall that have little respect for her for whatever reason.

How does rejecting a report = muzzling? The report still got released.

The report is unrelated to Keesmaat, but I see it as further evidence of the mayor and his allies' indifference to facts. Yes the report was released, but the rejection by the board means that it will not be passed on to city council and the Chief Medical Officer of Health will not be answering questions in council during the debate.

 

[christiesplits]

I really don't know what to think to be honest, but there are certain people at city hall that have little respect for her for whatever reason.

Take it for what it's worth, and I certainly do not defend Kouvalis, but I have heard some murmers from City Hall staff that some people think Keesmaat spends too much time on self-promotion (social media, public speaking) than working through the drudgery of city hall bureaucracy, and that a future in politics is not out of the cards. There were some rumblings either here or on Rabble.ca that the Liberals approached her about running in October but she turned it down.

 

[WislaHD]

Take it for what it's worth, and I certainly do not defend Kouvalis, but I have heard some murmers from City Hall staff that some people think Keesmaat spends too much time on self-promotion (social media, public speaking) than working through the drudgery of city hall bureauracy, and that a future in politics is not out of the cards. There were some rumblings either here or on Rabble.ca that the Liberals approached her about running in October but she turned it down.

She is a celebrity in the planning business now. She can probably have the top job in any city worldwide.

 

[Tuscani01]

Agreed! Part of the planning process is getting citizens engaged. What other planner in recent memory has done as good of a job at engaging citizens like Keesmat has? Some may call it self promotion, but I see it as a way of bringing attention to issues that were normally dealt with behind closed doors at city hall. Never before have we had as deep of a look into a Chief Planner's head when it comes to the various issues we face in the city.

I welcome this approach, and would love to see more of it.

 

[JWBF]

Well, y'know how Neil Flagg and his minions have taken to attacking him as "John Liberal"...

Yep, they are their own political party these days, full of their own facts, and racism and bigotry; Col. Flagg even writes a blog for TheRebel.

His Worship John Liberal's Official Opposition

Yesterday... Mayor John Liberal, from his posh high-security Yorkville condo, and behind his 24-hour security detail everywhere he goes, can afford to be Barbara Hall's bitch and impress his white-guilt-laden Board of Trade lefties. In the meantime, his hand-picked new police chief has been stabbed in the back, and the good, innocent people of the black communities where "carding" exists are now condemned to a life of escalating crime, drug-running, and gang-banging. Way to go, Toronto. You wanted a spineless jellyfish to replace a real man, you got your invertebrate.

And this morning... Sue-Ann Levy was on AM640's John Oakley show this morning. In her regular slot, she suggested to the host that Mayor John Tory likely turtled on the issue of police "carding" (aka keeping the peace in troubled communities, IMHO) in a horse-trade for votes on the Gardiner Expressway issue coming to council tomorrow. Common-sense would suggest that she is 100% correct.

Tory's office obviously freaked-out, and within 45 minutes the Mayor himself was on the air with Oakley to explain himself. His convoluted explanation of why he reversed himself on "carding" was embarrassing enough, but then he went on to claim, laughably, that there's no correlation between those who are against his Gardiner Expressway plan, and those who are against carding. This is such an easily-verifiable lie, it's hard to believe he went there. Guess he's challenging his lapdog media to call him out on it. Which, other than Sue-Ann, they certainly won't.


After Tory's appearance, a caller hit the nail on the head: he said that, if John Tory traded away public safety in exchange for an expressway plan, that would be one of the most disgraceful things a human being in his position could do.

 

[WislaHD]

Ah yes, the left-wing Board of Trade....

 

[Videodrome]

Why would Ford Nation defend carding when so many supporters are minorities who are probably treated badly by the police?

As for Tory, I see people calling him the worst mayor ever. Did they forget about all of Rob's antics? I mean, it is perfectly fine to not like him and disagree with his policies (I do), but he is not on the level of Ford.

 

[Jimmi T]

Why would Ford Nation defend carding when so many supporters are minorities who are probably treated badly by the police?

They just go along with whatever he says. If Ford suddenly changed his stance on carding the would too.

 

[the lemur]

Take it for what it's worth, and I certainly do not defend Kouvalis, but I have heard some murmers from City Hall staff that some people think Keesmaat spends too much time on self-promotion (social media, public speaking) than working through the drudgery of city hall bureaucracy, and that a future in politics is not out of the cards. There were some rumblings either here or on Rabble.ca that the Liberals approached her about running in October but she turned it down.

How do we know she's not really involved in the day-to-day city hall work and we're just not seeing it? What would that entail, anyway?

As for her social media presence, she's mostly linking to articles on city planning and urbanism and yes, she's on Twitter a lot. Then again, Norm Kelly seems to be on Twitter all the time, in the role of everyone's corny old grandpa, never about city issues. And then there's Paul Ainslie, who retweets anything and everything. People don't seem to have as much of a problem with that.

 

[DarnDirtyApe]

That's because councilors are the government, and she's a government employee. She works for them and it would be completely normal for her social media presence to be shut down if she continues to go "off message" and/or directly contradict the Mayor and/or council.

At the provincial and federal levels you don't see deputy ministers tweeting, period.