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Rob Ford's Toronto

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cdr108 said:
while i agree that Miller's accomplishments have put him in the right circles, you can't be so dismissive of Ford's connections.

RF may not be representative of your ideology of the establishment because of his hillbilly attitude; however, he does have the wealth and social networks available to him. As previously stated, he maintains political connections with the provincial and federal Conservative Parties, and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris regularly gives advice to Ford.
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He's never been able to leverage those connections for anything worthwhile though. What's his allegiance to Harper done for Toronto? I was told by more than one Ford-o-phants that Ford being buddy-buddy with Harper would yield untold riches in transit and other funding. Where is it?

On the provincial level, it's believed that Ford's endorsement of Hudak was one of the many nails in Timmy's coffin. Harris isn't exactly beloved around here either. So I'm not seeing the tangible benefits to anyone but Ford (and not even that) of his closeness with the Conservative establishment. To me, it seems that everyone is doing their damndest to distance themselves from him, if anything.
 
Ice_Burn said:
He's never been able to leverage those connections for anything worthwhile though. What's his allegiance to Harper done for Toronto? I was told by more than one Ford-o-phants that Ford being buddy-buddy with Harper would yield untold riches in transit and other funding. Where is it?

On the provincial level, it's believed that Ford's endorsement of Hudak was one of the many nails in Timmy's coffin. Harris isn't exactly beloved around here either. So I'm not seeing the tangible benefits to anyone but Ford (and not even that) of his closeness with the Conservative establishment. To me, it seems that everyone is doing their damndest to distance themselves from him, if anything.
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Well there was that fishing trip Ford had with Harper, and his dad was a MPP. This myth of him being an everyday self made man needs to die.
 
From where I and most Torontonians stand, being the son of a wealthy business owning Ontario MPP and being a long time city councilor and eventually the mayor of Canada's largest city is pretty much the definition of being a member of the establishment. To say Rob Ford is not a member of the establishment because he's too "hillbilly" is like saying George W. Bush is not a member of the establishment because he can't pronounce "nuclear".

Ford's supporters continue to see him as an everyman who "tells it like it is", willfully ignoring his history of lying and being secretive, his enormous economic privileges that separate him from the vast majority of Torontonians, and the very troubling way in which his private business interests and public office seem to bleed into each other.
 
National Post: The best quotes from the Toronto Mayor’s Monday media blitz

On this year’s budget
“The firefighters are out there blowing smoke, pardon the pun.â€

“I can ensure you 100% I’m going to keep the Gardiner and I’m not going to toll the Gardiner.â€

“I am very proud of this $22.5 million in the arts. I’ve seen the benefits of the arts. Maybe I wasn’t as engaged a couple of years ago, it engages young people who find arts as exciting as many kids find sports.â€

–

On the TTC
“You don’t need a fare increase. You just have tofind efficiencies.â€
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Silence&Motion said:
From where I and most Torontonians stand, being the son of a wealthy business owning Ontario MPP and being a long time city councilor and eventually the mayor of Canada's largest city is pretty much the definition of being a member of the establishment. To say Rob Ford is not a member of the establishment because he's too "hillbilly" is like saying George W. Bush is not a member of the establishment because he can't pronounce "nuclear".
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I see Ford as more of a tool of the establishment than a member of it.
 
Did Ford vote against his own budget?

Mayor Rob Ford surprised observers by presenting a 2013 operating budget with a 2 per cent residential tax increase and then voting Tuesday to freeze taxes.

The tax freeze motion, tabled by Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, lost 40-4. The 2 per cent increase, which Ford had earlier defended as being fair because it’s roughly equal to inflation, carried 36-8.

Ford wasn’t immediately available to explain his vote.

It was suggested he may have made a mistake because mayors unusually stand behind the budget that’s crafted by staff and the budget committee before being approved by executive committee which Ford chairs.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong indicated he was surprised by Ford’s move.

“It’s curious to me why,” Minnan-Wong said. “The budgets that are presented are the mayor’s budget. It’s what he presented at executive committee. He presented a two per cent budget and then he voted for zero per cent.”

“I find it highly unusual for the chair of the executive committee and the mayor to vote against his own budget.”
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I'm totally enjoying the 2% increase is 'just inflation cost-of-living, don't cha know', vibe. YOY Nov 2012 CPI was +0.8%. Now, personally, I'm all for getting Toronto property taxes up to Mississauga levels and funding new services, particularly transit, with the cash. But these bozos pretty much got elected on the fact that inflationary increases in property taxes were A PACT WITH THE DEVIL. Now, they're more than DOUBLE CPI, and we get the cost-of-living excuse. Peepers, Spider, Hdick... please explain in 15 words or less why a Ford COLA is morally defensible, but a Miller COLA was A PACT WITH THE DEVIL...
 
To break even, revenue from taxes need to increase by inflation PLUS account for growth in population/number of households.

Though those two things probably still don't add up to 2%.
 
So I guess commerical rates went up 1/3 of 2% that's the most they can raise em buy, I wish they'd just fix the commercial rates and not raise them for the enxt few years.
 
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