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What's Olivia without a progressive city council?
Mon, 2014-06-23 00:17
#1
What's Olivia without a progressive city council?
Mon, 2014-06-23 00:20
#2
Olivia will in all likelihood become mayor. However, she will need a progressive council to be able to support her progressive vision of our city. At the moment, I do not see that happening.
There only a few seats, if any, I see progressives being to pick up. There are also a number of incumbent progressive councillors that are vulnerable, including Maria Augimeri and Paula Fletcher.
Mon, 2014-06-23 01:50
#3
The last council wasn't particularly progressive. Ford basically muscled everything he wanted, with the left making a few hail mary saves.
Mon, 2014-06-23 02:27
#4
What about the centrist councillors? If Olivia is elected on a city-wide platform, that gives her a certain amount of political capital she can use to get her agenda through. It's also worked in other places here in Manitoba, where the mayors of Winnipeg and Brandon have received support from councillors on the opposite end of the political spectrum for certain things.
Mon, 2014-06-23 02:41
#5
The "centerist" councillors are all small "c" fiscal conservatives, for the most part. You know council is in trouble when it turns to Karen Stintz for sanity on the transit file. She was at least sane.
Mon, 2014-06-23 08:06
#6
There is a large block of "centrists" on council who are all opportunists who will back the agenda of whoever is mayor in exchange for being appointed to the committees they want. If Olivia chow becomes mayor those people will be very easy to buy off. Miller was in a similar situation and had little trouble getting his agenda through as mayor.
Mon, 2014-06-23 09:46
#7
There is a large block of "centrists" on council who are all opportunists who will back the agenda of whoever is mayor in exchange for being appointed to the committees they want.
They call themselves 'The Might Middle'
Consisting of Ana Bailao, Josh Matlow, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Josh Colle, James Pasternak, Shelley Carroll, Cesar Palacio, Michelle Berardinetti, Paul Ainslie, Mark Grimes
Left-leaning councillors are
Anthony Perruzza, Maria Augimeri, Glenn De Baeremaeker, John Filion, Krystyn Tam-Wong, Pam McConnell, Mary Fragedakis, Sarah Doucette, Mike Layton, Joe Mihevc, Paula Fletcher, Gord Perks and Janet Davis
So if they all get re-elected, and Olivia can rally the left and this 'mighty-middle' in her corner, she has a majority.
Something Ford should have learned.
Mon, 2014-06-23 17:08
#8
Actually Shelley Carroll has a more consistently progressive voting record than several of the people you list as "left-leaning". I would not consider Cesar Palacio to be part of the middle - he is ultra rightwing and voted with the Fords about 99% of the time.
Other councillors who i would consider to be genuinely in the "mighty middle" would be Jaye Robinson, Chin Lee, Gloria Lindsay Luby and John Parker - heck even Norm Kelly who is usually pretty rightwing is enough of an opportunist that when david Miller was mayor - he voted for Miller's whole agenda in exchange for a seat on the executive.
Mon, 2014-06-23 17:12
#9
Other councillors who i would consider to be genuinely in the "mighty middle" would be Jaye Robinson, Chin Lee, Gloria Lindsay Luby and John Parker - heck even Norm Kelly who is usually pretty rightwing is enough of an opportunist that when david Miller was mayor - he voted for Miller's whole agenda in exchange for a seat on the executive.
John Park was in the Harris government, hardly someone who is in the middle. Jaye Robinson was once on Ford's finance committee and was once a key ally.
Mon, 2014-06-23 18:06
#10
John Parker was in the Harris government, hardly someone who is in the middle. Jaye Robinson was once on Ford's finance committee and was once a key ally.
That was then and this is now...Berardinetti was also on Ford's executive and backed him way more than Robinson, yet you call her a "centrist". Robinson was the first person on Ford's EC to quit and break ranks. Parker seems to have become very much a "red Tory" and would also go along with whatever the mayor wanted. Remember that Parker and Robinson are both from Kathleen Wynne's riding of Don Valley West which is an increasingly progressive area of the city - to get re-elected they would have to be at least somewhat cooperative with Chow.
Mon, 2014-06-23 20:38
#11
City Council is the biggest wank fest in politics in Toronto. It's a whole voter supression system all on its own. Its gawdafwul to watch it. Mind you when it was inhabited by people like Howard Moscoe it could be entertaining. I have no idea why Chow is running there, the mayor either does nothing, or is the puppet of Queens Park, upon who the mayor relies to do anything significant.
The Miller experience of having Wynne, McGuinty and Smitherman destroy Transit City really killed it for me.
Mon, 2014-06-23 21:03
#12
I suppose the question should be “What will Olivia Chow do if she is defeated?”
Mon, 2014-06-23 21:07
#13
What will she do if she wins?
Mon, 2014-06-23 21:12
#14
Three Reasons a $15 an Hour Municipal Minimum Wage is Possible in Toronto - by Michael Laxer
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/michael-laxer/2014/06/three-reasons-15-h...
"Chow has run a very 'Big Tent' centre-right campaign to date..."
This should become become central in the city election and Chow chiefly should be targeted to move it forward. The present barbaric situation for working poor and a kind of criminal collusion between various political actors to avoid the issue, must be confronted and overcome. Try living in TO on $11 per hour and see how you like it...
Mon, 2014-06-23 21:45
#15
What will she do if she wins?
I don't think she will be able to accomplish much if she win but I have been wrong before.
Tue, 2014-06-24 18:24
#16
For evidence of whether particular councillors are Fordists or not, you can check out their voting records at http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/19721/council-scorecard. There are 18 purples (voted with Ford less than 25% of the time), so Olivia would only need to bring over 4 of the oranges (voted with Ford 25%-75% of the time).
Tue, 2014-06-24 20:34
#17
For evidence of whether particular councillors are Fordists or not, you can check out their voting records at http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/19721/council-scorecard. There are 18 purples (voted with Ford less than 25% of the time), so Olivia would only need to bring over 4 of the oranges (voted with Ford 25%-75% of the time).
Quite telling that card-carrying Liberals Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio and Peter Milczyn have a "Ford Nation" record of 92%, 86% and 85% respectably. Meanwhile fellow Grit Adam Vaughan is at 2%. Why is he painting himself as the "anti-Ford" candidate when he shares party membership with Ford Nation enablers?
Tue, 2014-06-24 20:46
#18
Re the slipperiness of all: with his now being on the (formerly?) Ford executive, Anthony Perruzza has been playing fast and loose w/his "left-leaning" credentials (though he could always bounce back post-Ford, I suppose)
Tue, 2014-06-24 21:28
#19
There is a large block of "centrists" on council who are all opportunists who will back the agenda of whoever is mayor in exchange for being appointed to the committees they want. If Olivia chow becomes mayor those people will be very easy to buy off. Miller was in a similar situation and had little trouble getting his agenda through as mayor.
Shari Decter-Hirst in Brandon was also able to get some of her ideas passed despite Brandon having a majority right-wing council.
Wed, 2014-06-25 01:45
#20
For evidence of whether particular councillors are Fordists or not, you can check out their voting records at http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/19721/council-scorecard. There are 18 purples (voted with Ford less than 25% of the time), so Olivia would only need to bring over 4 of the oranges (voted with Ford 25%-75% of the time).
Quite telling that card-carrying Liberals Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio and Peter Milczyn have a "Ford Nation" record of 92%, 86% and 85% respectably. Meanwhile fellow Grit Adam Vaughan is at 2%. Why is he painting himself as the "anti-Ford" candidate when he shares party membership with Ford Nation enablers?
Because he played to his ward.