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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

Soknacki is someone I struggle to get very worked up about, either positively or negatively. He and I will never be on the same page politically, but he is someone I could agree with on more than a few things. What I have heard from him are a few zingers on social media (and the Reddit AMA certainly shows he has a more social media-adept campaign than others), but nothing really to stir the soul. I'm sure he's a perfectly decent guy, but (and this is my perception) he struggles to connect with people, and that does matter. Though I do like that when someone mentioned Drake, he had to wonder what a sixteenth-century English sailor/adventurer/pirate/slave-trader had to do with Toronto politics.
 
edmundoconnor said:
Though I do like that when someone mentioned Drake, he had to wonder what a sixteenth-century English sailor/adventurer/pirate/slave-trader had to do with Toronto politics.
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You know, I've been wondering that myself. I might even consider showing up to one of Soknacki's Raleighs.

(sorry)

I agree, it's hard to get worked up about him, but arguably that's not a pre-requisite for him to do a damn fine job as Mayor. Like you, I'm not on the same page as him politically, but I don't think I'd mind Soknacki as mayor so very much. He seems like a decent, sane and capable administrator.
 
My feeling on Soknacki is, though I disagree with him politically on a couple of things, I'd be proud to have him or somebody like him as mayor. He's smart, eloquent, sticks to the issues, doesn't engage in too much sloganeering, he's open to criticism, etc. Unfortunately all those reasons I like him make him nigh unelectable in a divisive, high interest mayoral campaign. C'est la vie. He's still my fallback.
 
jml said:
He's still my fallback.
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This is where the First Past The Post system really fails. Being many people's second choice means you're going to be nowhere in the vote tally. A system designed for two adversaries to slug it out collapses in a multi-candidate race.
 
SecretSquirrel said:
You know, I've been wondering that myself. I might even consider showing up to one of Soknacki's Raleighs.

(sorry)

I agree, it's hard to get worked up about him, but arguably that's not a pre-requisite for him to do a damn fine job as Mayor. Like you, I'm not on the same page as him politically, but I don't think I'd mind Soknacki as mayor so very much. He seems like a decent, sane and capable administrator.
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+1
 
For the record, CP24 stands for nothing anymore. It did stand for Cable Pulse 24 originally (when launched by Chum), but then Chum dropped the "Pulse" from all City properties. And when Bell took-over, it never brought the "Pulse" back either. So it is like CBS, ESPN or NPR. While it once stood for something, its now just a name. I often think it should be renamed TO24 personally.
 
TFC said:
I agree. So far, Soknacki has been the only real moderate/centrist candidate capable of attracting people from both the left and right wings.
Olivia Chow, Rob Ford and John Tory are polarizing figures in their own way, and tend to be characterized by their political affiliation. Electing Chow as mayor will isolate a large segment of the population who don't share her ideology, similar to how electing Ford has isolated a large segment of the population.
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Listen, the right-wingers in this thread are seriously trying to turn me into a leftist against my will. To call Chow a similarly politically divisive figure to Ford is undiluted insanity. I don't understand, but I'm trying, how Miller made right-wing heads explode. I really think it was his tendency to want to be the 'smartest guy in the room.' But Chow? She's been in Ottawa for 7 years. Her husband was the feel good story of recent Canadian politics. Sure, she's left wing. But she's not a monster, and Ford is the most divisive, most incompetent, most scandalous Mayor that Toronto has EVER seen! Keep some perspective, people!
 
JasonParis said:
For the record, CP24 stands for nothing anymore. It did stand for Cable Pulse 24 originally (when launched by Chum), but then Chum dropped the "Pulse" from all City properties. And when Bell took-over, it never brought the "Pulse" back either. So it is like CBS, ESPN or NPR. While it once stood for something, its now just a name. I often think it should be renamed TO24 personally.
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It is hard to believe that TLC, given all of its celebrity reality shows, once stood for "The Learning Channel." Likewise, YTV once stood for "Youth Television." See here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay and here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtifactTitle

I like to call CP24 "905 News."
 
I really don't think partisan politics has a place in the municipal level. I consider myself center-left as well like many of you and by ideology I should fall firmly in Chow's camp, but I really think when it comes to the municipal level you have to drop that behind and work and cooperate with your colleagues regardless of ideologues. You need to think logically and assess policies as bi-partisan and by looking at the facts and figures, not at the left/right rhetoric and the party line toeing in the background.

Otherwise you just create a toxic environment for progress and detract from making this city the greatest it can be. We've had enough of that in the past 4 years and that is why Soknacki resonates so well to me. He seems to genuinely understand this and adamantly intends to work across the isle, as he did when he was Miller's budget chief.
 
WislaHD said:
... I really think when it comes to the municipal level you have to drop that behind and work and cooperate with your colleagues regardless of ideologues. You need to think logically and assess policies as bi-partisan and by looking at the facts and figures, not at the left/right rhetoric and the party line toeing in the background.

Otherwise you just create a toxic environment for progress and detract from making this city the greatest it can be...
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Shouldn't the argument for looking at the evidence rather than applying a partisan lens to issues be just as relevant at the provincial and federal levels, though? I personally care a lot about municipal issues and tend to focus on them, but I can name at least three Canadian governments of other orders (representing more than one political stripe) that could stand to adopt a more evidence-based approach!

With that said, though, that's why Soknacki resonates for me as well. Although I'm skeptical about his idea to allow the community councils to adopt taxes for additional services in their areas.
 
WislaHD said:
He seems to genuinely understand this and adamantly intends to work across the isle, as he did when he was Miller's budget chief.
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I've met Montrealers before who weren't aware they lived on an island. But I'd never heard of a Torontonian who thought he did live on an isle before!

Does he have a name for our northern water boundary?
 
^^ LOL. :p

tariqata said:
Shouldn't the argument for looking at the evidence rather than applying a partisan lens to issues be just as relevant at the provincial and federal levels, though? I personally care a lot about municipal issues and tend to focus on them, but I can name at least three Canadian governments of other orders (representing more than one political stripe) that could stand to adopt a more evidence-based approach!
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Ideally yes, but in the provincial and federal level the mere existence of parties will probably prohibit this line of thought from ever existing. I will content myself with just Toronto achieving this level of bi-partisanship and evidence-based decision making.

Arguably it is more important at a municipal level too as decisions here have a very real and tangible effect on communities and this city, as opposed to province or nation-wide macro policies.

With that said, though, that's why Soknacki resonates for me as well. Although I'm skeptical about his idea to allow the community councils to adopt taxes for additional services in their areas.
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I'm skeptical on that too, I want to see the specifics of the system he is proposing and how a checks and balances system will work to keep communities from tyrannizing its residents and for preventing future Fords from abusing it.
 
nfitz said:
I've met Montrealers before who weren't aware they lived on an island. But I'd never heard of a Torontonian who thought he did live on an isle before!

Does he have a name for our northern water boundary?
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Perhaps Holland Marsh? Rouge River to the east, Credit River to West, Lake Ontario to south.?
 
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