Rob Ford is Toronto's new mayor elect. He won the election on Monday night with 47 per cent of the vote to George Smitherman's 36 per cent. After a campaign of simple slogans (Stop the Gravy Train; Respect for Taxpayers) and populist positions, Ford will lead Canada's largest city for the next four years.
Last Tuesday's amusing edition of CBC Radio's As It Happens featured a 'part interview' with Ford. You can find a transcript of that interview here on the Torontoist and the audio clip from the As It Happens website here. The interviewer catches Ford as he's coaching a football practice. And it's clear from the conversation where Ford's attention is. At one point he yells, "Go out and get changed! Go out! And get changed!" At another point: "Coach, half your juniors aren't even here, eh ? Alright, alright."
But to give the man credit, he's apparently already reaching out to councillors by seeking meetings with all members of the newly elected council. On election night Ford received the usual congratulatory calls from outgoing Mayor David Miller, Premier Dalton McGuinty and defeated rival George Smitherman.
Smitherman must have had a bitter taste in his mouth on election night. After entering the race as the front runner, he left it roundly stomped by Ford. Smitherman's campaign had a number of different platforms and messages — and to its detriment, no memorable slogan. He also kept adjusting the political messages his campaign was sending out, from left of centre to veering right to mixing the message so that his policies borrowed from both ends of the spectrum. I don't think this helped him.
The next four years promise to be highly interesting. In a time where no government's problems are easy fixes and costs from health care are set to skyrocket, Ford has promised to slash the city's budget while not reducing services. Where he will find those efficiencies is anyone's guess. There will be no shortage of people paying attention to see if he can deliver.
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Lately I've been listening to the score from American Beauty. Thomas Newman, who composed the score, has worked on a number of films, including Road to Perdition and the Pixar hit WALL-E. Newman once called his work on the film's score a balancing act to move the action along without disturbing the movie's "moral ambiguity." Many of the tracks have clever titles in addition to being great instrumental music. I've linked to a selection of them below:
4) Lunch with the King
6) Mr. Smarty Man
12) Structure and Discipline
18) Any Other Name
Enjoy, and Happy Halloween.
Showing posts with label Toronto mayoral race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto mayoral race. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Rob Ford As Mayor ? Give Me Furious George Any Day
The hot news in Toronto this week is a poll showing mayoral candidate Rob Ford sitting at 45 per cent support among the city's decided voters. Trailing badly in second place is the provincial government's former deputy premier, George Smitherman. Smitherman has recently been making statements suggesting he is the only candidate who can stop Ford the Destroyer, as some have dubbed the Etobicoke councillor.
Ford is the subject of a feature length profile in the October issue of Toronto Life by none other than Gerald Hannon. He also profiled George Smitherman for the magazine in their March issue. Smitherman clearly wants the job so bad he can taste it. In recent weeks he's taken to cribbing Ford's speaking points. Now Smitherman's focus is 'Service First', and like his opponent, he now talks about putting, "the customer first." At least he doesn't refer to everyone and their dog as "buddy" (yet, anyway)
Smitherman clearly sees which way the wind of public opinion is blowing. He figures he can catch this wind at his back if he steals enough of his opponent's talking points and obsession with freezing this, cutting that and slashing the other thing. Because that's what Rob Ford is about. His campaign's themes circle back to the same point of waste at city hall and stopping, "the gravy train." Ford's campaign even produced a cartoon to hammer home this point in case you weren't paying attention; he only mentions it every time a reporter with a microphone is within shouting distance.
Christopher Bird, one of Torontoist's resident wits, has nicknamed Ford the 'Flounder.' The nickname is used to great comic effect in this recap of a CP24 mayoral debate. Particularly hilarious is Bird recapping the debate's closing arguments:
9:30 PM: Final thoughts! Thomson: Flounder sucks, platitude platitude platitude. Rossi: City Hall isn't connected to people, so it's time for a newbie to connect to people! Pantalone: Most people like Toronto how it is, and I am the candidate of "how it is," and Flounder sucks. Smitherman: City Hall needs to be better and we can be better, but do you really want an asshole in charge of the city? No? Then vote me. Flounder: Tax cuts gravy train wasteful spending councillor perks. (I literally wrote that before he started speaking and it was completely accurate.)
I would summarize Ford's appeal as this: he provides solutions that sound like common sense and would also (in theory) be easy to implement. How to solve the waste at city hall ? Let's cut the number of councillors in half! After all, there are only 22 Members of Parliament for Toronto and area, and another 22 MPPs sitting in Queen's Park. As the candidate's website states, "There are too many politicians and not enough accountability." Never mind that many Toronto residents already have a difficult time reaching their city councillor when they need assistance. Ford, master of customer service that he is, will return your call personally. I promise.
For Toronto residents who are normally disengaged from politics many of Ford's proposals sound like good ideas. The problem is when you actually analyze if they would make sound city policy. When that happens Ford's platform is revealed for the smoke and light show it is.
The other problem I have with Rob Ford is that his campaign is based on anger. As many astute Toronto columnists (and former mayors) have pointed out, anger is not the best emotion to build a city on. The verbs Ford is fondest of using are the proof in the pudding. Cutting, chopping, destroying, scrapping, stopping — do I need to continue ?
I agree with the idea that city council needs to show spending restraint and that councillors need to use their office budgets wisely. When the state of the economy is uncertain and people are feeling the pain in their wallets, it's not a good idea to throw "free barbecues" or any other events that city councillors host where the money being spent is the taxpayers.
That said, Toronto will not thrive as a city if our new Mayor's sole obsession is cutting costs and finding efficiencies in the operating budget. Running city hall like a business — where the bottom line is the only line that counts — is not how you make a city succeed or make its residents feel pride and optimism about the future.
Problems with his campaign and lack of coherent policy vision aside, my vote is with Smitherman.
Ford is the subject of a feature length profile in the October issue of Toronto Life by none other than Gerald Hannon. He also profiled George Smitherman for the magazine in their March issue. Smitherman clearly wants the job so bad he can taste it. In recent weeks he's taken to cribbing Ford's speaking points. Now Smitherman's focus is 'Service First', and like his opponent, he now talks about putting, "the customer first." At least he doesn't refer to everyone and their dog as "buddy" (yet, anyway)
Smitherman clearly sees which way the wind of public opinion is blowing. He figures he can catch this wind at his back if he steals enough of his opponent's talking points and obsession with freezing this, cutting that and slashing the other thing. Because that's what Rob Ford is about. His campaign's themes circle back to the same point of waste at city hall and stopping, "the gravy train." Ford's campaign even produced a cartoon to hammer home this point in case you weren't paying attention; he only mentions it every time a reporter with a microphone is within shouting distance.
Christopher Bird, one of Torontoist's resident wits, has nicknamed Ford the 'Flounder.' The nickname is used to great comic effect in this recap of a CP24 mayoral debate. Particularly hilarious is Bird recapping the debate's closing arguments:
9:30 PM: Final thoughts! Thomson: Flounder sucks, platitude platitude platitude. Rossi: City Hall isn't connected to people, so it's time for a newbie to connect to people! Pantalone: Most people like Toronto how it is, and I am the candidate of "how it is," and Flounder sucks. Smitherman: City Hall needs to be better and we can be better, but do you really want an asshole in charge of the city? No? Then vote me. Flounder: Tax cuts gravy train wasteful spending councillor perks. (I literally wrote that before he started speaking and it was completely accurate.)
***
I would summarize Ford's appeal as this: he provides solutions that sound like common sense and would also (in theory) be easy to implement. How to solve the waste at city hall ? Let's cut the number of councillors in half! After all, there are only 22 Members of Parliament for Toronto and area, and another 22 MPPs sitting in Queen's Park. As the candidate's website states, "There are too many politicians and not enough accountability." Never mind that many Toronto residents already have a difficult time reaching their city councillor when they need assistance. Ford, master of customer service that he is, will return your call personally. I promise.
For Toronto residents who are normally disengaged from politics many of Ford's proposals sound like good ideas. The problem is when you actually analyze if they would make sound city policy. When that happens Ford's platform is revealed for the smoke and light show it is.
The other problem I have with Rob Ford is that his campaign is based on anger. As many astute Toronto columnists (and former mayors) have pointed out, anger is not the best emotion to build a city on. The verbs Ford is fondest of using are the proof in the pudding. Cutting, chopping, destroying, scrapping, stopping — do I need to continue ?
I agree with the idea that city council needs to show spending restraint and that councillors need to use their office budgets wisely. When the state of the economy is uncertain and people are feeling the pain in their wallets, it's not a good idea to throw "free barbecues" or any other events that city councillors host where the money being spent is the taxpayers.
That said, Toronto will not thrive as a city if our new Mayor's sole obsession is cutting costs and finding efficiencies in the operating budget. Running city hall like a business — where the bottom line is the only line that counts — is not how you make a city succeed or make its residents feel pride and optimism about the future.
Problems with his campaign and lack of coherent policy vision aside, my vote is with Smitherman.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee Urges Rob Ford to Run for Mayor
In today's Globe and Mail, columnist Marcus Gee is urging right-wing city councillor Rob Ford to run for Mayor of Toronto. The piece is titled, 'Rob Ford, please run. You're the right guy for a lefty race.'
Gee goes on to point out that two of the declared candidates - Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman - are Liberals; and there's Adam Giambrone, chair of the TTC and a former director of the federal NDP. While Rossi has been coming up with some right-wing ideas, such as killing planned bicycle lanes and selling Toronto Hydro, if Ford decides to run for Mayor he'll make Rossi's ideas sound like they're coming from a moderate.
Ford has developed a reputation for frothing at the mouth about over taxation and generally placing foot in mouth at a predictable pace. Check out this YouTube video where Ford berates John Barber, the Globe and Mail's former city hall reporter, in a manner worthy of a high school bully. Ford embodies the worst of what the right has to offer.
Which is why I want him to run for Mayor. Rossi is coming up with right-of-centre ideas because he thinks the electorate is so pissed off with incumbent Mayor David Miller that the voting public now has a hate-on for the unions. This is mostly because of the city workers' strike that dragged on last summer to a smelly end. If Ford makes a run for the city's top job, Toronto voters will wake up and realize how destructive these kinds of ideas are. Because, Ford being Ford, will come up with positions and statements so over the top that he'll draw attention like moths to a flame.
Torontonians should read Heather Mallick's informed and witty book of essays: Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life, to get a solid refutation of the right-wing idea that taxation is bad. Hell, you can even read the essay where Mallick logically and convincingly makes the argument for taxation on her website's teaser for the book. Ford's entry to the Mayoral race would provide a clear contrast between platforms that would hurt the city (Ex. Putting light rail transit projects on hold - Rossi, again), and a vision to improve transit, living conditions for the poor, and a host of other initiatives that Miller has devoted time and energy to. Then we'll see who agrees with Rob Ford's fiscal tightwad views.
Gee closes his piece by urging Ford to step into the ring, "Run, councillor, run." I couldn't have said it better.
I sincerely hope that councillor Adam Giambrone, despite his troubles running the TTC, can offer a platform and vision a majority of Toronto voters will get behind. He is the heir to David Miller - Giambrone just needs to show what he stands for and prove he's got the chops for the job.
Gee goes on to point out that two of the declared candidates - Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman - are Liberals; and there's Adam Giambrone, chair of the TTC and a former director of the federal NDP. While Rossi has been coming up with some right-wing ideas, such as killing planned bicycle lanes and selling Toronto Hydro, if Ford decides to run for Mayor he'll make Rossi's ideas sound like they're coming from a moderate.
Ford has developed a reputation for frothing at the mouth about over taxation and generally placing foot in mouth at a predictable pace. Check out this YouTube video where Ford berates John Barber, the Globe and Mail's former city hall reporter, in a manner worthy of a high school bully. Ford embodies the worst of what the right has to offer.
Which is why I want him to run for Mayor. Rossi is coming up with right-of-centre ideas because he thinks the electorate is so pissed off with incumbent Mayor David Miller that the voting public now has a hate-on for the unions. This is mostly because of the city workers' strike that dragged on last summer to a smelly end. If Ford makes a run for the city's top job, Toronto voters will wake up and realize how destructive these kinds of ideas are. Because, Ford being Ford, will come up with positions and statements so over the top that he'll draw attention like moths to a flame.
Torontonians should read Heather Mallick's informed and witty book of essays: Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life, to get a solid refutation of the right-wing idea that taxation is bad. Hell, you can even read the essay where Mallick logically and convincingly makes the argument for taxation on her website's teaser for the book. Ford's entry to the Mayoral race would provide a clear contrast between platforms that would hurt the city (Ex. Putting light rail transit projects on hold - Rossi, again), and a vision to improve transit, living conditions for the poor, and a host of other initiatives that Miller has devoted time and energy to. Then we'll see who agrees with Rob Ford's fiscal tightwad views.
Gee closes his piece by urging Ford to step into the ring, "Run, councillor, run." I couldn't have said it better.
I sincerely hope that councillor Adam Giambrone, despite his troubles running the TTC, can offer a platform and vision a majority of Toronto voters will get behind. He is the heir to David Miller - Giambrone just needs to show what he stands for and prove he's got the chops for the job.
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