2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[VTB]

How quickly we forget the Globe and Mail bombshell article...

Anyways, for a second pretend that this election is not a referendum on the Ford Bros, and that there is not a significant portion of our population willing to vote for someone who wants to watch the world burn. If you are unsatisfied with Chow and Tory, which many of us are, which other "fringe" candidate would you vote for? I just looked up Ari Goldkind, and all things being equal, he seems like the best replacement to Soknacki. Good policy and wants to create a fairer tax system to pay for it.

This. He was very impressive in the debates, IMO. The only candidate being honest with voters. If Tory pulls away from Doug and strategic voting is no longer necessary, I'll be parking my vote with Ari.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Doug Ford promises 15% cut to Municipal Land Transfer Tax


Yah, I don't think I am parking my vote with any fringe candidate so long as a Ford is in this race. The prospect of them winning is just too scary.

 

[spider]

This. He was very impressive in the debates, IMO. The only candidate being honest with voters. If Tory pulls away from Doug and strategic voting is no longer necessary, I'll be parking my vote with Ari.

Me too!

 

[the lemur]

Anyone else get called by Mainstreet last night? There was a question about party politics ('I am non-partisan' vs 'I vote conservative/liberal/NDP') and I found the possible answers for 'what do you think is the most important issue in this election?' to be an odd assortment and strangely sequenced:

1. expanding the island airport, with jets
2. expanding the island airport, without jets
3. expanding the downtown subway network
4. ending partisan politics at City Hall
5. (something else, I forget)
6. other

I was waiting for a prompt that simply said 'transit' (or 'housing' or 'poverty' or 'education' or what have you), so I went with 'other'. And then the poll was over.

Someone's really focused on the island airport, I guess.

 

[nohostages]

nfitz probably has the highest post count out of anyone to be banned from UT. It's unfortunate that this had to happen. I think his posts on most topics were very intelligent and informative. Hopefully he/she will be back soon, without the bigot/racist diatribe.

Ive stood up for him, ive stood up to him, his evolving was devolving, but yeah the thread was richer for his input at first.

 

[Greg Banks]

First off, that new mainstreet tech poll. I have the same reaction to them when Doug was at 19% and now that he's at 34%. They have no track record to speak of. I will take their numbers into consideration but there at the low end of the totem poll

Forum (recent) Tory 45^...... Ford 34^...... Chow 21v
Nanos (week ago) Tory 49 ...... Ford 27 ....... Chow 24
Ipsos (recent) Tory 48^...... Ford 26v....... Chow 26v
Mainstreet(recent) Tory 42=...... Ford 34^...... Chow 24v

My current totals are Tory 47, Ford 30, Chow 23

Got to say D Ford is playing the sympathy bump well...R Ford at FordFest expected...pulling the R Ford attendance card at a mayoralty debate great move...R Ford annoucement of his return for a second round of chemo...brilliant...Problem is the ploy is getting threadbare...it is going to take something ominous to further the bump...That all being said...My running snapshot looks something like this
J Tory 36.48%
D Ford 28.34%
O Chow 24.77%
This takes a margin of error into consideration...Tory minus the full error Ford and Chow plus the full error...and as you see J Tory still holds an 8.14% lead according to my weighting and calculation....

 

[Greg Banks]

I got this hilarious message in my inbox this morning:



I just signed off on some pretty fun bus shelter ads for Olivia Chow. You’ll see them yourself in the coming days, but here’s a sneak preview:

View attachment 34832

I want to do more of these. Why? Because bus shelter ads have great visibility. They also highlight one of the major differences between Olivia and John Tory. John simply doesn’t want to invest in more buses.

Maybe he’s never actually been on a TTC bus, except for a photo op. But try telling the thousands of Torontonians who rely on the bus each day that more buses aren’t needed to reduce the commute time to work. Or school.

So we’re going to continue to highlight the differences between Olivia’s and Tory’s transit plans. Tory wants a capital spend of $2.66 billion to fund his Scarborough ‘stubway’.

That’s money you’ll be paying in tax increases for many years to come. That’s money that could be used on better child care and more affordable housing now.

You can help us spread the word. Each bus shelter costs about $150 for a week of display. Why not fund one yourself? Click here to make your donation.

DONATE

We’ve still got a long race to go. We’ve got the right policies. We’ve got an amazing candidate. With your help, Olivia can still win this race.

Thanks for your support.

John Laschinger
Olivia’s Campaign Director

The Chow campaign should be really careful about throwing numbers around like 2.66B...They better have something to back that number up...
The most liberal number I can come up with that the taxpayers of Toronto are on the hook for the B-D Extension is 1.734B and that is over 30+ years
Here is how I came up with my calculation 1.9B from the province approx 25% of which would be from Toronto taxpayers 475M
660M from the Feds approx 15 % would be out of the pockets of Toronto taxpayers.....................................................99M
The thirty year Toronto transit tax plus development fees directed to the B-D Ext......................................................910M
Metrolinx/Bombardier cancellation fees................................................................................................................250M
Where is the other 926M coming from?

 

[Acrossthewater]

TIL- I didn't follow your 2010 municipal election but found this National Post (cached) site very informative. Kouvalis ugh.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...-mayoral-race/feed/+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

and this (on my pet peeve-optical scanner/tabulators or any electronic voting/counting-except for the disabled) Paper ballots hand counted ONLY.

Mr. Li Preti said his scrutineers saw busloads of voters show up at the polls between 7 and 7:30 p.m. yesterday without identification, and said the district returning officers allowed them to vote. “Our challenges fell on deaf ears,” he said.

Gus Cusimano, who came within 89 votes of defeating Ms. Augimeri, said his people witnessed broken tabulation machines and people who voted twice. “It’s not over yet,” he added. “We are huddling to launch an appeal.”
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/10/27/kuitenbrouwer-losers-to-winners-heed-the-message/#comments

ETA: Read a little on Gus Cusimano and looks like he may have Doug's problem with bs.

 

[picard102]

Where is the other 926M coming from?

Probably the same place these busses are going to come from to improve service "right now".
Thin air.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Any early indications on the election signs? You'd expect 50% or so would be Tory, given the polls. Does that hold up?

 

[JasonParis]

where did olivia get this advice to keep hammering on things like hospitals and childcare? why all the lame, faux-folksy stuff about moms' n' strollers? everyone knew this was a high-stakes election that was going to be half a referendum on ford and half a debate on transit. she seems horribly ill-prepared on both fronts.

It's as if she's running in another universe and that nobody on her team realizes this. When questioned, they just keep digging their heels in further on these issues.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Any early indications on the election signs? You'd expect 50% or so would be Tory, given the polls. Does that hold up?

I'm not so sure. I'd say many of Tory's supports are within the silent majority. I consider myself in that camp. I'm voting Tory, but I'd never, ever have an election sign on my lawn, nor do I intentionally show any outward sign of my political thinking (bumper stickers, attending rallies, participating in campaigns, etc.).

The hooting, hollering, sign waving mob may be more your Ford supporter. The noisy minority.

 

[PinkLucy]

There's also a lot of people who live in condos, hence no signs. (I never put a sign on my lawn, when I had a lawn)

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

In hindsight, I don't think it was that farfetched to see Doug polling higher than Rob. Rob comes with much more baggage as far as the public is concerned. Doug is perceived as Rob without the drugs and scandals, and the Ford's sentiment is well supported in the burbs. I bet most of this rise comes from immigrant families from backgrounds that don't approve of Rob's personal life.

How quickly we forget the Globe and Mail bombshell article...

Anyways, for a second pretend that this election is not a referendum on the Ford Bros, and that there is not a significant portion of our population willing to vote for someone who wants to watch the world burn. If you are unsatisfied with Chow and Tory, which many of us are, which other "fringe" candidate would you vote for? I just looked up Ari Goldkind, and all things being equal, he seems like the best replacement to Soknacki. Good policy and wants to create a fairer tax system to pay for it.

Most likely. Doug is also a better speaker and does not run from the gays as well.

Doug Ford promises 15% cut to Municipal Land Transfer Tax


Yah, I don't think I am parking my vote with any fringe candidate so long as a Ford is in this race. The prospect of them winning is just too scary.

Doug is a better candidate, much better the Rob. Anything can happen.

 

[Scarberian]

Doug is a better candidate, much better the Rob. Anything can happen.

Doug is perceived to have less baggage than Rob, but IMO Doug can be too aggressive and he lacks Rob's Tommy Boy goofball charm. Rob really only knows a few moves (calling constituents personally, meet and greet and yelling at potholes, shouting gravy train, being a contrarian for no real reason) but he sure worked the hell out of them.

In any other time, I'd say this race looks to be all but over. But, it's not over just yet, and we've seen what can happen the last 4 years, so I think you're right. Anything can still happen.