Have you driven a Ford lately? Toronto after the election

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Mon, 2010-10-25 22:13

Roberteh

Well, we have to brace for New York City austerity which means that crime is going to rise, pollution levels become unbearable, flight of the middle class to the 905 away from the Core. Poverty benefits slashed. Because now the loudest camp in making the poor pay won. This will all be done to restore business confidence in the city. Ironically, what the city most needed was a total rejuvenation that "None of the Above" would have awarded...although, I concede the arguements here convinced me to vote for Joey Pants...although, I knew he would not get elected nor be the Kingmaker.

So, there will be lean years ahead, this way the private sector will grow on the basis of the surplus labour that the public sector will not. It will be further downward pressure on wages and increases of bonus when profitability for the Small and Medium sized firms is partially restored. More land speculation, as large properties like Toronto Housing may get sold off..forcing the poor to motels in the outer suburbs like it was under Harris.

My EMS job will be curtailed, as we will charge more and more for 911 and possibly be selective who we pick up and who we leave to die on the streets, social housing, brothels, sweatshops, etc.

So that is worst case scenario. It does not mean that it will all happen in these four years...but the forces of the city have realigned and you can bet the Right - both Federal and Provincial Conservatives and to a lesser extent the Liberals are rubbing their hands with glee for defeating a bastion of the Left.

So, what do we do afterwards...we begin to build up those walls by engaging a culture struggle - artists paint your angst on barren walls, singer chronicle this loss but sing of the victories to come; intellectuals & educators take to airwaves and the internet; workers remember the struggle, unions reform and unite; students march and let them know that you do not wish to live in this poisoned, corrupt and hate-filled world. We have nothing to lose but yesterday's shackles and tomorrow's world to win.

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:17

#53

Maysie

Fuck fuck fuck.

P.S. Yay Kristyn and Mary Fragedakis.

P.P.S. FUCK!

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:23

#54

takeitslowly

So do we have a David miller type council or one that will support Ford?

can someone with more knowledge tell me?

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:26

#55

Olly

It's a more right wing council. Those that said the mayor is "one vote" and Ford will never get anything through....? I'm not sure he doesn't have the votes now. Wow, Fletcher barely won her seat...

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:35

#56

takeitslowly

thanks

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:36

#57

Sineed

Roberteh wrote:

My EMS job will be curtailed, as we will charge more and more for 911 and possibly be selective who we pick up and who we leave to die on the streets, social housing, brothels, sweatshops, etc.

I work in methadone maintenance, and somehow I don't see a Ford administration going for more harm reduction services, like methadone maintenance, or safe injection sites, that actually save the lives of addicts and help them get into treatment. Instead, we'll see a beefed-up police force.

I expect to see more heavily-bruised methadone users showing up at the jail.

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:38

#58

Sineed

More of my patients will die. But at least Toronto is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:42

#59

N.R.KISSED

Olly wrote:

It's a more right wing council. Those that said the mayor is "one vote" and Ford will never get anything through....? I'm not sure he doesn't have the votes now. Wow, Fletcher barely won her seat...

Adrian Heaps and Sandra Bussin are out, apart from them what makes this a more right wing council?

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:49

#60

Fidel

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Bat-signal_1989_film.jpg[/...

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:50

#61

edmundoconnor

Joel Dick coming fifth in Ward 27. That's got to hurt.

Mon, 2010-10-25 22:57

#62

Olly

It's a gut reaction. Ok, let's try to look ward by ward:

Fragedakis from Ootes: more progressive

Robinson from Jenkins: more progressive

Hall out - less progressive

Bussin out - probably no real difference

Heaps out - less progressive, maybe

Augimeri out - less progressive

Colle- probably less progressive but still Liberal

Gary Crawford - Conservative

Milczyn out - DiCianno seems pretty progressive Liberal

Anyone else help fill in? It's a bit of a mixed bag, but you never know with so many new councillors. The lure of a committee chair might bring some centrist on board, and a new councillor may be tempted by that.

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:00

#63

1weasel

So, who will the new mayor blow up at first when he can't get his way on something?

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:09

#64

Centrist

Looks like Ford will be to Toronto what Godzilla was to Tokyo.

He sure is a spittin' image of that schweinkopf Goldfinger from that 1960's-era James Bond movie.

[img]http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/James_Bond...

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:19

#65

Sineed

ROFL!

In this picture, Sean Connery represents Toronto

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:25

#66

bekayne

Sineed wrote:

ROFL!

In this picture, Sean Connery represents Toronto

Choose your next witticism carefully Toronto, it may be your last

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:25

#67

takeitslowly

the campaign against Tim Hudak starts today.

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:34

#68

Malcolm

Sineed wrote:

. . . an abusive alcoholic *head desk*

I don't know what you mean by *head desk*

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:36

#69

Bacchus

Head hitting desk

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:40

#70

Olly

This is a vote against the Miller - Pantalone regime. The last month of this campaign for Pants was all about attacking Smitherman, and that hurt him. Miller needs to take some responsibility for the most reprehensible politician imaginable winning the mayoralty. But, whatever. It won't be easy for Ford to do what he wants...

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:41

#71

Sineed

When facepalm doesn't do it

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:54

#72

N.R.KISSED

Olly wrote:

This is a vote against the Miller - Pantalone regime. The last month of this campaign for Pants was all about attacking Smitherman, and that hurt him. Miller needs to take some responsibility for the most reprehensible politician imaginable winning the mayoralty. But, whatever. It won't be easy for Ford to do what he wants...

What a complete load of shite. The Toronto Star and their baby slitherman were happy to join in the hysteria that Toronto was on the verge of financial disaster,spending was out of control and we were all doooomed unless Georgie Porgie could save us from the folly of the Lefties. Rossi and Thompson also road this hobby horse. All this did was feed the hysteria that gave Ford credibility and the possibilty of a rational campaign based on a vision of the city and the complexities of moving forward was lost in the gravy train feeding frenzy induldged by corporate liberals and neo cons alike. Once again slimey right wing liberals justified reactionary intervention the same way that Chretian/Martin slash and burn gave legitimacy to Harper. Now the oily liberals are out to smear the left again when it is your spineless and craven self interest that has fed the neo-liberal assault of the last 30 years that destroyed everything that had been built in the post-war years.

If this council does institute any of Ford's agenda it will once again from right wing liberals who naturally would be more happy to have slitherman but will support anything if it represents their self interest.

Mon, 2010-10-25 23:59

#73

Aristotleded24

Olly wrote:
This is a vote against the Miller - Pantalone regime. The last month of this campaign for Pants was all about attacking Smitherman, and that hurt him. Miller needs to take some responsibility for the most reprehensible politician imaginable winning the mayoralty. But, whatever. It won't be easy for Ford to do what he wants...

Actually, if Miller had not shot himself in the foot by turning on the unions by mishandling 2 labour disputes (TTC and outside workers) he in all likelihood would have been re-elected tonight.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:10

#74

Lord Palmerston

I think Miller would have beaten Ford. By mimicking the right-wing rhetoric of bankrupt out-of-control Toronto, Smitherman made that view a mainstream one.

ETA: This was better stated by N.R. Kissed above.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:12

#75

Sineed

Early polls showed Miller ahead of Ford.

I think what Miller really mishandled was communication. He didn't really mishandle the unions. He allowed a negotiated settlement to take happen, resisting calls from people like our new mayor, for instance, to go to the province and seek back to work legislation. But in the course of that strike, (without going into details) he managed to somehow piss off people on both the left and the right.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:26

#76

Aristotleded24

Sineed wrote:
Early polls showed Miller ahead of Ford.

Maybe, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. After he announced his intent to not run, that gave people time to reflect, and even if they were angry about the strike, overall they could say they thought Miller took the city in the right direction. Would this have been the case had he stuck around? As the representative of the administration, he would have been directly and relentlessly attacked by the right wing. Might that have been enough to take him down? I don't know.

Anyways, the unfortunate fact is that Ford is in. Where does Toronto go from here? Still an open question.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:29

#77

Lord Palmerston

Congrats to Karen Sun for ignoring the naysayers and running a strong grassroots campaign in Ward 19 against Mike Layton's NDP machine and Sean McCormick's big money and media supporters and coming in second. McCormick's alleged "threat" was complete hot air (18%!) So much for the claim by Layton's apologists that progressives had to rally behind him to "stop McCormick".

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:47

#78

jrootham

Lord Palmerston wrote:

Congrats to Karen Sun for ignoring the naysayers and running a strong grassroots campaign in Ward 19 against Mike Layton's NDP machine and Sean McCormick's big money and media supporters and coming in second. McCormick's alleged "threat" was complete hot air (18%!) So much for the claim by Layton's apologists that progressives had to rally behind him to "stop McCormick".

So how do you propose that progressives decide on who should run for council?

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:57

#79

Stockholm

I heard Karen Sun on the news being interviewed - she said that she's concerned that Mike Layton won't be willing to "cooperate" enough with Rob Ford. I'll bet she'll surface as a Liberal candidate in T-S in the next provincial election.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:58

#80

Stockholm

Olly wrote:

Augimeri out - less progressive

Augimeri ended up winning in the end - so by my count there were three progressive losses (Heaps, Bussin and Beaulieu losing to Bailao) - though no one really knows how 3M will vote after all she shops at farmers markets! But there were also three progressive gains (Sarak Doucet, Mary Fragedakis and Jaye Robinson. All in all, I would say that the ideological makeup of council is almost identical to what it was before. I might add that Kristyn Wong-Tam is a shift to the left from Kyle Rae as well.

Tue, 2010-10-26 01:01

#81

Cueball

Karen did well. The fear of the Liberal machine appeared to be completely chemeric. Had the NDP not moved into squash her because Jack's sone needed a job then she propably would have won the seat.

Tue, 2010-10-26 01:04

#82

jrootham

Cueball, does slander excite you?

Tue, 2010-10-26 01:05

#83

bagkitty

Tue, 2010-10-26 01:22

#84

Aristotleded24

Cueball wrote:
Karen did well. The fear of the Liberal machine appeared to be completely chemeric. Had the NDP not moved into squash her because Jack's sone needed a job then she propably would have won the seat.

You do realize that she had intended to run before Pantalone was mayor? In other words, she was going to challenge Pantalone? Was it Pantalone you were supporting, or was Pantalone more symbolic of something else for you?

Tue, 2010-10-26 04:22

#85

Cueball

So what. A young ambitious policitian challenging the estalishment is entirely different than the establishement deciding that is was in their best interests, and the interests of thier family to crush an ambitious politician. Timeing everything.

Tue, 2010-10-26 05:12

#86

Cueball

Sun did very well here. Naybe Stockholm is right in that Sun might have to cut some kind of deal with the Liberals in order to pose a real challenge in the next election, if she decides to run.

Mike Layton
9125
45.387%

Karen Sun
4207
20.925%

Sean McCormick
3650
18.155%

Jim Likourezos
1313
6.531%

David Footman
518
2.576%

Karlene Nation
417
2.074%

Rosario Bruto
398
1.98%

George Sawision
356
1.771%

Jason Stevens
121
0.602%

Tue, 2010-10-26 07:04

#87

edmundoconnor

Kristyn Wong-Tam 7527 28.277%
Ken Chan 7065 26.541%
Chris Tindal 3447 12.949%
Simon Wookey 2128 7.994%
Joel Dick 1667 6.262%
Robert Meynell 1223 4.594%
Enza Anderson 1127 4.234%
Ella Rebanks 838 3.148%
Ben Bergen 380 1.428%
Susan Gapka 367 1.379%
Gary Leroux 283 1.063%
Paul Spence 243 0.913%
Jonas Jemstone 142 0.533%
Ram Narula 108 0.406%
Perry Missal 74 0.278%

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:18

#88

Sineed

Adam Vaughn on the CBC this morning: "If the new mayor thinks he can just rip up street car tracks, he'll find he has to work with others; that the city, as always, will get things done through consensus."

Nothing new, I know. But 1st thing this morning, it was nice to be reminded that our new mayor is not going to be able to lay waste to Toronto, lasers shooting from his eyes.

Doubling depressing, though, how this result happened in the wake of a record turnout: 52.2% this time, compared with 39.3% in 2006, according to Torontoist. The US has a record turnout, and they elect the 1st black president. Calgary elects North America's 1st muslim mayor. And here we elect the over-refreshed knuckle-dragging good old boy.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:32

#89

jrootham

So what are the lessons?

Don't screw up governance. Badly handled strike. Seriously screwed up garbage charges and recycling system. Major trouble on St. Clair.

Land transfer and vehicle taxes became flashpoints when the economy tanked. You might get away with things like that if you can demonstrate delivery of good things.

What to do now?

I would like to propose a little political jui jitso. You know, you shouldn't pay for all those services other people get. if we are going to respect the taxpayer the first thing we should do is find out how much services cost in each part of the city and rework the tax system to make them pay for it.

First pass that. Then watch the contortions and howls when the suburbs turn out to be subsidized.

It would be a good thing to implement, and the dust storm it would generate will keep things in line.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:33

#90

jrootham

I think we should expand the republic of Rathnally. I don't want to tell people I live in Toronto for the next 4 years.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:40

#91

Bookish Agrarian

Just wondering if anyone thinks the Star will acknowledge the way in which they paved the way for Ford's victory. Sometimes distance gives you perspective and watching this race through that filter it was clear that the Star's continued over-the-top attacks on Ford and Miller and the non-stop partisanarama for Smitherman were key essentials in the recipe for this election.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:46

#92

Unionist

jrootham wrote:
You know, you shouldn't pay for all those services other people get. ... Then watch the contortions and howls when the suburbs turn out to be subsidized.

I might support that concept, if you also didn't get paid for the work other people do. ... Then watch the contortions and howls when the wealthy go broke.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:50

#93

Stargazer

Overwhelming win? Seriously? slightly over 250,00o people in this giant city of ours even bothered to vote. This does NOT consititue an overwhelming win or "need to change". The comments in the Star are being horribly freeped. I'd love to hear from some real people on Ford's reign of terror.

He's already talking about "cleaning the city" because graffiti is definitely a huge issue. Putting 100 more police on the "front lines" whatever the hell that means (including adding them into schools - mostly in poor areas so that white people feel safe.) No more bike lanes - cyclists will have to bike the ravines because the "War on the Car is now over. He'll be firing the garbage collectors, a lot of people I know do this job, many of them are disabled. He's also going to slow down representation by knocking out 22 council seats. And of course he has decreased all council budgets (because he doesn't have to worry, he has a shit load of his own money.

We will not be able to recognize our beautiful city after this buffoon is done. And is is NOT my mayor. I will never call that man my mayor.

We were screwed over large by the suburbs, who were in turn whipped up into a frenzy of hate by the media and the knats who write for them. Thanks assholes!

So, how is it that all what? over 3 million of us, get stuck with this man based on 250,000 votes! I bet the fools at FreakDumbinion are just loving this.

Tue, 2010-10-26 08:55

#94

aka Mycroft

Turns out Augimeri pulled through in the end.

Tue, 2010-10-26 09:01

#95

Sineed

I'm not sure how far we can go blaming the media. Politicians blame the media when they fail to communicate effectively, and Miller has not been effective in justifying his governance.

Toronto's problems have their roots in problems at the federal and provincial level: we have a federal government that doesn't acknowledge the financial and cultural contributions made by cities, and a provincial government that has been ineffective at reversing the downloading of social services brought in by the Harris Tories, and that resulted in the city's ongoing financial problems.

When Miller came in, he acknowledged the role of higher levels of government in Toronto's problems, pointing out how the TTC is North America's most under-funded transit system, for instance. As the son of a Harris MPP, Rob Ford represents a repudiation of that viewpoint. Rob Ford says Toronto's money problems are all Toronto's fault; that Toronto can solve multi-million dollar shortfalls by firing the people who water the plants at City Hall.

Note the presence of Mike Harris at Ford's victory party. Sure, he's a family friend, but also, he can expect to see, under a Ford administration, a justification of the Harris legacy.

Tue, 2010-10-26 09:41

#96

aka Mycroft

Rob Ford's not even been mayor for a day and he's already on the job implementing cuts:

Tue, 2010-10-26 10:01

#97

Sineed

I've put that pic on my FB, Mycroft!

Another resemblance noted by one of my cousins:

Otto Pilot from the movie "Airplane."

Tue, 2010-10-26 10:22

#98

Polunatic2

Quote:
artists paint your angst on barren walls,

Ford's "transportation plan" calls for defacing all city curbs with green, yellow and red paint so that drivers can figure out where to park their cars. Lots of opportunities micro-messaging.

Anyone know where to find mayor's race results broken down by wards or at least by part of the city -e.g. Scarborough?

Tue, 2010-10-26 11:10

#99

John Brown

Well here's the breakdown of labour council endorsed candidates who won their elections.

*Ward 8 - Anthony Perruzza
*Ward 9 - Maria Augimeri
*Ward 13 - Sarah Doucette
*Ward 14 - Gord Perks
*Ward 15 - Josh Colle
*Ward 19 - Mike Layton
*Ward 20 - Adam Vaughan
*Ward 21 - Joe Mihevc
*Ward 27 - Krystyn Wong Tam
*Ward 28 - Pam McConnell
*Ward 29 - Mary Fragedakis
*Ward 30 - Paula Fletcher
*Ward 31 - Janet Davis
*Ward 33 - Shelley Carroll
*Ward 38 - Glenn DeBaeremaker

So there's 15 of the 29 endorsed by labour who made it to council (they obviously didn't endorse in every ward). It would be nice if we could put together a full list and see how things break down. Things aare deffinitly not good for the electoral left in Toronto, but in terms of outcomes it's not a clean sweep or anything.

Tue, 2010-10-26 11:11

#100

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Actually, if Miller had not shot himself in the foot by turning on the unions by mishandling 2 labour disputes (TTC and outside workers) he in all likelihood would have been re-elected tonight.

This is history repeating itself in a sense. It's exactly what Bob Rae did as premier. He drifted to the right and royally pissed off the unions with the so-called "social contract". Union activists were pissed and didn't volunteer to help in the campaign and stayed home on election day.

When so-called "waste" was identified as the problem, voters didn't go to the "softer" anti-tax candidate...Lynn McLeod/George Smitherman, they went for the candidate with the hard-assed simplistic right-wing message.

It's no coincidence that Mike Harris was at Rob Ford's victory party. Same formula, same result.

When will social democratic politicians learn? Don't piss of your base.

Tue, 2010-10-26 11:17

#101

Polunatic2

Quote:
Same formula, same result.

"Toronto is open for business again." - Same slogan too.

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