Rob Ford's Toronto

[avenirv]

Rob Ford is for unions !

Ah, people who are used to unions. Who said we have to pay them? Private companies have been cutting overtime pays for ages. And I wonder how much DC pension plan is going to save us. I guess all these are unthinkable in the public sector.

he wants all us to drive cars, like mercedeses, bmws, vws, ferraries, lamborghinis, RRs, bentleys, etc because they are built by 100% unionized factories. so he wants the unionized workers have jobs and dominate the world.
do you know in germany, the country manufacturing the cars of your dreams, the unions have by law 30% or board seats ? why the german unions build the most desired cars in the world ? or the italian ones ?

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

so in reality, the "war on cars" is the "war on unions"!

christ, i know the openly fag candidate is a little bit of a in the closet conservative but i never expected the fat guy to be one of those, what do you call them, commie pinko queers! edith, get on the horn....

 

[allabootmatt]

I have an open-ended question on the Joe Pantalone issue. By many accounts he (understandably) sees his mayoral run as capping off a distinguished career. At this point I think it's clear that he is not going to win. So, from a 'legacy' standpoint, would he see it as preferable to be remembered as the guy who stuck to his principles and refused to budge, thus delivering city hall to 'Rob the Destroyer?' Or would he rather be remembered as someone who took one for the team by stepping out of the way and letting a less distasteful candidate win? I am honestly not sure and certainly don't know the guy, but perhaps others with more knowledge of him and of NDP psychology might be able to speculate.

 

[Hipster Duck]

he wants all us to drive cars, like mercedeses, bmws, vws, ferraries, lamborghinis, RRs, bentleys, etc because they are built by 100% unionized factories. so he wants the unionized workers have jobs and dominate the world.
do you know in germany, the country manufacturing the cars of your dreams, the unions have by law 30% or board seats ? why the german unions build the most desired cars in the world ? or the italian ones ?

WTF? Making a claim like that requires a Grand Canyon-sized leap of logic. Let me try to analyze this: Rob Ford favours cars over public transit as a method of getting around; Europeans build a lot of the cars driven by Torontonians; European auto manufacturers have a high rate of unionization...therefore Rob Ford supports unions.

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I've seen a lot of authentically dumb things being spouted recently and I'm prepared to take it at face value. In that case - wow - we really need to start teaching our children critical thinking skills in high school.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

stifle yourself stivic!

 

[archanfel]

he wants all us to drive cars, like mercedeses, bmws, vws, ferraries, lamborghinis, RRs, bentleys, etc because they are built by 100% unionized factories. so he wants the unionized workers have jobs and dominate the world.
do you know in germany, the country manufacturing the cars of your dreams, the unions have by law 30% or board seats ? why the german unions build the most desired cars in the world ? or the italian ones ?

Sorry, that country does not manufacture the cars of my dreams.

 

[Justin10000]

The car of my dreams is equipped with laser beams and ejection seats.

 

[archanfel]

The car of my dreams is equipped with laser beams and ejection seats.

The car of my dream is reliable, economical, quiet and comfortable. And of course, cheap.

The city of my dream is efficient, fast moving, prosperous and clean. And of course, cheap.

 

[MetroMan]

It's going to come down to the wire and it's still very possible that Ford could become Mayor.

We know that he probably will not convince council to give up streetcars or take the hit of $100M to cancel the new fleet order. Transit City will go ahead in some form and in 4 years, Rob Ford is going to want to take credit for it. Look at the shiny new transportation system I got you!

To prevent that, Ford's 2014 challenger needs to start campaigning the first day of the new council. The progressive left/centre needs to agree on a challenger who will speak out against Rob Ford's every unpopular move and take credit for stopping him from destroying what we love about Toronto. In 2014, that candidate will be a house hold name for the right reasons and Rob Ford's name will be tarnished.

Otherwise, as an incumbent, he'll have the upper hand in getting re-elected.

Adam Vaughan is the most obvious name that comes to mind. Adam Giambrone will probably come back for a second shot -- I bet he's kicking himself for not staying in, given how Ford's scandals have eclipsed his. I think a council insider will have the best shot at the job though so I'm hoping that Giambrone, Rossi or whoever wants to run again will stay out of the race in 2014 and let a lone progressive councillor challenge Ford mano-a-mano.

 

[Calrissian]

It's going to come down to the wire and it's still very possible that Ford could become Mayor.

We know that he probably will not convince council to give up streetcars or take the hit of $100M to cancel the new fleet order. Transit City will go ahead in some form and in 4 years, Rob Ford is going to want to take credit for it. Look at the shiny new transportation system I got you!

To prevent that, Ford's 2014 challenger needs to start campaigning the first day of the new council. The progressive left/centre needs to agree on a challenger who will speak out against Rob Ford's every unpopular move and take credit for stopping him from destroying what we love about Toronto. In 2014, that candidate will be a house hold name for the right reasons and Rob Ford's name will be tarnished.

Otherwise, as an incumbent, he'll have the upper hand in getting re-elected.

Adam Vaughan is the most obvious name that comes to mind. Adam Giambrone will probably come back for a second shot -- I bet he's kicking himself for not staying in, given how Ford's scandals have eclipsed his. I think a council insider will have the best shot at the job though so I'm hoping that Giambrone, Rossi or whoever wants to run again will stay out of the race in 2014 and let a lone progressive councillor challenge Ford mano-a-mano.

I think we should wait and see what happens, Smitherman is hot on F's tail, and F has no where left to get new votes, where Smitherman does... the remaining pool of undecided plus Pants supporters are in a good position to come over.

 

[archanfel]

It's going to come down to the wire and it's still very possible that Ford could become Mayor.

We know that he probably will not convince council to give up streetcars or take the hit of $100M to cancel the new fleet order. Transit City will go ahead in some form and in 4 years, Rob Ford is going to want to take credit for it. Look at the shiny new transportation system I got you!

To prevent that, Ford's 2014 challenger needs to start campaigning the first day of the new council. The progressive left/centre needs to agree on a challenger who will speak out against Rob Ford's every unpopular move and take credit for stopping him from destroying what we love about Toronto. In 2014, that candidate will be a house hold name for the right reasons and Rob Ford's name will be tarnished.

Otherwise, as an incumbent, he'll have the upper hand in getting re-elected.

Adam Vaughan is the most obvious name that comes to mind. Adam Giambrone will probably come back for a second shot -- I bet he's kicking himself for not staying in, given how Ford's scandals have eclipsed his. I think a council insider will have the best shot at the job though so I'm hoping that Giambrone, Rossi or whoever wants to run again will stay out of the race in 2014 and let a lone progressive councillor challenge Ford mano-a-mano.

No matter what happens, Ford will not survive 2014. His support is based on anger, that anger would only work against him by 2014.

Unless of course, people pin their hope on Adam Giambrone.

 

[nfitz]

It's going to come down to the wire and it's still very possible that Ford could become Mayor.

The polling suggests otherwise. Everything has indicated that Ford support is less likely to vote, and that the 25% undecided is going a lot more to Smitherman than Ford. Add in the traditionally low turnout in the strong Ford wards, and I'd say that every poll we've seen recently gives it to Smitherman.

Our time would be better spent on planning a retirement gift for Ford.

 

[allabootmatt]

I dearly hope you are correct, but I am taking nothing for granted. So far this election has surprised me again and again, so who knows.

Incidentally, I remember we had a very interesting discussion on UT a couple of years back about 'Miller Derangement Syndrome,' the process by which otherwise rational individuals often take complete leave of their faculties when it comes to the current Mayor (most recent victim: Robert Fulford). I was thinking the following: is supporting Rob Ford for mayor the flip side of this dread disease, or perhaps its terminal phase? They do seem to be two sides of the same coin. I guess this is a different way of putting a question that gets asked a lot: who created Ford? If he didn't exist, would we have had to invent him?

 

[MetroMan]

Time to get the SAVE THE STREETCARS protests together? A lot of pundits, including John Tory just now, predicting that Ford will take it by a squeaker.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Eh, I think he's backed off the streetcar stuff enough that it's a mild threat if anything. The real tragedy would be potentially losing an underground rapid transit line on Eglinton for the second time in less than two decades.