News   Jul 19, 2024
TTC's Next Big Step: Replacing Rick Leary
 89     1 
News   Jul 19, 2024
Third Phase of Quad Residences Advances at York University
 194     1 
News   Jul 19, 2024
News Roundup for July 19, 2024
 391     0 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
hawc said:
Love how 'Ford Nation' is always portrayed as this big dumb mass that can't understand the 'facts' that the enlighted anti-Ford people can. How conveniently elitist.

Just a reminder who 'Ford Nation' was in the last election. Most of Toronto.
Click to expand...

Love how you complain that ford nation is portrayed as not understanding the facts then follow it up with a claim that isn't factual.
 
Just a reminder who 'Ford Nation' was in the last election. Most of Toronto.
Click to expand...

"Ford Nayshun" is a soundbite...like "Gravy Train". If there is such a thing, let's assume they would be some kind of die hard Rob Ford fan. So not everyone who voted for Rob Ford could be a member of the "Ford Nation".

Number of eligible voters in Toronto: 1,526,642
Number of votes for Rob Ford: 383,501

If you are a die hard Rob Ford fan, then you certainly would have cast your vote for him. So at best, Ford Nayshun represents 25% of Toronto (not all of Toronto, but just the eligible voters). But of course not all of those who cast their vote for Rob Ford are die hard Rob Ford fans, so Ford Nayshun is somewhere between 0% and 25%.

It's closer to 0%.


Yeah I guess I'm making it all up, this false downtown/surburban wedge.
Click to expand...

Well, first you said "downtown"....then it's the entire "old city" of Toronto.

The fact is, the majority of people who didn't vote for Rob Ford are from outside of downtown.


Love how 'Ford Nation' is always portrayed as this big dumb mass that can't understand the 'facts' that the enlighted anti-Ford people can.
Click to expand...

I might cut the Ford voters some slack by just calling them naive or ignorant at the time they voted. But if you are still a Rob Ford fan in 2013, then you have to be a special kind of stupid.

If you voted for Rob Ford based on his official fiscal plan that he campaigned on, then he has utterly failed to materialize this plan, and you should be very disappointed.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
hawc:

Please read bobob911's more nuanced response - and on top of that, I would suggest that you follow GraphicMatt's excellent analyses on the voting patterns of ward councillors.

AoD
Click to expand...

At the time of the election, I was living in Ward 9 (not too long after, I moved to Ward 18, and now am safely within pinko Ward 19). Like a lot of people in my ward, I held my nose and voted Smitherman. Ford came in first in Ward 9, but the Ford-backed candidate lost to the left-leaning incumbant, thought the vote was close. (Interestingly, the Ford Nation candidate turned out to have broke several election laws and lost big time in court seeking to overturn the vote.)

Only 7 wards voted overwhelmingly for Ford (over 60% of mayoral votes cast): Wards 1, 2, 3, and 4 (basically all of Etobicoke north of Dundas Street) and Wards 24, 39 and 41, in northwestern Scarborough and a neighbouring North York ward on the other side of Vic Park.
 
Last edited:
An extension of the BD subway line makes more sense than the subway to Vaughan, so I have no problem with it in theory so long as it isn't given higher priority than the DT relief line and so long as Ford Nation is willing to accept a realistic funding plan (ie: transit tax, not magic non-existent private sector money).

I have to question the intelligence of any Ford supporter who thinks that Ford has had or will ever have any influence over when/how/if this proceeds. Just because he's in favour of it does not mean he had anything to do with making it happen.
 
WOOHOO! Parkdale and Liberty Village are, as per that hilarious map of hawc's, part of Ford Nation. I wonder if Gord Perks will immediately begin his Roncesvalles Avenue road reclamation project to protect car drivers from the ravages of streetcars?
 
ttk:

Indeed - the ridership is already there, and there really isn't any point in forcing additional transfers on anyone. And personally I am not willing to tie the BD to STC extension to DRL because the planning horizons are so different - the extension is a priority by the virtue that replacement is needed.

AoD
 
Indeed - the ridership is already there, and there really isn't any point in forcing additional transfers on anyone. And personally I am not willing to tie the BD to STC extension to DRL because the planning horizons are so different - the extension is a priority by the virtue that replacement is needed.
Click to expand...

I think everyone is in agreement that making the defunct SRT an extension of the BD Line is the most desirable option. But it does still need extra funding to the tune of a billion$ (thank god it's a surface route). And if that happens, it puts a DRL a billion$ farther away than it was. And that does kinda hurt.
 
malvern2 said:
Ok, lets talk optics here, even the hardest anti-Ford member on this board must admit if this deal does in fact go through it should strengthen the Ford vote in the burbs making re-election a real possibility.
Click to expand...

What does the "burbs" have to do with the number of voters in Toronto?

hawc said:
Yeah I guess I'm making it all up, this false downtown/surburban wedge.
Click to expand...

Your "wedge" falls into the same category as "war on cars", "boondoggles", "Ford Nation", etc.

Politicians, especially like the Fords create animosity to divide voters. If voters joined together... well that's not going to happen some time soon unfortunately.

Slightly of topic...

For the record, I would support an extension to BD, however, according to the floated plan there would be no station at Eglinton at Brimley or Danforth before tuning north to Lawrence and Danforth, that's stupid. The other thing is what about Centennial or Malvern?

Back to topic...

freshcutgrass said:
I think everyone is in agreement that making the defunct SRT an extension of the BD Line is the most desirable option. But it does still need extra funding to the tune of a billion$ (thank god it's a surface route). And if that happens, it puts a DRL a billion$ farther away than it was. And that does kinda hurt.
Click to expand...

That's what funding structures are for, wait, Ford dumped on that idea. The province has at the moment told Toronto that it would be responsible for the cost of a BD extension. I would assume that funding for the SRL (Subway Relief Line) is still the provincial responsibility, that is if funding can be generated.
 
Last edited:
freshcutgrass said:
I think everyone is in agreement that making the defunct SRT an extension of the BD Line is the most desirable option. But it does still need extra funding to the tune of a billion$ (thank god it's a surface route). And if that happens, it puts a DRL a billion$ farther away than it was. And that does kinda hurt.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The Metrolinx funding plan was for a fairly specific set of projects. If we want the BD expansion instead of the LRT then we need to change the funding plan to bring in the extra billion dollars in the time frame that the expansion would occur in rather than delay other important projects like the DRL.
 
freshcutgrass:

I don't see the BD to STC extension as something that takes money away from the DRL but a catalyst for creating the political consensus around new revenue tools which will also enable the DRL. There are far worse inducements for the latter - at least this will be a useful, justifable route.

Hell in fact if I am the province I would have said "we approve" and cut Ford out of the equation completely. The province has those kinds of powers to unilaterally impose - and if Hudak swoop in, guess what, they will have to be the one who will have to make a Solomonic decision between keeping the new revenue source or halting the work on the subway or coming up with 1B from existing revenues. Good times.

AoD
 
Last edited:
ttk77 said:
An extension of the BD subway line makes more sense than the subway to Vaughan, so I have no problem with it in theory so long as it isn't given higher priority than the DT relief line and so long as Ford Nation is willing to accept a realistic funding plan (ie: transit tax, not magic non-existent private sector money).
Click to expand...

I don't think any transit advocate objects to the extension in principle -- it has always been about funding and demand. In an ideal world we'd have subways running under every street (and everyone would get a pony), but this world is far from ideal. So if Ford Nation is willing to accept new taxes in exchange for replacing the SRT with a subway extension, that's great.

But I wonder if the province's response here isn't a matter of "be careful what you wish for". Metrolinx has been asking the city to finally make up its mind, so this might actually be the province saying, "OK, you want a subway, you get a subway -- here's what the dedicated tax will be", and then see if Ford is willing to swallow it or not. This may be nothing more than political judo.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top