Next Mayor of Toronto?

[GenerationW]

Pfft in a dirty cesspool like Toronto, whose streets are rapidly becoming scenes straight out of early-90s RWANDA and whose people are spineless SHEEPLE who can't dance and only care about where their next STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCE is coming from, the next mayoral race will probably come down to a three-way contest between Victor Von Doom, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase and Hitler's brain brought back to life and put into the body of an 800-pound GORILLA.

I gotta go with Ted here!

 

[adma]

Unless George Smitherman can pull a Harvey Milk -- and he may -- he's going to face a lot of opposition.

Sexuality isn't his problem. "Downtownness" is.

Besides, why use Harvey Milk as an example; there's always Glen Murray...

 

[christiesplits]

I think the by-election result in St. Paul's might give right-wing contenders some second thoughts about jumping into the mayoral race.

If Miller gets the uber lefty downtown vote and the right claims the suburbs, then North Toronto will definitely be the primary battleground. Yet despite the seemingly unpopular HST and a number of Lottery and E-Health debacles, the governing Liberal party was able to reclaim the St. Pauls seat handedly.

The tax issue and bureaucratic foolishness did not seem to inflame the voters as much as SAL and the Tories thought it would. Some claim that byelections have a notoriously low turnout so its difficult to gauge public sympathies, but so do municipal elections.

Royson James had a great article over the weekend where he pointed out that resentment towards Miller may not be enough. The right wing can't just jump on the garbage strike issue and expect to walk away with it. Tory, Smitherman, Thompson etc. have to provide a well crafted vision for the city that can appeal to the burbs and to those investment-banking champagne socialists in the north end who had their garbage removed privately throughout the strike.

 

[lordmandeep]

Actually for a By Election, a 35% turnout is really really good.

Some have turnouts under 20% and I recall a provincial by-election in a seat in Scarborough had a 10% turnout.

 

[adma]

I think the by-election result in St. Paul's might give right-wing contenders some second thoughts about jumping into the mayoral race.

If Miller gets the uber lefty downtown vote and the right claims the suburbs, then North Toronto will definitely be the primary battleground. Yet despite the seemingly unpopular HST and a number of Lottery and E-Health debacles, the governing Liberal party was able to reclaim the St. Pauls seat handedly.

Yeah, a governing party that Smitherman (and, I think, Thompson) belongs to. Just because they're both queer as a three dollar bill doesn't mean that Levy and Smitherman share a common voting base, you know.

 

[christiesplits]

Yeah, a governing party that Smitherman (and, I think, Thompson) belongs to. Just because they're both queer as a three dollar bill doesn't mean that Levy and Smitherman share a common voting base, you know.

I was referring more to incumbency, and the fact that despite tabloid newspapers claiming the contrary, the public really wasn't that riled up for change. As far as Smitherman, he will have no choice but to run from the centre, and in the absence of a credible right wing candidate, possibly the right-of-centre.

Mind you, right-of-centre in Toronto means you prefer fiscally sound pagan- homo-abortion-vegan drop in centres over their union-driven, cash-hungry equivalents

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

There should be a thread where we could discuss which Toronto Councillors should be re-elected and which ones need the boot (or the finger)

 

[smuncky]

There should be a thread where we could discuss which Toronto Councillors should be re-elected and which ones need the boot (or the finger)

you're welcome to start one.

 

[Mystic Point]

Perhaps you should sounding like a bigot about this! No one else sees it as an issue.

No one here at UT may see " it " as an issue. ( Personally I could care less ) But once the election begins, there are a lot of people who will have a problem with Smitherman's sexuality.

 

[Mystic Point]

Sexuality isn't his problem. "Downtownness" is.

Besides, why use Harvey Milk as an example; there's always Glen Murray...

Winnipeg doesn't have a vast minority population like Toronto or San Fran. To win, Harvey Milk had to convince the minorities he was a good choice. Glen Murray had some convincing to do, but it wasn't nearly on the level of Harvey Milk.

 

[nfitz]

... there are a lot of people who will have a problem with Smitherman's sexuality.

By that ill-conceived logic, then a black man shouldn't run for president of the USA, because a lot of people will have problem with his skin colour.

However in both cases, to suggest that they shouldn't run, is nothing but bigotry! I can't imagine in this day and age that we have to worry about making sure that candidates appeal to such ignorant people!

I don't know what your agenda is in raising this, especially given the number of gay politicians from all 3 major parties, at all 3 levels of government, in Toronto.

 

[Whoaccio]

I think the by-election result in St. Paul's might give right-wing contenders some second thoughts about jumping into the mayoral race.

If Miller gets the uber lefty downtown vote and the right claims the suburbs, then North Toronto will definitely be the primary battleground. Yet despite the seemingly unpopular HST and a number of Lottery and E-Health debacles, the governing Liberal party was able to reclaim the St. Pauls seat handedly.

The issue here is that, on City Council, "right wing" Councilors are really just Liberals by any other name. The center has totally fallen out of the donut of City Hall, and everyone who is right of former Communist Paula Fletcher is portrayed as though they are Mike Harris' cousin. George Smitherman, Liberal. Jane Pitfield was Liberal, even John Tory could run under a Liberal banner and not raise any eyebrows.

Hell, Obama wouldn't be elected to City Council because dinosaurs like Muscoe would view him as the second coming of Ronald Reagan for not thinking City Council is better at making decisions than ordinary people.

Winnipeg doesn't have a vast minority population like Toronto or San Fran. To win, Harvey Milk had to convince the minorities he was a good choice. Glen Murray had some convincing to do, but it wasn't nearly on the level of Harvey Milk.

That is so stupid I don't know where to begin.

 

[kEiThZ]

As an immigrant, I will be the first to suggest that immigrant communities (some more than others) tend to have issues with homosexuality...or really even sexuality of any kind (remarkable parallels between how they view homosexuals and fun loving women). However, that does not mean it necessarily impacts the way they vote. There are elected gay and lesbian politicians in conservative societies around the world. In the case of Smitherman, his public personality does not exactly scream "Gay". I am willing to bet that it won't be an issue as long as his opponents and the media don't make it an issue. If they do, then of course, immigrants might think twice. Though that's a big "might". Most would vote for the guy if he fit their interests. I am willing to bet that immigrants will care more about Smitherman's potential conservatism (fiscal conservatism being a cherished value in most immigrant communities) than his sexuality.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I agree with kEiThZ

Homosexuality, nor minority status of any kind, is not a Toronto mayoralty issue because there's no one to try and drive the wedge in there with sly innuendo or outright slurs.

Miller? No way. Central Toronto is part of his base.

Smithers himself, but spun the opposite way (i.e. my opponents are trying to make an issue of my homosexuality...)? Why would he make it a topic now?

Tory? That would just make him look bad, and I don't think he's got it in him, anyway (one of the reasons he keeps losing is he seems to be (a) a decent guys and (b) a guy who absolutely sucks at creating wedge issues, case in point being the whole religious schools issue).

 

[SimonP]

I was a staff member on a mayoral campaign in Ottawa for an openly gay candidate. Ottawa is quite a bit more conservative than Toronto, but sexuality was never brought up openly. None of the other candidates made it an issue, and we only rarely ran into members of the public who expressed concerns.

I'm sure there were some people who kept their prejudices to themselves and had that prejudice affect their vote, but I never got the sense that was more than a fringe minority.