Strike one from the Toronto mayoral hopefuls.

Sarah Thomson has run out of money and has barely inched the polls in her favour. She also wants to do her bit to stop the Ford locomotive. 

I'm sorry to see her go, not only because she was the sole female candidate for mayor, but because she may be a casualty of what is an ugly campaign.

I'm going to state something with which very few of you will disagree, but challenges the central myth of conservatism: Conservatives cannot manage economies. They're dismal at it. They don't build, they wreck and destroy and cheapen and get giddy about anything that invigorates nature, red in tooth and claw.

I'm making this un-astounding, but needed-to-be-said argument for two reasons: first, the federal government is announcing its budget today; second, city of Toronto operating budget deliberations have received much attention and two of the city's leading mayoral candidates are chiming in on ways to cut costs and trash public services.

Every job has bullies. Voice-raising, tough-talking, aggressive alpha types who use force and fury instead of listening and empathy

And too often these bullies are lauded as people who get stuff done, the trailblazers. Nary a peep, however, is made about the bodies these chest-thumping silverbacks leave strewn by the roadside.

But there's little to like about a bully. They hector and insult, throw and punch things, belittle and shout. They are two-year-olds throwing tantrums because mommy won't give them a candy bar. But these sociopaths are supposedly grown-ups.