Chow for Mayor?

What about Mike Layton?

From a distance, I'd bet that Mike Layton would be a substantial improvement over Rob Ford.

Layton's great but still fairly inexperienced in his first term. If he ran I'd probably vote for him, but I think Olivia would be much better. Toronto is a world class city and shouldn't have a boob like Ford as mayor. Olivia could run as a stateswoman who would restore dignity to the office. And as an Asian-Canadian she would be a trail-blazer and role-model as Toronto's first visible minority mayor when the city becomes a majority-minority city in the next few years.

robbie_dee wrote:

Toronto is a world class city ...

Whatever that means.

janfromthebruce wrote:

Toronto is the most "multicultural" (racially and ethnically diverse) city in the world...

Whatever that means.

janfromthebruce wrote:

And considering that Toronto is the most "multicultural" (racially and ethnically diverse) city in the world would be a good fit although I think I would love to see her in cabinet when the NDP wins govt.

Burnaby is not the Center of the Universe.  Hog Town is the superlative in every thing.

Quote:

Diverse and well-educated population

With a population of more than 227,000, Burnaby is the third-largest municipality in British Columbia. Half of Burnaby’s residents are immigrants and 55% are visible minorities. In Burnaby homes, over 100 languages are spoken. Almost 70% of residents in the 25- to 34-year age range have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree. Burnaby’s diversity enriches and strengthens the community.

http://www.burnaby.ca/Assets/city+services/planning/Social+Sustainabilit...

Calling Hog Town the MOST in the WORLD is what I was joking about.

Claiming world supremacy like that is not a slight it is just ridiculous boasting based on lies.  IMO That is just typical Center of the Universe thinking. 

Sorry if pointing out facts is not appreciated.

Toronto is also the BEST place on the Planet to live.  Right or wrong?

Why the South Pacific are you from there?  Living by the Salish Sea is just fine by me.  I also like the Rockie Mountain Trench and the Bay of Fundy area (Acadia).

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Toronto is also the BEST place on the Planet to live.  Right or wrong?

Oh hell no. I think that's probably some place in the south pacific. But Toronto's not bad all things considered.

FWIW I've heard the "most diverse city in the world" meme a lot but I agree its hard to know what you're even trying to quantify there, much less whether you are right or whether what you're right about is meaningful. Point is Toronto is pretty diverse and it would be nice to see that diversity reflected in the City's leadership. To his credit Rob Ford actually did receive considerable support from members of visible minority communities in Toronto's inner suburbs, although its hard to imagine that he has actually delivered much of substance for those communities. He's certainly been a failure for the city at large.

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Why the South Pacific are you from there?  Living by the Salish Sea is just fine by me.  I also like the Rockie Mountain Trench and the Bay of Fundy area (Acadia).

I'm mainly looking for temporate climate, ample resources, a high degree of social and economic equality and political stability. I had New Zealand in mind but the Salish Sea area probably fits the bill pretty well, too. But I hadn't factored in the risk of natural disasters yet, and that actually doesn't bode well for low-lying coastlines near geological fault lines. Climate change attributable to human activity could also probably screw things up.

Not to contribute to thread drift, but...

You folks have all obviously never been to PEI, because if you had you would have realized it is the best place to live on Earth :)

Rural atmosphere, much slower-pace of living than the big cities. Great arts scene, best beaches on the planet, breath-taking scenery, four beautiful seasons.....no Earthquakes! Add in a plethora of local farm markets and amazing food...

Anyways, I just had to point that out ;) I could never live in a city, anyways. To me, Charlottetown is the big city and I find it too big, lol!

Don't you mean PEP.  Prince Edward Peninsula? I've been there many times and much prefer the Bay of Fundy and the beaches on the Acadian coast.  You know just a quick drive across the bridge that makes the Island not really an island.

When my parents were still alive and retired in the Moncton area I would visit them and one of the things to do was a day trip to the Island. My mom had friends on the island and we would go and have lunch and visit.  Yes indeed it is as beautiful part of the world despite the endless golf courses.

now that's what i call laying one down :)

Unionist wrote:

robbie_dee wrote:

Toronto is a world class city ...

Whatever that means.

janfromthebruce wrote:

Toronto is the most "multicultural" (racially and ethnically diverse) city in the world...

Whatever that means.

robbie_dee wrote:

Quote:

A global city (also called world city or sometimes alpha city or world center) is a city generally considered to be an important node in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a hierarchy of importance to the operation of the global system of finance and trade.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city]Wikipedia: Global City[/url]

Quote:

The demographics of Toronto make Toronto one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Data released by Statistics Canada as part of the 2006 census indicates that Toronto is more ethnically diverse than Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. 49.9% of Toronto's population is foreign-born.

 [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto]Wikipedia: Demographics of Toronto[/url]

robbie_dee wrote:

Layton's great but still fairly inexperienced in his first term. If he ran I'd probably vote for him, but I think Olivia would be much better. Toronto is a world class city and shouldn't have a boob like Ford as mayor. Olivia could run as a stateswoman who would restore dignity to the office. And as an Asian-Canadian she would be a trail-blazer and role-model as Toronto's first visible minority mayor when the city becomes a majority-minority city in the next few years.

Though to be honest, there's already been a fair bit of buzz about the mayoral potential of another first-termer, also a female of Asian-Canadian origin (and LBGT to boot): Kristyn Wong-Tam...

adma wrote:

(and LBGT to boot): Kristyn Wong-Tam

All four? Talk about an overachiever! 

Re Watson: it's a little like the old argument for Ford over Smitherman, no?

robbie_dee wrote:

Like Adam Vaughan, she might also be too downtown latte-leftist for the suburbs.

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...

ghoris wrote:

I am admittedly a somewhat casual observer of Toronto municipal politics (at best), but is there any chance Shelley Carroll might run against Ford? Seems like she might have a good shot at consolidating the anti-Ford vote without being easily tarred as some "downtown, bike-riding, sushi-eating, latte-sipping, CBC-radio-listening, Margaret-Atwood-worshipping elitist from Deepest Annex". Or does she have some skeletons in the closet that would make her unacceptable to progressive-minded voters?

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.

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!!!

Ken Burch wrote:

It's not like they were saying "Montreal sucks".

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".

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.

love is free wrote:

  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'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."

.

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.

Stockholm wrote:

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.

They can...although MY mother is in the second half of her 80s and is one of the least confused people I know.