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Re Watson: it's a little like the old argument for Ford over Smitherman, no?
From what I'm ovserving w/KWT, she might actually be able to transcend that stigma in a way that's more Nenshi than Vaughan...
From a distance, my dog Rex, who has been dead for 57 years, would be a substantial improvement over Rob Ford.
Even up close your dead dog would be a substantial improvement over Rob Ford.
If she couldn't be called ANY of those things...would Carroll actually be WORTH electing? Doesn't sound like you could still stand for much of anything progressive and be COMPLETELY free from that particular description.
If you get too hung up on not being something that matches a stereotype put out by your opponents, don't you inevitably end up not standing for anything and not being of any particular value in political terms?
People in the Ford Army aren't ever going to vote for anybody who isn't in lockstep with the Ford brothers anyway. But they aren't the majority in Toronto, so why obsess on them?
Really it's just as lame as the federal NDP trying to be just as militarist as the Harpercrites. A candidate who bases their appeal on not being the sort of person that the far right crazies would look down on is pretty much certain to be a person who won't stand for anything.
"Vote for me, I'm nothing like the creeps who usually vote against the right" has NEVER really been an effective political strategy for the center-left, nor has it produced worthwhile governance in the handful of cases where it DID elect somebody.
Far better to defend the right of people who drink lattes and live in the Annex to have as much say in running Toronto as everybody else does.
It's not like they were saying "Montreal sucks".
That raises another issue...it took awhile for Olivia to return Trinity-Spadina to the NDP banner. If she goes into municipal politics and opens up the riding to a byelection, doesn't that create at least the potential for the NDP to be embarrassed in the runup to the next general election?
I hope Olivia does not try for Mayor of Toronto.
She is a tremendous asset in getting immigrant voters to think about voting NDP.
You know that Jasmet Singh, Rathia Sitsabaiesan, Jasbir Sandhu, Jinny Sims, and other elected New Democrats were given the confidence to run for office by Olivia's victories in Trinity-Spadina.
Stay where you are, Olivia!!!
Jinny Sims, BCTF President in 2004 who went toe to toe with Campbell needed Chow's win in 2006 to give her confidence? Really it is strange that she never saw the courageous Jenny Kwan and her resilience as a confidence builder. Poor woman its a good she had a perfect role model in Olivia or she probably would not even have got out of bed.
Olivia has many good qualities please don't dismiss other as equally able and strong women who got where they are on their own merits. And yes Olivia has done well in the immigration portfolio. Her husband stripped Bill Siksay of the job and gave it too her. It is one of the slings and arrows that added up to an early resignation by one of the NDP's finest.
I really hate the cult of personality in politics.
Notice that robbie_dee offered no definition of "world class city". Unless I missed it. He cited "world city", or "global city", of which his source states: "an important node in the global economic system". Oh, like Wall Street.
What's a "world class city", other than an ad by some tourist agency?
Same with "diverse". Does it mean more immigrants, or more national origins? More ghettoes? Miami rates as "diverse" by some spurious definitions, because it has a huge proportion of foreign-born residents. Yeah, they're from Cuba. Very "diverse".
Compared to the northern town I'm from, Montreal and Toronto are centres of the universe. Very impressive cities for sure.
I like China's approach, too, though. They build a new city the size of San Francisco about every month or so. That's impressive.
san francisco's not so big. ;)
as for olivia leaving trin-spadina for the mayoralty, i wonder that it wouldn't be a great seat for brian topp. i mean, for sure we'll have at least one montreal mp stepping down (like maybe to go finish a mcgill degree), and both mourani in ahuntsic and trudeau in papineau are likely to be defeated by a strong ndp candidate, so montreal has no shortage of seats for him. but he actually lives and works in toronto and is, like, from there, so it seems pretty logical. then again, depending on how we're polling a few months out, he's be an amazing candidate for us in toronto-center.
man, olivia mayor and the potential madness of a vacant safe seat, it's euphoria-inducing. oh, and on the point of olivia being essential to winning that seat, we're a lightyear away from that now, obviously. i mean, we have an mp from the peripheral toronto whose dad actually said, on election night, on national television, that he's just glad his son finally got a job (mike sullivan). if ndp at 30% nationally can elect a nobody in south weston, i'm pretty sure that whoever we threw up would craig scott trinity spadina, no sweat.
I actually prefer that Olivia stay as the NDP MP in Trinity Spadina. She is a wonderful national model for social democrats and just great as a MP.
I'm not sure what makes youy think Mike Sullivan of York South-Weston is a "nobody" who never had a job before. I was just reading his bio and he sounds to me like someone with a very impressive resume:
"Mike Sullivan is proud to call York South-Weston his home. He, his wife Andrée and their
family have lived in Weston since 1992. It’s where they raised their 7 children, where they put
down roots and where they have worked hard each and every day to make a positive difference
in the lives of everyone they know. Mike was born in the United States but grew up in Windsor, Ontario. He graduated from the
University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science degree. He spent 10 years working at the CBC,
then 27 years as a union representative for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers
Union of Canada (CEP). He stood up for the rights of media workers across Canada, at the CBC
and at numerous media outlets across Ontario, including The Toronto Star, Sing Tao, Korea
Times, Now Magazine and Metro newspapers. In 2000 he was chosen to participate in the
prestigious Governor General’s Canadian Study Conference, which brings together Canada`s
future leaders with the aim of “broadening their perspectives on work, leadership, their
communities, and their country”.
Mike has always found time to give back to our community, whether as a minor baseball coach
or a scout leader. More recently, Mike used his formidable organizing and communication skills
to lead the fight against the destructive Blue 22 – the private, high-speed train that threatens to
cut our community in York South-Weston in half and pollute with diesel exhaust. As Chair of
the Weston Community Coalition (from 2004 to 2011) Mike worked tirelessly for investment in
real public transit (using electric trains) that would better serve the needs of York South-Weston
residents. Mike has also devoted countless hours making a case for the return of good jobs to
York South-Weston. As co-Chair of the Mount Dennis Weston Network, Mike has been at the
forefront of the community campaign to bring well-paying green manufacturing jobs to the
former Kodak lands at Eglinton Avenue and Black Creek Drive."
Well Stock, one can infer here that only certain work is considered admirable and thus have merit - both waged and unwaged. And perhaps Mike's dad was joking in light that Mike did lots of unpaid work to help make his community better and that finally he would get paid to do public service. It's exactly those people who are willing to volunteer their sweat equity in abundance for others who we want representing us in the House.
Thanks for posting that, Stockholm.
Lots of people have parents who think that working for social justice organizations like NGOs or unions aren't "real jobs". Lots of family members think lots of things, and unfortunately for us lefties, we often have to hear all about it at the holiday dinner table. But in the labour and social justice community in Toronto, Mike Sullivan is far from being a "nobody". If you mean that his name wasn't a household phrase across the country before being elected, then that's true. But not many MPs did run as "household name" candidates the first time they got elected.
Btw: Mike Sullivan looks to be in his mid 50s meaning that if that quote was true his father would likely be in his 80s or older. At a certain age people often get confused and say things that don't make a lot of sense.
Might York South-Weston be confused with Scarborough Southwest? (No slur on Dan Harris; just that he's more the age etc where a dad might offer such quips.)
They can...although MY mother is in the second half of her 80s and is one of the least confused people I know.
My mother died at 91 and was still beating people at bridge. Stockholm that was an ageist statement that really was not needed.
If Olivia does not run, I think I'll run an underground social media campaign, like Calgary mayor Nenshi, with Rex for mayor.
Forum Research poll:
- 58% for Chow, 34% for Ford, 8% undecided
- Chow "would win the downtown and beat Ford on his suburban turf in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough."
The weird thing about that poll is that they also test a three way race between Chow, Ford and Adam Vaughan - which is crazy because there is no chance whatsoever that Vaughan and Chow would both run. What would be much more likely would be that a right-leaning but "civilized" person like Karen Stintz would run and the potential three way race would be Ford vs. Chow vs. Stintz.
yeah, totally my mistake!! sorry! haha, great to read about sullivan though.
Come to think of it, I think I *do* remember some kind of parental soundbite aling those lines re Dan Harris. And more affectionately than derisively; after all, Dan Harris had run repeatedly, idealistically, and actually quite credibly for the NDP in that seat since the age of 21 in 2000. Therefore, he kinda earned a "professional candidate" label, in the best MiniMelSwart way...
If Chow ran, it would be great for Toronto. In Parliament her focus for the last year has been public transport. She would be leave huge shoes to fill as an MP, though.
I hear in the Media is warming up to the idea of being Mayor. I honestly can think of a single person more qualified then Olvia. Years as a school trustee, then years more as a Councillor, then years as a MP and critic of such Urban focused issues as Transit, Immigrantion, possible others. Her profile is huge and the graceful way she handled Jack's death earned her tons of respect. On top of that is her basic connection to the city and service that is undenable.
I know I'm quoting an old post, but this would be a great scenario. The "right but not looney" folks have probably already had enough of Rob Ford, that they wouldn't be afraid of splitting the right-wing vote because anything would look like an improvement.
Sometims what happens though is multiple candidates are standing for election, and then out of the ones closedly related on the policy spectrum, the less likely winners drop out of the race to try and consolidate the vote. This is what happened for June Rowlands' victory.
Olivia is sharp as a tack and would make a great Mayor. Is she really interested in running, or is this just someone getting ahead of themselves?
I have no personal knowledge, but she seems to be devoted to fulfilling the dream that she and Jack shared: a federal NDP government. To run for mayor would look like giving up on that dream. Hard to picture.