2018 Toronto Mayoral Election Transit Promises

[hw621]

Mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat is making accelerating the relief line subway the central plank of her transit platform, and will not oppose the construction of a controversial three-stop Scarborough subway extension if she is elected this fall.

Keesmaat unveiled her transportation platform to a room full of reporters Thursday morning at a downtown YWCA, promising to deliver “a real plan for transit” and end what she described as years of “chaos” caused by the city basing policy on candidates’ platforms drawn up “on the back of a napkin in order to get elected.”

A map released by Jennifer Keesmaat showcasing her transit plan. (Jennifer Keesmaat / Twitter)

Mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat says that under her plan the relief subway line would be finished by 2028, three years ahead of the current 2031 projected deadline. (Rick Madonik / Toronto Star file photo)

“This is a network plan that is designed to deliver excellent transit over the long term for residents of the city of Toronto,” she said, claiming her proposals were backed by experts.

She herself served as Toronto’s chief planner for five years before stepping down last September.

Keesmaat, who is considered Mayor John Tory’s most serious challenger in the October 22 election, pledged her first priority would be to build the relief line. The subway is estimated to cost at least $6.8-billion and would connect the eastern end of Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) to downtown. She promised to start construction on the project by 2020 and finish it by 2028, three years ahead of the current 2031 projected deadline.

Her second priority would be to make permanent the King St. streetcar pilot project.

Her third would be “unsnarling” the planning “mess” in Scarborough.

Noting that Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford has committed to building a three-stop subway extension to Scarborough, she said that project should go ahead, while the city pursues an LRT line in the eastern suburb that would connect the Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) subway to Malvern.

The city is currently planning a one-stop subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre, the cost of which is estimated to be at least $3.35 billion. By some estimates adding two more stops could add roughly $1 billion to the project, and critics say the extension would be an extensive white elephant.

“I think the province is going to do it no matter what, I think that’s very clear,” Keesmaat said when asked whether she believes a three-stop extension represents sound transit planning.

 

[kEiThZ]

She's pulling a Clinton. Lots of policy. Not enough to relate it to actual voters. Calling it now. She's toast.

 

[hw621]

Statement from the Tory Campaign

https://twitter.com/BenSpurr/status/1035202950937956352

 

[Tuscani01]

She's pulling a Clinton. Lots of policy. Not enough to relate it to actual voters. Calling it now. She's toast.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her. My aunt (a major Trump/Ford supporter) is still saying shes voting Keesmat because 'she will build subways' and because she isn't John Tory. The return of a 3 stop subway for Scarborough, even though it wouldn't be her responsibility could be enough to convince a lot of Ford campers to move to her side.

Also not to be forgotten, she was hired back when Rob was mayor. She can always play the "Rob Ford hired me" card.

 

[kEiThZ]

@Tuscani01

I get what you're saying. But I'm not convinced that policy wonks make good politicians, yet. And she's sort of living up to the stereotype.

Politics is not about planning transit. It's about connecting with voters. Like it or not, politicians like Ford and Trump understand this at a visceral level. I'm not sure Keesmat actually understands this. And throwing up a map of different coloured spaghetti has only piqued my suspicion that she doesn't get it.

I appreciate eggheads. I am one. But I am also smart enough to know that I am not the average voter. Does Keesmat grasp that she is not anywhere close to the average voter?

 

[kEiThZ]

Also to be noted, I don't see anywhere discussion on how these transit plans are to be paid for. And that's what I have always found utterly ridiculous about Toronto politics and transit. The province pays for most of these plans. And Toronto's politicians bicker over transit as though they have any real power or even willingness to fund their plans.

 

[nfitz]

Statement from the Tory Campaign

https://twitter.com/BenSpurr/status/1035202950937956352

LOL - isn't that part of Keesmat's position? That Tory has "plans" but little actual progress. Line 5 started getting serious when they ordered the boring machines while David Miller was mayor in 2010. Finch West might have started under Tory, but it was fully funded under Miller.

Other then the temporary King Pilot (which TTC asked City Planning to do in early 2001), which has little capital cost, what has Tory really achieved - if anything the delivery dates on most projects have slipped during his tenure.

 

[sixrings]

Donald Trump won because he was a white conservative man following a black liberal man and running against a women. He was elected because people hated the "elite" swing. It had nothing to do with him connecting. Other then people not liking change the only thing he connected to was Russians and KKK members. Rob Ford also won because people were tired of the "elite" David Miller and his "lefty downtown" practices. People voted for Ford because of hate and they thought taxes would be reduced. People elected Doug because he was a conservative man going against a liberal women who happened to be gay. Now I wasn't going to vote for her anyways because of other things but Doug won instead of Andrea not because he connected but because he was a conservative man who again promised tax cuts. The thing is that people don't hate Tory. Some people are indifferent though. It could be a race simply because people don't love him but no one hates him enough to push people to the other side. It could be a close race. On the other hand after Ford, Tory might look like a steady ship. I am not voting for Tory though. I only voted for him in the first place because he wasn't a Ford. Anyways I really think it has less to do with connecting and really who you are following. Often times people like to swing the other direction. That and people like promises even if they are not realistic.

 

[nfitz]

Also to be noted, I don't see anywhere discussion on how these transit plans are to be paid for.

Most are already in the city's 2016 plan, and Metrolinx's 2018 Regional Transportation Plan.

But note ... there is discussion. She notes that the province "has announced it is going to fund and build the Scarborough Subway with provincial funds ..." and "... it doesn't make sense to proceed with the eastern remnant of John Tory's SmartTrack plan".

That frees up a lot of previously committed city funding.

 

[Neutrino]

Donald Trump won because he was a white conservative man following a black liberal man and running against a women. He was elected because people hated the "elite" swing. It had nothing to do with him connecting. Other then people not liking change the only thing he connected to was Russians and KKK members. Rob Ford also won because people were tired of the "elite" David Miller and his "lefty downtown" practices. People voted for Ford because of hate and they thought taxes would be reduced. People elected Doug because he was a conservative man going against a liberal women who happened to be gay. Now I wasn't going to vote for her anyways because of other things but Doug won instead of Andrea not because he connected but because he was a conservative man who again promised tax cuts. The thing is that people don't hate Tory. Some people are indifferent though. It could be a race simply because people don't love him but no one hates him enough to push people to the other side. It could be a close race. On the other hand after Ford, Tory might look like a steady ship. I am not voting for Tory though. I only voted for him in the first place because he wasn't a Ford. Anyways I really think it has less to do with connecting and really who you are following. Often times people like to swing the other direction. That and people like promises even if they are not realistic.

lmao imagine actually believing all that

 

[sixrings]

lmao imagine actually believing all that

Its a very simplified way I believe people vote. When people are upset with something they tend to swing in the polar direction. Years later there is a correction. Then a swing again. I don't know how else one reasons that we have a liberal government for so many years then a conservative one and then again back to the liberals. We seem to forget that the other side isn't as rosy as we remember. The only consistent is that people tend to like to vote for cheap taxes. That is always a winning strategy.

 

[muller877]

lmao imagine actually believing all that

it's the downtown political echo chamber (sponsored by the Toronto Star)

 

[Northern Light]

Its a very simplified way I believe people vote. When people are upset with something they tend to swing in the polar direction. Years later there is a correction. Then a swing again. I don't know how else one reasons that we have a liberal government for so many years then a conservative one and then again back to the liberals. We seem to forget that the other side isn't as rosy as we remember. The only consistent is that people tend to like to vote for cheap taxes. That is always a winning strategy.

As someone who may have more insight than most (not all) UT members into the internal polls done for political parties, I can firmly tell you that it is widely accepted, across the political spectrum that voters vote AGAINST an incumbent far more than they vote for a prospective government.

Rob Ford did not win the Mayoralty as much as the ghost of David Miller lost it. I like David, but I can tell you the moment he lost the thread w/many voters (garbage strike was one, TTC wildcat strike was the other) . There was a seething anger over violence by pickets in the former, and the law-breaking of the latter, and David came off weak. We could debate the fairness of that, but people who don't bother paying attention to politics much got angry.

This last provincial campaign was more anti-Wynne that anything.

Yes, the quality of your candidate matters, but the quality of your opponent matters more. Less so their ability than whether they can overcome an association with one or more actions or inactions that anger people.

Keesmaat may or may not win, but she is in the running if she can make Tory appear the ditherer on the transit file.

 

[jje1000]

She's pulling a Clinton. Lots of policy. Not enough to relate it to actual voters. Calling it now. She's toast.

She needs to be a populist candidate, especially if she's working with a name-recognition deficit. Her transit plan lays out the details (which people skim), but the title summaries need to be simpler, larger and more memorable.

Simple, loud slogans and promises that low-information voters can understand and remember on their way to the voting booth. Effective marketing and association of the opponent with certain visceral feelings.

Tory is going that route with Kouvalis and Kinsella at the helm of his campaign- it remains to be seen if Keesmaat can do the same.

Keesmaat may or may not win, but she is in the running if she can make Tory appear the ditherer on the transit file.

This- Keesmaat has to tear down Tory's image as the 'safe mayoral choice' and replace it with the image of waste, silver-spoon-detachment and stagnation. If she can start connecting dots in people's minds about instances like the AC on the TTC breaking down during the summer and Tory cutting TTC funding, it will do her plenty of good.

 

[Neutrino]

Its a very simplified way I believe people vote. When people are upset with something they tend to swing in the polar direction. Years later there is a correction. Then a swing again. I don't know how else one reasons that we have a liberal government for so many years then a conservative one and then again back to the liberals. We seem to forget that the other side isn't as rosy as we remember. The only consistent is that people tend to like to vote for cheap taxes. That is always a winning strategy.

Now that comment is reasonable and I agree completely. But, as you said, your first comment is very simplified and, to me, doesn't capture the situation in the states. Swathes of voters were sick of the dems playing left wing identity politics. And I don't see how Trump appealed to racists given that many two time (!) Obama voters flipped to him.