Rob Ford's Toronto

[innsertnamehere]

100% certain. A National Transportation Strategy has figured significantly in Chow's work as a Federal MP. The next election is going to be about transit (finally!!!!) and there couldn't be a more perfect timing for Olivia to run. She's very well versed on the subject and already brings a well developed policy to the table. My guess is she won't try to re-litigate the Scarborough subway and instead will use Ford's property tax increase against himself: Ford raised your taxes and put us in debt for 30 years to pay for a 3 stop Scarborough subway, I'll get rid of the tax raise and bring in a fair city run insurance plan or a Toronto Bank to pay for the Scarborough subway AND a Downtown Relief Line. She's going to outsmart him and turn his tax and spend mantra against him.

That of course if the Liberals haven't passed their plan by that point that has the DRL and Yonge extension.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Amazing. If Ford shows his face at any campaign town hall debates in 2014, these questions will do nicely. (realizing as I write that he'll try to run a campaign for 'the people' without ever facing questions directly from them)

Mod: What do you have to say about Toronto's ballooned debt on your watch?
RF: The voters don't have time for your Toronto Star attacks. We're delivering what they want SUBWAYS SUBWAYS SUBWAYS!

Mod: You promised to build subways for free, with private sector money. What happened to that?
RF: You know, some things always don't work out. It turns out that the private sector doesn't just give away money. But you know what counts? Subways... Subways subways subways.

Mod: You promised to "cut the gravy". Spending has ballooned under your administration. What do you have to say?
RF: WYNNE! GAS PLANTS! E-HEALTH!

Mod: What do you have to say about all these controversies?
RF: You know, they're out to get me and Doug. They don't like that we're cutting spending . This is all part of a media smear campaign by Gawker, The Star, The Sun, National Post, Globe and Mail, Wynne, Toronto Police, the OPP and some thugs that they claim I associate with. It was all staged!

Mod: Do you smoke crack?
RF: SUBWAYS SUBWAYS SUBWAYS

Mod: Do you plan to build more subways:
RF: Of course. SUBWAYS SUBWAYS SUBWAYS

Mod: How do you plan to pay for them
RF: The good people of Toronto don't have time for leftist number crunching. All they need to know is that I will deliver SUBWAYS SUBWAYS SUBWAYS.

Mod: But you do have a plan to pay for them, right?
RF: Private Sector Faries. They'll fund anything.

Mod: But they didn't want to last time.
RF: Again with your Toronto Star leftist attacks. Why don't you go ask Wynne about gas plants?

 

[blackballed]

Amazing. If Ford shows his face at any campaign town hall debates in 2014, these questions will do nicely. (realizing as I write that he'll try to run a campaign for 'the people' without ever facing questions directly from them)

I seriously wish Toronto media were like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KHMO14KuJk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

(You don't have to understand the issue being discussed. Just enjoy watching a journalist with balls and imagine how awesome it would be to have someone subject Ford to this kind of interview).

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

It's quite simple - a guy with a history of violence, towards peace officers, no less, and "enforcer" for Sandro Lisi - whom Rob Ford knows the exploits of very well - is being brought in by the Mayor of Toronto to coach high school football. That's either a good thing, or a bad thing, regardless of the guy's qualifications for the job.

Sounds like Snoop

 

[evvabeing]

Sounds like Snoop

or this...

 

[LowPolygon]

I keep coming back to this paragraph:

"Lights had flicked on at the mayor’s house in Etobicoke shortly before 9 a.m. and a young man knocked at the door around 9:20 a.m. to deliver dry-cleaning. He was let in by a side entrance, carrying what appeared to be one black suit."

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

https://twitter.com/SwanBoatSteve/status/388369377340297216

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly gets schooled by twitter.

 

[CowboyLogic]

What promises has he kept?

These are (some) of the ones he hasn't:

Extending the Sheppard Subway
Eglinton Subway
Eliminating land transfer tax
Lowering taxes overall (he just raised our taxes)
Lowering spending at City Hall (spending is higher than ever before)
Cutting the size of council
Cutting the debt (again, he just raised it to a ridiculous amount)
Hiring more police
More bike lanes
Private investment in transit
Cutting the "gravy". The Mayor's own report showed that the "gravy train" was nonsense. \
Not cutting any services.

What has promises has he half fulfilled:
-Eliminating vehicle registration tax. But he offset that tax by increasing other taxes
-Privatizing garbage. Only half city is privatized
-He delivered a subway somewhere in the east end. And of course, I'm being generous by saying he did it. It was council who proposed the line and got the feds and province on board. And it isn't even the subway Rob said it would be.

What promises he has kept:
-Eliminating vehicle registration fee. But this has been offset by Rob Ford's other tax increases.
-Eliminating Jarvis bike lanes.

Now I know you're probably going to mention that it was council's fault for not letting Rob keep his promises. But part of being an effective politician is having control over your council. Mayor Ford is a completely ineffective politician who has no control over council. Full blame lies with him for not keeping the promises he made.

I have a lot of problems with this list, in particular that Ford never promised several of those things. As well, several of your claims are completely misleading.

Spending is higher than ever before? There has actually been a plateau in the gross operating budget under Ford. Now I have already been told to shut up about the gross operating budget many times on here before, so I won't debate that again, but even the net operating budget has only been increasing at the same rate as under Miller. Its difficult to deduce why the gross operating budget has decreased; it could be because of Ford or could be because of other factors, but suggesting that spending is increasing disproportionately under Ford is completely misleading. He has either slowed spending significantly or done as good a job as Miller.

Its also incredibly misleading to suggest that Ford is disproportionately raising taxes, simply because he is implementing a property tax increase, which are standard. Ford never promised to not raise property taxes for his entire term, which would have been completely insane and unfeasible - he promised not to raise them for his first year in office and he upheld that.

I also find it amusing how you are being generous by saying Ford got the Scarborough subway. Meanwhile, every other UT poster has been chastising Ford for implementing this subway and the subsequent tax increase, and Metro Man is talking about how a core part of Chow's campaign is going to be criticizing Ford over this subway. You can't have it both ways. Ford was absolutely instrumental in getting this subway, let alone any subway over that LRT nonsense. That was one of Ford's key campaign platforms: subways over LRT's, and he got it. He was also instrumental in getting the feds on board.

You're leaving out several of his accomplishments. Several of these failed accomplishments are inconclusive (such as the bike lanes one. The data just isn't there, and I've had to just take the word of someone on here that all the bikes lanes implemented under Ford were already in the pipeline from Miller's term. That being said, until I see hard evidence, its inconclusive).

Several of these he attempted and failed due to council, and while I'll agree he's partially to blame for that, council is complicit, especially in the way they've railed against Ford simply for the sake of it. A prime example of this was the bag fee fiasco: while Ford ultimately got his way by eliminating the mandatory bag tax, council voted to ban plastic bags without any proper consultation. I'm not going to blame Ford for council's delinquency.

 

[animatronic]

A prime example of this was the bag fee fiasco: while Ford ultimately got his way by eliminating the mandatory bag tax, council voted to ban plastic bags without any proper consultation. I'm not going to blame Ford for council's delinquency.

Having shitty councillors doesn't make it ok to also have a shitty mayor.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Having shitty councillors doesn't make it ok to also have a shitty mayor.

At the beginning of his term Ford had control of council. But through his unparliamentary and disgraceful behaviour as mayor, he lost their support quicker than I've ever seen of any politician at any level of gov't. The one and only person to blame for that is Rob Ford. If the man had not shown utter contempt for our elected councillors and had more respect for our mayors office which we entrusted him with, he would probably still be in control of the agenda.

 

[jje1000]

I have a lot of problems with this list, in particular that Ford never promised several of those things. As well, several of your claims are completely misleading.

Which ones? As far as I know, he at some point says he wants to do those things.

Spending is higher than ever before? There has actually been a plateau in the gross operating budget under Ford. Now I have already been told to shut up about the gross operating budget many times on here before, so I won't debate that again, but even the net operating budget has only been increasing at the same rate as under Miller. Its difficult to deduce why the gross operating budget has decreased; it could be because of Ford or could be because of other factors, but suggesting that spending is increasing disproportionately under Ford is completely misleading. He has either slowed spending significantly or done as good a job as Miller.

So a supposedly right-wing tax saviour performs only as well as a left-wing tax-and-spender? That should tell you that a.) The waste is purely anecdotal, not factual b.) Ford is completely ineffective (don't blame others, it's up to Ford to deliver)

Its also incredibly misleading to suggest that Ford is disproportionately raising taxes, simply because he is implementing a property tax increase, which are standard. Ford never promised to not raise property taxes for his entire term, which would have been completely insane and unfeasible - he promised not to raise them for his first year in office and he upheld that.

He certainly wanted to, or at least hold taxes well below inflation.

I also find it amusing how you are being generous by saying Ford got the Scarborough subway. Meanwhile, every other UT poster has been chastising Ford for implementing this subway and the subsequent tax increase, and Metro Man is talking about how a core part of Chow's campaign is going to be criticizing Ford over this subway. You can't have it both ways. Ford was absolutely instrumental in getting this subway, let alone any subway over that LRT nonsense. That was one of Ford's key campaign platforms: subways over LRT's, and he got it. He was also instrumental in getting the feds on board.

Ford only played a minor role in getting the Scarborough subway line. Remember who led the first revolt? Stintz and De Baeremaeker were the ones who proposed the current subway line. Ford's only been talking about it. This still leaves several questions open. How is he going to actually deliver on a subway line? Or is he merely interested in saying that he delivered?

Scrumming, Ford says he thinks he can get the property tax increase for 2014 back down to 0.25%.

https://twitter.com/GraphicMatt
Ford wants low tax increases and subways. You can pick one.

Several of these he attempted and failed due to council, and while I'll agree he's partially to blame for that, council is complicit, especially in the way they've railed against Ford simply for the sake of it. A prime example of this was the bag fee fiasco: while Ford ultimately got his way by eliminating the mandatory bag tax, council voted to ban plastic bags without any proper consultation. I'm not going to blame Ford for council's delinquency.

A delinquent council is the result of a mayor who spits out vitrol to serve his own ends. It all started when Ford showed that he was absolutely not interested in working with council- there have been numerous examples where members of council have shown him leniency (i.e. Stintz's face-saving transit move for Ford, which was rejected). My question is- who would have extended the olive branch out in the first place, and who would have accepted it? And remember:

Now I know you're probably going to mention that it was council's fault for not letting Rob keep his promises. But part of being an effective politician is having control over your council. Mayor Ford is a completely ineffective politician who has no control over council. Full blame lies with him for not keeping the promises he made.

In the end, you can do all the mental gymnastics you want. Ford is an awful conservative candidate- I'll be waiting for a real one over him.

 

[JWBF]

It is misleading for Robbie to promote himself as the Messiah of the "common folk" and the "blue collar" workers with his promises of fiscal responsibility. If real people ran their household budgets like Robbie does...

I could go on, and on, about how truly ineffectual Rob Ford is, but one thing just has to be mentioned, "Woodbine Live".

 

[syn]

I have a lot of problems with this list, in particular that Ford never promised several of those things. As well, several of your claims are completely misleading.

Spending is higher than ever before? There has actually been a plateau in the gross operating budget under Ford. Now I have already been told to shut up about the gross operating budget many times on here before, so I won't debate that again, but even the net operating budget has only been increasing at the same rate as under Miller. Its difficult to deduce why the gross operating budget has decreased; it could be because of Ford or could be because of other factors, but suggesting that spending is increasing disproportionately under Ford is completely misleading. He has either slowed spending significantly or done as good a job as Miller.

Its also incredibly misleading to suggest that Ford is disproportionately raising taxes, simply because he is implementing a property tax increase, which are standard. Ford never promised to not raise property taxes for his entire term, which would have been completely insane and unfeasible - he promised not to raise them for his first year in office and he upheld that.

I also find it amusing how you are being generous by saying Ford got the Scarborough subway. Meanwhile, every other UT poster has been chastising Ford for implementing this subway and the subsequent tax increase, and Metro Man is talking about how a core part of Chow's campaign is going to be criticizing Ford over this subway. You can't have it both ways. Ford was absolutely instrumental in getting this subway, let alone any subway over that LRT nonsense. That was one of Ford's key campaign platforms: subways over LRT's, and he got it. He was also instrumental in getting the feds on board.

You're leaving out several of his accomplishments. Several of these failed accomplishments are inconclusive (such as the bike lanes one. The data just isn't there, and I've had to just take the word of someone on here that all the bikes lanes implemented under Ford were already in the pipeline from Miller's term. That being said, until I see hard evidence, its inconclusive).

Several of these he attempted and failed due to council, and while I'll agree he's partially to blame for that, council is complicit, especially in the way they've railed against Ford simply for the sake of it. A prime example of this was the bag fee fiasco: while Ford ultimately got his way by eliminating the mandatory bag tax, council voted to ban plastic bags without any proper consultation. I'm not going to blame Ford for council's delinquency.

For promised the city would have a $1.67 billion surplus by the end of his four year term.

He promised to find $2.8 billion in savings by the end of his term. Why raise taxes when there's billions upon billions of waste?

Remember this?

“I will assure you that services will not be cut . . . guaranteed.â€

[video=youtube;ry1-xZIx_Zw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1-xZIx_Zw&feature=player_embedded[/video]

Is it just me, or does he seem baked?

 

[bobbob911]

I but suggesting that spending is increasing disproportionately under Ford is completely misleading. He has either slowed spending significantly or done as good a job as Miller.

The claim was not that spending increased disproportionately - its that its continued to increase. Ford has not been able to materially slow the rate of spending at city hall, and property taxes have essentially continued to rise at approximately the same rate relative to inflation (give or take half a percent)

Ford was absolutely instrumental in getting this subway, let alone any subway over that LRT nonsense. That was one of Ford's key campaign platforms: subways over LRT's, and he got it. He was also instrumental in getting the feds on board.

Politicking aside, Ford was instrumental in two key ways: 1)By cancelling Transit City and dragging the discussion out for 3 years, political winds shifted enough to get enough votes in council to vote for increased funding for a subway, and 2)I agree he was probably useful in getting the Fed cash as quickly as it came. If you want to hang your hat on that, go nuts.

You're leaving out several of his accomplishments.

By all means state them. Avoid wishy-washy statements like "Changing the culture at city hall". I can only think of four direct and current effects (ie actual ways that Toronto residents have been affected) of the Ford Mayoralty:

- Cancelled Bag Tax
- Cancelled VRT
- Cancelled Jarvis Bike Lanes
- Private garbage collection for 50% of the city

 

[Admiral Beez]

Ford has not been able to materially slow the rate of spending at city hall,

It doesn't help that on his watch the payroll for the TPS increased by over 10% over the term of the current contract. This never gets brought up.