Rob Ford's Toronto

[Peepers]

I sincerely hope that the moderator is somebody in the vain of Steve Paikin who will call Ford out on his inaccurate claims and insist on specifics and clarification. If someone like Stephen LeDrew is a moderator, I'm gonna lose it.

.

Steve Paikin would be a terrible choice. During the last election his coverage of Rob Ford was very slanted and not surprisingly - his son worked on the Smitherman campaign and I gathered that the Paikin family is close to Smitherman.

As an example of the totally biased coverage of the last election by Steve Paikin - one episode of "the Agenda" (good name for the show!) was comprised of a panel of former left-leaning Mayor's who did nothing but bash Rob Ford for the whole hour!

I suspect that Steve Paikin will be the moderator however because they always trot him out at each election. I don't know why so many people revere Paikin as a "journalist". He is really nothing but a Liberal party shill. The worst part about it is we are paying his six-figure salary!

If they are going to bring on Paikin to moderate debates I think there should be a co-moderator - someone like Ezra Levant. Ezra would make mince-meat out of Olivia Chow!

 

[cgwalnut]

Good observation. Kinsella is custom fit for that job. Olivia herself will stay out of it I think. She won't have to get dirty but we all know that Olivia's no pushover so she will have no issue pulling out all the punches on Ford in the final weeks when the prime time televised debates air. I sincerely hope that the moderator is somebody in the vain of Steve Paikin who will call Ford out on his inaccurate claims and insist on specifics and clarification. If someone like Stephen LeDrew is a moderator, I'm gonna lose it.

I'm trying to remember the debates I went to last time. I recall Ford being quiet most of the time, rolling his eyes when addressed by another candidate but never speaking unless he was specifically asked a question by the moderator and then still only repeating the same tired slogans without offering any substance. It worked at the time but I wonder how he'll get away with it when confronted with facts on a 4 year record that he has to wear. I'm afraid that perhaps he'll lie and claim that what the other candidates and even the moderator are saying is false.

This election is going to be both very entertaining but also terrifyingly nail biting. Despite what the polls show, there's a real chance that the opposing campaigns can trip up. Adam Giambrone's brilliantly prepared campaign was unexpectedly aborted before it could shine and its substitute never managed to right itself up. I can't fathom the prospect of Ford being Mayor for another four years. Even if he's criminally charged sometime soon, his trial could be stalled by procedural tricks and wouldn't be held until after the election, and it would be some time before it wrapped up and he'd be sentenced -- worse, it may not even come with enough jail time to boot him out of office. Ford could turn out to be the Smitherman of the Conservatives. If Tory and Stintz stay out or if they don't gather enough momentum, then there may be a lot of Conservatives who will have no choice but to hold their nose and vote for Ford if the only option is a left of centre candidate -- Olivia Chow.

If the citizens of Toronto elect Ford again after all this, it's going to be hard not give up on this city and take the opportunity to move abroad for 4 or 5 years. The sad things is, I've lost a lot of faith in Torontonias to do the right thing.

i just had to register for this forum in order to register my objection to calling Giambrones campaign "brilliantly prepared"!
unless, of course, one considers a grade 9 social studies class quality youtube skit as "brilliantly prepared".

as a "progressive leftist" (for lack of a better term and, unfortunately, in need of an label) I wouldn't and couldn't have voted for Giambrone. Just like I don't think I could vote for Chow - what has she ever done to get your vote besides "not being the other guy". really.
and, Kinsella?! i guess you can't expect anything more from a tired, out of ideas, candidate like Chow.

we really desrve better (we're world class! or, so i'm told).
i'm thinking i'll have to wait 4, or 8, to vote for somebody i can actually believe in... like KWT.

 

[newearthling]

i just had to register for this forum in order to register my objection to calling Giambrones campaign "brilliantly prepared"!
unless, of course, one considers a grade 9 social studies class quality youtube skit as "brilliantly prepared".

as a "progressive leftist" (for lack of a better term and, unfortunately, in need of an label) I wouldn't and couldn't have voted for Giambrone. Just like I don't think I could vote for Chow - what has she ever done to get your vote besides "not being the other guy". really.
and, Kinsella?! i guess you can't expect anything more from a tired, out of ideas, candidate like Chow.

we really desrve better (we're world class! or, so i'm told).
i'm thinking i'll have to wait 4, or 8, to vote for somebody i can actually believe in... like KWT.

who is kwt?

 

[cgwalnut]

who is kwt?

Kristyn Wong-Tam!

maybe i refer to her as KWT because i was first aware of her as the art gallery owner of KWT contemporary?!

 

[kicked it in the sun]

"losing faith in torontonians" haha, well, considering the areas that were appended to the city...

seriously, like kathleen: demerge the cities, let toronto develop as it should.

 

[ThinkRicky]

If they are going to bring on Paikin to moderate debates I think there should be a co-moderator - someone like Ezra Levant. Ezra would make mince-meat out of Olivia Chow!

I don't watch Paikin's show, all I know of him is that his son is an asshole. I'm not usually a fan of people who support the Liberal party establishment for the same reasons Convseratives typically make my stomache turn.

Ezra Levant however is at best, a delusional, loudmouthed reactionary propagandist whose inane ravings appeal to paranoid right-wing xenophobes and serves the interests of his financial backers. His time as a tobacco lobbyist should have been enough to raise alarm bells to anyone with a conscience (and the ability to use Google), and his recent and current work for Big Oil confirms that he's a corperate shill who fancies himself a northern version of Glen Beck.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

Ezra Levant however is at best, a delusional, loudmouthed reactionary propagandist whose inane ravings appeal to paranoid right-wing xenophobes and serves the interests of his financial backers. His time as a tobacco lobbyist should have been enough to raise alarm bells to anyone with a conscience (and the ability to use Google), and his recent and current work for Big Oil confirms that he's a corperate shill who fancies himself a northern version of Glen Beck.

Yup. If Ezra Levant is ever used as a moderator in an election debate I will call foul and I will call it loudly. He's awful, and absolutely a terrible human being, who does nothing but fear monger and make incredibly uninformed statements (hence the reason he has to apologize on air all of the time).

The problem with finding a moderator that's also a journalist for this next election is that most have come out on one side or the other when it comes to Ford. There will always be an opportunity to scream bias. I honestly can not think of someone that could unbiasedly moderate a mayoral debate. Maybe they could bring in Kady O'Malley from Ottawa, but even then, I don't know.

 

[tiffer24]

Ezra Levant is so much like Stephen Colbert (in character) it's hard to know if he's a journalist or just doing stand-up.

 

[JWBF]

Yup. If Ezra Levant is ever used as a moderator in an election debate I will call foul and I will call it loudly. He's awful, and absolutely a terrible human being, who does nothing but fear monger and make incredibly uninformed statements (hence the reason he has to apologize on air all of the time).

The problem with finding a moderator that's also a journalist for this next election is that most have come out on one side or the other when it comes to Ford. There will always be an opportunity to scream bias. I honestly can not think of someone that could unbiasedly moderate a mayoral debate. Maybe they could bring in Kady O'Malley from Ottawa, but even then, I don't know.

He should run for mayor.

 

[ParkdalePetunia]

He should run for mayor.

Bazinga!

 

[Johnny Au]

Freedom if Ezra Levant et al have their way:

According to this poster, only rich people have freedom.

 

[MetroMan]

i just had to register for this forum in order to register my objection to calling Giambrones campaign "brilliantly prepared"!
unless, of course, one considers a grade 9 social studies class quality youtube skit as "brilliantly prepared".

as a "progressive leftist" (for lack of a better term and, unfortunately, in need of an label) I wouldn't and couldn't have voted for Giambrone. Just like I don't think I could vote for Chow - what has she ever done to get your vote besides "not being the other guy". really.
and, Kinsella?! i guess you can't expect anything more from a tired, out of ideas, candidate like Chow.

we really desrve better (we're world class! or, so i'm told).
i'm thinking i'll have to wait 4, or 8, to vote for somebody i can actually believe in... like KWT.

Regardless of what you think about Giambrone, you never did get to see his campaign, and that's what I'm addressing. John Laschinger had prepared a brilliant campaign that focused on big ambition for Toronto, for a city with criss crossing transit lines (Transit City), sprouting skyscrapers, people flocking to move to the city and a big push for the youth vote. Had Giambrone not messed up, Laschinger's campaign would have turned him into a rockstar in the vein of Gregor Robertson.

Would he have won? I'm not sure he would have but he had a better shot at it than Joe Pantalone who didn't fit the campaign custom made for Adam. When Laschinger eventually took over Pantalone's campaign and when David Miller finally endorsed him, it was way too late to put something credible together. Pants never had a chance and all he and David Miller did was siphon off just enough support from Smitherman to allow Ford win. I wouldn't have been a big fan of Smitherman as Mayor but we could have at least avoided this 4 year nightmare.

I too want to see Wong-Tam one day run for Mayor but it's much too early for her and Josh Matlow as first term councillors. I hope we don't lose either of them from Council and that they only make a bid for Mayor one day if the stars are perfectly aligned.

 

[adma]

As an example of the totally biased coverage of the last election by Steve Paikin - one episode of "the Agenda" (good name for the show!) was comprised of a panel of former left-leaning Mayor's who did nothing but bash Rob Ford for the whole hour!

Was one of those "former left-leaning Mayors" Art Eggleton? If so, keep in mind that in practice, he was a de facto former *right-leaning* Mayor (albeit in a ConLib-supported "pragmatic centrist" way a la John Tory) vs Sewell, Johnson, Wright, the Hummer Sisters...

 

[cgwalnut]

the only part of the campaign anybody saw, and that I was referring to, was the "I'm ready" video - and that was amateur hour. I thought, as did all those that i knew, that the campaign was dead right out of the box with that one. maybe that wasn't part of the overall campaign? not part of the platform anyhow.

and, i agree with you on everything else - it was a pretty dismal dance card last election and looks to be the same this time.
surprisingly, i even agree with you about Matlow! that guy has really started to shine as time goes on despite a mushy start.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Was one of those "former left-leaning Mayors" Art Eggleton? If so, keep in mind that in practice, he was a de facto former *right-leaning* Mayor (albeit in a ConLib-supported "pragmatic centrist" way a la John Tory) vs Sewell, Johnson, Wright, the Hummer Sisters...

Can someone please explain to me the unbiased, non-sarcastic difference between right and left leaning municipal politicians in Toronto?

On the right, it can't be about lowering taxes or spending, since Ford has massively increased gov't spending on wages (especially in the TPS) and is advocating tax increases to pay for new subways. So, if the right is increasing taxes, spending and infrastructure investment, what is the left about?