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Next Mayor of Toronto?

I think a year is along time to speculate. A lot can happen.

One thing I like about Smitherman is his links to the province. One of the great things about Miller is that he worked really well with the province and got Mcguinty on his side. Imagine the potential relationship Smitherman might have with a Liberal provincial government (and hell, I'm sure if the Liberals won at the federal level it'd be about as strong a tri-level relationship as you could get).
 
TonyV said:
I am going out on a limb here, I like to do that as some of you know.

Perhaps Miller's crashing of the Labour Day parade was a less than subtle hint that he won't run again ... he's got to know that this sort of antic won't sit well with the majority of voters, and they'll remember it. In essence, I am saying that with this one action he has said sayonara to the electorate. He looks like a tired out sort of fella to me anyway. He has tried to build political bridges and failed at that, a number of times. Is that not a reason to quit? It must be quite fatiguing.

Again, out on a limb but why not live dangerously ... the contest will likely be between Smitherman and Tory, and Smitherman should absolutely cream Tory.
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I guess I read the tea leaves right this time. If only some of my other "out on a limb" wishes would come true now.

No surprises here that Miller had decided to call it quits. And even though the media have suggested that Smitherman and Tory have a pact, I believe they will run against each other. Yawn, I hate to prejudice this so far in advance, but I can't get a make on either man, and I wonder what initiatives (in the absence of the word vision) either will put forward.

To paraphrase someone else here, Smitherman is Miller with testosterone. And I think Tory is Miller with estrogen.

Frankly, Miller is a good person but I won't miss 'im. We need a politician as mayor -- a good politician, that is, not a flop. Smitherman at the very least is a savvy politician.

Oh, incidentally, I believe that sexual orientation will be a non-issue with the electorate. We've come leaps and bounds out of the dark ages, we Torontonians.
 
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I am more curious as to how the council is going to play out now that there is absolutely no downside to voting against any of the mayor's initiatives.

AoD
 
I can only hope that several of the councillors will also step down, so many of them are seriously wasting our time (we ought to be able to charge them with something)... I can't say anything as nasty as this about David Miller.
 
The is now a Wikipedia article listing the various candidates that have been mentioned.

Where does this leave Thompson? He has been organizing, but would he step aside in favour of fellow Liberal Smitherman? He's been one of the more moderate members of council's right wing faction, but could he try to be the union bustin' bike crushin' candidate the Toronto Sun fantasizes about?
 
An interesting onoll looking at 32 possible candidates using a run-off system. John Tory is currently winning handily.

Interesting in the detailed results is that as the lower tier candidates drop off, not one of their supporters has so far moved to Smitherman.
 
kEiThZ said:
I half suspect Miller resigned because the province might have refused to bail out Toronto next year....which means he'd have to run after having to raise taxes a lot and cut services.
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I don't think that scared him off.

When a politician says he's leaving to spend more time with his family, it usually means they think the next election would be at best a huge struggle and at worst unwinnable.
 
Torontoist:
Zanta for Mayor?

"I do pushups with no shirt on. And I want to be your mayor."

So says the short bio of Zanta, or at least someone pretending to be him, on the newly created mayorzanta Twitter account. Yes, yes, yes: intermittent Torontonian David Zancai—whose habit of flexing, growing, yelling, self-aggrandizing, and push-up-ing his way around Toronto while shirtless and wearing a Santa hat has no doubt earned him at least as much civic ambivalence as any politician—may be trying to land the mayoral seat of a city that he's been banned from large swaths of. Far be it from us to calculate the odds of Zancai's success so early, but we don't think Christmas'll be coming early in 2010.
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Also from Torontoist, another possible progressive candidate:

Glen Murray

The outside dark-horse candidate, coming not just from outside City Hall but outside the city. Murray is the former mayor of Winnipeg (1998–2004) has the sexiest track record of any of the progressive potentials, but little profile in the city. He was known as a consensus-builder while in office, and is rumoured to already be putting together a campaign team. PROS: heavy-hitting executive experience, his track record in office, established connections with other mayors across Canada to help with pushing urban issues at other levels of government. CONS: Murray has only lived in Toronto for a few years, and may not have deep enough roots in the community to make much headway.
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