[BeaverFever]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Yea, we get it BF, your guy didn't get in, boo-hoo, stupid voters and all that.

Wow, not much of a retort. BTW, I didn't really 'have a guy' in this race as I do not particularly care for Smitherman or Rossi and they were the only 2 who had a snowball's chance in the last election. I would have voted for Joe Pantalone. Not only do I like his political philosophy but a few years back, while he was Deputy Mayor, I called him and left a voice mail message requesting a phone interview for some research I was doing. He called me back personally 2 business days later. Turns out, he was not the best party to speak to on the subject, but he put me in touch with the right people and was very helpful.

[bootlegga]

Way to set the tone for the upcoming term.

Unless Toronto is different from most other cities in Canada, the mayor has just one vote on the council (with 44 other councillors apparently) - therefore if he's not careful, he's going to alienate a lot of people and be a lame duck mayor.

[BeaverFever]

Well Toronto is no different and everyone said this is exactly what would happen. Ford denied it on the campaign trail and promised to build broad consensus, blah blah blah, but I guess he forgot. So welcome to 4 years of paralysis at city hall.

Can we count this as broken promise #1?

[OnTheIce]

Mustang1 Mustang1:

CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:

romanP romanP:

How does anyone who knows something about Don Cherry not think he was a belligerant person? This is a guy who openly advocates fist fighting in hockey!

I'm guessing your an advocate for ringette? C'mon man.

Rob Ford is shrewd.

-J.

And he appeals to geniuses like you - isn't it beer and popcorn time for ya'?

Ford is a dumb clown - Cherry is a mindless cheerleader - it's a match made in asshat heaven. You're getting what you voted for, Toronto.

And he appeals to some of us well educated people too.

Toronto just had a Harvard educated mayor that almost put the city into bankruptcy.

I guess it would have been better to have the high school drop-out and former drug addict at the helm in Smitherman cause he looks better in a suit and talks pretty.

[billypilgrim]

now that's dementia, rock'em sock'em style.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

romanP romanP:

Rob Ford is an idiot. Case in point: he was the only one there who would not expect Don Cherry to make a belligerant speech. How does anyone who knows something about Don Cherry not think he was a belligerant person? This is a guy who openly advocates fist fighting in hockey!

Figures a European would have an issue with fist fighting in Hockey

[EyeBrock]

Mustang1 Mustang1:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

And I want to avoid another 4 years of Dalton. We will see who wins M1!

I'll not bother with the relevant Churchill quote!

Sorry to burst your partisan bubble, but this isn't a contest - i want the best government for my province, not the reactionary mobocracy of the current crop of politicians.

If you liked Harris, Hudak's your guy. Good luck and rest of us will get ready Harris II: Uncommon Sense Resolution.

It's not a question of being partisan M1. On Dalton, he lied and he's made numerous decisions I disagree with. I can't believe too much he says.

I'm not a blind partisan. I realise most of them are salesguys but Dalton has fucked up too often and too consistently for me to vote for him. It's time to give somebody else a go. Feel free to vote for him and his party if you hate Hudak who hasn't even been in power yet.

Harris was a long time ago and Hudak isn't and never was Harris. Like I say, if he turns out to be shit too he's gone in 4 years.

We already gave Dalton two chances and we know he and his gang are shite. Is shite the 'best government for the province'? I think not.

[Zipperfish]

Gonna be a fun time in Toronto the next few years. Maybe they'll even top Mel Lastmen--the guy who didn't know who teh World Health Organizationw as halfway through a SARS epidemic. And then there was the lady mayor that banned Bare Naked Ladies.

Really, since we have to hand over our money to them anyways, they may as well be entertaining.

[EyeBrock]

Mel Lastman seem to do a better job than Miller. Maybe idiots are better mayors?

[BeaverFever]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

And he appeals to some of us well educated people too.

Toronto just had a Harvard educated mayor that almost put the city into bankruptcy.

I guess it would have been better to have the high school drop-out and former drug addict at the helm in Smitherman cause he looks better in a suit and talks pretty.

A little revisionism and a straw-man to boot!

The revisionism:

1) Toronto has always had a fiscal imbalance. This is because large cities have high demands for services and yet very few means to generate revenue. Property tax only brings in about a third of of the money. The rest is dolled out by the Province whenever it suits Provincial interests. About 70% of the current Toronto municipal budget is for programs they are required to provide by provincial legislation, much of it the result of Mike Harris downloading. The city has very little control over these items.

2)Despite this, the city's operating budget had a $275 Million annual surplus the past 2 years in a row under Miller.

The Straw Man:

Nobody has proclaimed Smitherman to be any kind of ideal Mayor.

[EyeBrock]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Yea, we get it BF, your guy didn't get in, boo-hoo, stupid voters and all that.

Wow, not much of a retort. BTW, I didn't really 'have a guy' in this race as I do not particularly care for Smitherman or Rossi and they were the only 2 who had a snowball's chance in the last election. I would have voted for Joe Pantalone. Not only do I like his political philosophy but a few years back, while he was Deputy Mayor, I called him and left a voice mail message requesting a phone interview for some research I was doing. He called me back personally 2 business days later. Turns out, he was not the best party to speak to on the subject, but he put me in touch with the right people and was very helpful.

Joe Pantalone was truly 'Miller Lite'. Big chums with the other far lefties like Vaughan and McConnell and a firm favourite with the cities unions and the provincial and federal NDP.

Unfortunately for you and Joe, Toronto voters had more than enough of left-wing ideology at city hall.

[Lemmy]

Vaughan and Lastman...what a pair of clowns. Adam Vaughan pissed away $100K decorating his office. Then he had the audacity to claim it was money well spent to serve and advocate for his constituents. And Mayor Mel...where to begin? Remember when Lastman's wife got arrested for shoplifting and Adam Vaughan (then a CITY-TV reporter) did the story? Lastman threatened to kill Vaughan if he ever reported on his family again.

[BeaverFever]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Mel Lastman seem to do a better job than Miller. Maybe idiots are better mayors?

Really, what is Lastman's legacy?

-The cost-sucking, Sheppard subway line in his former ward that is virtually unused (sound familiar?)

-Municipal infrastructure and services that crumbled or remained second-rate at best, while he did nothing?

-Decade-long tax freeze that caused the city's debt to skyrocket, even as Harris forced hundreds of millions in new spending obligations onto city budgets

-A refusal to campaign for the 2008 Olympics at an Olympic committee gathering in Africa because he was afraid he would end up "boiling in a pot with natives dancing around him?"

-The revelation that he had a decades-long extramarital affair and had been been a deadbeat dad to the two illegitimate children he fathered as a result?


Ya that's a real great mayor you got there.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Remember when Lastman was mayor and the paramedics went on strike?
Lastman said that for every day they were on strike, a Torontonian would die.

I just gotta ask, as a mayor, can he REALLY do that?

[Mustang1]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Harris was a long time ago and Hudak isn't and never was Harris.

Really? That's patently false - Methinks that statement needs a little help, "http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/640343"

Want more? "http://forums.canadiancontent.net/canadian-politics/85054-tim-hudak-endorses-common-sense.html"

And of course, "Hudak has said that there are still issues from the Common Sense Revolution that resonate with Ontarians." http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/ ... ntoNewHome


Any aware political pundit will tell you Hudak is a Blue Tory, a Harrisite, heck, you may want to look at what his wife, Deb Hutton, did during the Common Sense Revolution.

Vote any way you want, that's your prerogative, but your conclusions about Hudak simply aren't correct.