Next Mayor of Toronto?

[Admiral Beez]

How come everyone knows or perceives what Ford is about (both negative and position, from different POVs) but we know little about Smitherman? What's his position on the Miller taxes on pet ownership, car registration, land transfer taxes, labour costs in excess of inflation, huge police budgets in an era of declining crime? Etc?

 

[MetroMan]

^ With regards to the police budget, Smitherman is neither going to increase it nor drecrease it. He's also going to insist that the TPS find savings within their existing budget to hire more cops. I suspect he's doing this to appease the more right wing elements in his potential electorate because I agree that in an era of decreasing crime, more police make little sense.

I think that police resources will continue to be redirected to long term crime prevention via work in the community, rather than enforcement.

 

[Torontovibe]

What still worries me is that I'm noticing many of my friends in the Millerite camp saying they'll vote for Pantalone, no matter what. It's a principled decision. They simply won't vote for somebody they don't believe in, even if that means Ford becomes Mayor. I think that Pantalone will end up in the 7-9% range. That may be just enough to keep Smitherman short of Ford if Rossi's less loyal supporters go to Ford. This is going to come down to the wire.

Well then, in effect, they are voting for Ford.

 

[GraphicMatt]

How come everyone knows or perceives what Ford is about (both negative and position, from different POVs) but we know little about Smitherman? What's his position on the Miller taxes on pet ownership, car registration, land transfer taxes, labour costs in excess of inflation, huge police budgets in an era of declining crime? Etc?

Um, pay attention and read more? His positions on all of these are available and have been well-reported.

In short: No one gives a shit about pet licensing fees so those won't change; he wants to push the car registration fee back to $40; land transfer tax stays but could be potentially removed if the city's costs come down; city labour costs will be reduced through attrition at about 2% per year; and no one - literally no one - can ever push for cuts to the police budget and expect to win an election.

 

[Torontovibe]

At this point, people have to vote strategically. You have to do what's best for Toronto. If Pantalone doesn't see a dramatic change soon, which is unlikely, he needs to drop out soon. (If he cares at all about this city)

 

[archanfel]

He's advocating the return of the provincial operating subsidy that Harris cut. I wouldn't even consider voting for anyone who didn't push for that.

One thing people keep forgetting is that government does not have any money. It's not provincial operating subsidy, it's tax payer subsidy. Almost every single cent the government spend comes from tax payers. In other word, we all have to pay more taxes just so that George Smitherman can balance his budget.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It will be interesting to see if voter turnout increases this election. Of course we may see the angry blue collar class that Ford is speaking to vote in greater numbers.

 

[taal]

Any idea what anyone's stance is on business property tax ? The only person who mentioned it directly dropped out today ...
I can't see anything else really - Ford mentioned it once, but then again so did Smithermen early on (many months) ago

 

[GraphicMatt]

One thing people keep forgetting is that government does not have any money. It's not provincial operating subsidy, it's tax payer subsidy. Almost every single cent the government spend comes from tax payers. In other word, we all have to pay more taxes just so that George Smitherman can balance his budget.

Our governments have lots of money with substantial revenues every year. They also, at the provincial and federal level, have had significant deficits in recent years. There's also sizeable debt. That doesn't mean that they should stop providing or funding important services.

It's not heresy to suggest that the provincial government ought to fund a portion of the TTC's operating budget. The TTC is critical to the provincial - not just municipal - business economy.

 

[grey]

What still worries me is that I'm noticing many of my friends in the Millerite camp saying they'll vote for Pantalone, no matter what. It's a principled decision. They simply won't vote for somebody they don't believe in, even if that means Ford becomes Mayor. I think that Pantalone will end up in the 7-9% range. That may be just enough to keep Smitherman short of Ford if Rossi's less loyal supporters go to Ford. This is going to come down to the wire.

How deliciously self-destructive of them.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Any idea what anyone's stance is on business property tax ? The only person who mentioned it directly dropped out today ...
I can't see anything else really - Ford mentioned it once, but then again so did Smithermen early on (many months) ago

I'd love to hear more about this issue from the candidates too, but the reality seems to be that voters care more about paying an extra sixty dollars a year for their cars and five cents for plastic bags. Or at least that's what we're being fed.

Businesses don't vote (directly) so it's not a popular issue to bring up. Also, to rebalance the taxes faster you'd need significant residential tax increases every year for a few years and it's suicide to talk about that in a campaign.

 

[Glen]

^ That is why you should communicate that to your candidate/councillor/Mayor. Send the message that you are worried about businesses and jobs leaving the city.

 

[GenerationW]

I don't think that's totally unacceptable at all. Why would it be?

Then why don't they ever do it? It seems the parties themselves consider such a practice to be unacceptable, unless someone can cite a case (and a recent one, not something from 1890). I applaud them for thinking that it's important to field legitimate candidates for the duration of the campaign.

why does it have to be out of goodness? or profit? maybe she made a rational choice since she realized there's no point to continue in something that can't be won and maybe she prefers smitherman over the other candidates.

More likely the real answer can be found in trusted axiom "follow the money" (if in fact we ever find out). How apropos this happened on the day our prostitution laws were struck down. It's a free-for-all baby!!

 

[GenerationW]

The French thing doesn't enhance your argument when used twice in the same message, the impact morphs into an inability to express yourself better.

You are correct. I apologize.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

More likely the real answer can be found in trusted axiom "follow the money" (if in fact we ever find out). How apropos this happened on the day our prostitution laws were struck down. It's a free-for-all baby!!

what? so now she's a whore because she dropped out of the race and threw her support behind smitherman?