Next Mayor of Toronto?

[GenerationW]

^ Why sure it does!

I don't think the CBC would take too kindly to Strombo offering his Toronto election endorsements on a national show. Different story if he bought his own airtime or held a press conference or attended a rally for his preferred candidate.

 

[MetroMan]

^ I wasn't suggesting he use his show for an endorsement. If you read back at my comment, I suggested that the Toronto Cannot Afford movement needed a face. Somebody that could mount rallies to get young people to cast their vote for non-Ford candidates. Strombo has that kind of pull and is politically involved.

 

[PinkLucy]

None of the young people I know watch Strombo or would be influenced by any announcement he might make. I`m sure he has a following but I question how influential he might be.

 

[ladyscraper]

Well today is my voting day since it's the last advance voting day I can make it to and I'll be out of the country for the actual election. I was hoping a new poll would be up before I voted so I could see one last time if Smitherman was polling highest other than Ford. I'm sure he is though so I'll just give him a vote today and hope for the best.

 

[jn_12]

So I guess you're voting for no one.

I haven't decided who I am voting for. Both the idea of hiring and tax freezes trouble me. By not replacing retirees with young, bright, innovative minds we seriously run the risk of losing awesome people to other municipalities. And by insinuating that taxes are bad by freezing them or lowering them, we're pandering to the lowest common denominator in politics and nothing good can come from that when you're trying to build a city.

However, It's not like you have to agree with every single part of someone's platform to vote for them. I'll figure out what I can live with and what I can't and make my decision from there.

 

[js97]

By not replacing retirees with young, bright, innovative minds we seriously run the risk of losing awesome people to other municipalities. And by insinuating that taxes are bad by freezing them or lowering them, we're pandering to the lowest common denominator in politics and nothing good can come from that when you're trying to build a city.

.

You're doing those young bright, innovative kids a favour....

Any of my friends that have been sucked into government get complacent, lazy, and an sense of entitlement to their jobs. They generally become not as productive as they would be in the private sector. Through no fault of their own, the system(union) just always seems to want to tamper their ambitions. That's the reality of the system!


That being said, how is the city going to pay for these new hires? In fact, we don't even have funding schedule for Transit City. Boggles my mind!

 

[Calrissian]

Well today is my voting day since it's the last advance voting day I can make it to and I'll be out of the country for the actual election. I was hoping a new poll would be up before I voted so I could see one last time if Smitherman was polling highest other than Ford. I'm sure he is though so I'll just give him a vote today and hope for the best.

I'm doing the same.

 

[jn_12]

You're doing those young bright, innovative kids a favour....

Any of my friends that have been sucked into government get complacent, lazy, and an sense of entitlement to their jobs. They generally become not as productive as they would be in the private sector. Through no fault of their own, the system(union) just always seems to want to tamper their ambitions. That's the reality of the system!

That being said, how is the city going to pay for these new hires? In fact, we don't even have funding schedule for Transit City. Boggles my mind!

I've worked in municipal and provincial government, have friends that have worked in government and I've worked closely with dozens of public servants and I can honestly say that none of them have ever given the impression that they're complacent, lazy or felt entitled to a job (in fact, I'd say it's quite the opposite). Sure there are people like that but you'd find them doing any job. The fact is, we have and need a public sector, and we need talented people to do those jobs. If you want our public sector to do better, I would think you'd be all for it.

Now as for how we pay for it (drumroll please...) - Taxes! Oh and it'd be fair to say that the salaries of those people who retired would be at least in part passed along to new hires. It's no different than suggesting how a company is going to replace someone with a new hire.

 

[js97]

I've worked in municipal and provincial government, have friends that have worked in government and I've worked closely with dozens of public servants and I can honestly say that none of them have ever given the impression that they're complacent, lazy or felt entitled to a job (in fact, I'd say it's quite the opposite). Sure there are people like that but you'd find them doing any job. The fact is, we have and need a public sector, and we need talented people to do those jobs. If you want our public sector to do better, I would think you'd be all for it.

Now as for how we pay for it (drumroll please...) - Taxes! Oh and it'd be fair to say that the salaries of those people who retired would be at least in part passed along to new hires. It's no different than suggesting how a company is going to replace someone with a new hire.

Drumroll.... having worked in development, having had to work with provincial/city counterparts... I have to say that they are most inefficient (and my entire team agrees with me).
Having friends in provincial government, I have to say they're most inefficient, and they even agree with me.
3 hour meetings that have no end product? Sick days with no accountability? Let's not get carried away. The management carries all the workload... most, if not all the civil servants' productivity would not be nearly up to par if it was the private sector.

Most of them are great people, but the layers of bureacracy is not condusive to efficiency and accountability. There are obviously exceptions, but let's not kid ourselves and say that's the norm.

 

[GraphicMatt]

My anecdotes are better than YOUR anecdotes!

 

[jn_12]

^ That's what it's boiled down to eh? It's funny because I can tell a few awesome anecdotes about how great the private sector is to work with on projects (one I mentioned earlier involved a company not even keeping digital records of anything).

I'll just take solace knowing he's bleating a tired cliche.

 

[Gavin]

The plural of anecdote is not data.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Anecdata? Anecdox? Anecii? Greek, isn't it?

 

[JasonParis]

I don't know about Strombo, but I'll be seriously disappointed if John Tory doesn't issue a strong endorsement that directs his audience away from Ford.

Strombo hosts a national radio & tv show on CBC. Why would he get involved publically in a Toronto matter? Moreover, he's "sort-of" a journalist and shouldn't be taking sides anyway. It would hurt his credibility and simply wouldn't be allowed by his employer.

Well, hopefully they do come. I honestly cannot see a single credible media outlet endorsing Ford. I wonder if that will work against him or help him as the anti-establishment candidate.
Maybe we can have some fun with endorsement predictions:
TheStar - Smitherman
Toronto Sun - Rossi
Globe&Mail - Smitherman
NationalPost - Rossi
Now Magazine - Pants
CityTV - Pants
CTV - Smitherman
Spacing - Pants
BlogTO - Smitherman
John Tory - Smitherman
Add your own media outlet and/or public figure and your predictions.

I don't believe a Toronto TV station has ever endorsed a candidate and I would hope they never would to be honest. TV journalsim is supposed to be impartial, whereas print journalism is understood to be more crusading.

I'd suspect Spacing will stay the non-endorsement route, even though it is obvious most of their supporters will gravitate to Pants/Smithy. I suppose Lorinc could make an endorsement though.

The only game-changers I can see from coming endorsements would be John Tory endorsing Smitherman (although he's already said he won't) and the Toronto Sun endorsing Rossi. Everything else makes little difference.

Back to polls...

A final poll showing a slight lead for Ford is probably ideal for Smitherman as it will rally the anti-Ford vote. Obviously a huge lead would be better, but I doubt we'll see that. Any significant growth of Pantalone though could scuttle everything for Smithy. Also, if Smithy shows no growth since the last polls, he's also likely doomed (although, I really doubt the polls will show that).

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

did anybody see the cover of today's sun? it says something to the effect that pantalone said smitherman would be a worse mayor than ford.

can anybody shed some light on this? i just captured a quick glance. i was afraid that if i looked too long, i might go blind (it being the sun and all).