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Rob Ford's Toronto

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^ If Irishmonk's was an understatement, yours is certainly hyperbole. I don't expect major demonstrations

Except that--Ford's an uglier case than even Harris or Harper. A surreally, abjectly uglier case, who can breed a correspondingly surreal, abjectly ugly reaction. In fact, I've already come across borderline "Ford must die" sentiment--and conversely, in such a toxic atmosphere, don't be surprised if Ford's cronies take it out on the demonstrators, tear gas, Kent State-type shootings, whatever it takes.

And if you argue otherwise, well, maybe it's because you haven't existed in environments where such toxicity-in-the-air existed, it's unfamiliar to you, except through the same-old same-olds of anti-HarrisHarperG20-and-all-that.

Not that it's going to swing constituents massively against Ford; in fact, it may work to Ford's silent-majority favour if he "takes out" the same-old same-old OCAP rabble-rousing types...
 
Wow... this is going to be a long 4 years for the Toronto Star:

Ford refused comment through his spokeswoman Adrienne Batra.

Mayor-elect Ford refused to be more specific

Mayor-elect Rob Ford declined to be photographed

Even this photo makes it look that The Star is sneaking in to get its news on Ford:

bfc53b5e4be69085170dd519c85d.jpeg
 
Wow... this is going to be a long 4 years for the Toronto Star:

Considering their horrible coverage of the campaign, and of municipal politics in general over the last few years, I'm not terribly sorry for them.
 
Considering their horrible coverage of the campaign, and of municipal politics in general over the last few years, I'm not terribly sorry for them.

Once a publicly elected official starts picking and choosing which media they'll speak to, you can throw their accountability out the window. Harper's being doing it from the get go. I hope the Star continues to push Ford and digs even deeper to reveal the kind of person he really is.
 
The problem is that it's been an absolutely fantastic strategy for Harper. It's only helped his popularity. CTV has practically become a government mouthpiece just because they're that desperate for access.

Why would any elected official talk to the Canadian media? It only seems to cause trouble.
 
What I lament in this is the erosion of the (perhaps mythical) idea of city councillors being independent representatives first, prior to being members of a voting block or idealogical block. Miller certainly didn't believe in this concept because he ran city hall just as Ford looks like he intends to do. I want a council where you can never tell who will vote for what because councillors have the guts to vote on each point independently and from a principled position.
 
The problem is that it's been an absolutely fantastic strategy for Harper. It's only helped his popularity. CTV has practically become a government mouthpiece just because they're that desperate for access.

Why would any elected official talk to the Canadian media? It only seems to cause trouble.

Because it's how they keep their employers, us, imformed as to what they're up to. It's part of their job.
 
I hope the Star continues to push Ford and digs even deeper to reveal the kind of person he really is.
The Star is rubbish now. It used to have real investigative journalism. Now it's just a pile of wire stories from AP and Reuters and another pile of leftish commentary and opinion from James, Hume, etc. I wish there was a newspaper that kept ALL of its opinion pieces to the Editorial back page and a separate section for Columnist article, and left the front section for non-wire service news reporting.
 
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/902060--rumours-relationships-and-a-simple-request

Rumours, relationships, and a simple request
By Josh Matlow, a new councillor in the east half of St Paul's.

At 9 a.m. on Dec. 1, my freshly hired staff and I arrived at a City Hall office with a nameplate reading “Josh Matlow, Councillor Ward 22, St. Paul’s.” For a fleeting moment, I wondered to myself, “Could I truly be a Toronto city councillor today?”

I decided it would be best not to question the integrity of the nameplate. After all, someone had clearly put a lot of effort into making it.

We proceeded to arrange our new home with city-owned chairs, tables and filing cabinets that had obviously been well used before us. If there is a gravy train at City Hall, it hadn’t made a stop at my office.

After collecting our security cards and keys, we put several hours into setting up an office that quickly became operational.

While moving desks and setting up phone lines, many of my colleagues dropped by and wished me well. Some veterans, Doug Holyday, Joe Mihevc, David Shiner and Michael Thompson shared stories, gave advice and generously offered any assistance we might need.

By noon, we were already receiving dozens of calls from constituents and the person whose job it is to set up my computer still hadn’t been able to visit (I expect it was a very busy day for him as well). I felt like we were constructing the wings of an airplane already in mid-flight.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a bizarre tale began circulating through the hallways from office to office.

Rumour had it that Mayor Ford had made a public announcement that we’re going to build subways with money that had been allocated to, and already even spent on, Transit City. I was disappointed by the news as I understand an integral part of my role as a councillor is to participate in debates and discussions about multi-billion-dollar plans that could expand Toronto’s public transportation system.

Certainly the mayor was elected with a very strong mandate, but as one of 45 votes on council, would it not be reasonable for Mr. Ford to discuss an item of such importance with his fellow elected colleagues? Indeed most of the 14 new councillors, who now make up almost a third of council, were still unpacking their boxes at the time of his press conference.

As I proceeded to go online to learn more about the news I’d heard, two charming, good-looking people — so sprightly they could work as Gap greeters — entered my office. They told me they worked for Mayor Ford and were responsible for “councillor relations.”

They invited me to contact them if there was anything they could help me with.

The first thing I’ll request is an opportunity to vote at council.
 
Looks like Matlow might be preping a run for Mayor with this new column?

And yes, the Star has really sunk to a new low.. talk about a partisan rag! And they wonder why readership has been in the decline..
 
js97:

If you haven't been paying notice, most newspapers have declining readership, period. And besides, look at NP - has it ever even generated a profit? The strange thing though is that you don't see its columnist asking for market forces to be the guilding light (unlike everything else), for obvious reasons - they'd be out of a job.

AoD
 
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