Rob Ford's Toronto

[allabootmatt]

Indeed. This whole exercise is bizarre, and the end result will be the same as it would have without the consultants: the mayor's office will have to make political decisions about what it thinks can pass Council, and attempt to get that package through.

All that said, I wonder if we aren't missing the point of all this budget scaremongering. One evaluation of the 'sky is falling' message coming out of Fordland is that the mayor and his allies are looking for every excuse to slash and burn programs they never liked.

But what if the real play is the opposite? $774 million of 'opening pressure' isn't totally out of whack with what the City routinely handled in the Miller years. Already we are hearing that the real gap is considerably smaller, thanks to the usual conservative accounting in the previous year. It seems at least plausible to me that the Fords are hoping to look like heroes for slaying what everyone thought was a gigantic fiscal dragon with relatively little pain -- ie, the usual combination of a modest tax increase, some small cuts here and there, and a bit of accounting jiggery-pokery to get to zero at the last minute. Such a solution would allow the Fords to burnish their 'gravy-fighter' image by dealing with the deficit without much damage to frontline services, and would avoid what could be a very bruising defeat if centrist councillors balk at deep program cuts this Fall. All that, while disproving the lefties' contention that Ford times are hard times.

That would, it seems to me, be the most politically astute way to do this for the mayor and his cronies. Whether he's more interested in ideology and score-settling remains to be seen, of course.

 

[Tulse]

That would, it seems to me, be the most politically astute way to do this for the mayor

I don't expect any mayor who scores an own-goal by skipping Gay Pride to be "politically astute".

 

[TonyV]

This may come off pretty emotional because there is no other way to write it, but Ford's very presence is rending a family.

My family is large and spread out. At a recent gathering, a downtowner got into a screaming match with a suburbanite Ford supporter, and called him a "heartless, brainless goof". I, an anti-Ford downtowner, had to intervene just to keep the peace.

 

[Tulse]

That's unfortunate, TonyV, but I've seen families rend themselves over very trivial issues as well. I don't think we can blame Ford for specific domestic problems.

 

[TonyV]

That's unfortunate, TonyV, but I've seen families rend themselves over very trivial issues as well. I don't think we can blame Ford for specific domestic problems.

So very true, but who needs more fodder?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Brother Doug allegedly bullies activist. This campaign financial issue is getting more and more interesting.

 

[Torontovibe]

This may come off pretty emotional because there is no other way to write it, but Ford's very presence is rending a family.

My family is large and spread out. At a recent gathering, a downtowner got into a screaming match with a suburbanite Ford supporter, and called him a "heartless, brainless goof". I, an anti-Ford downtowner, had to intervene just to keep the peace.

Funny you mention that. A friend of mine told me yesterday, that his father hung up on him and now they are not talking. They were discussing these new potential cutbacks and things got a little heated. My friend hates Ford but his mother and father, who live in Etobicoke, both voted for Ford. The interesting thing is, the mother has now turned against Ford but the father has become an even bigger Ford supporter. It's causing a lot of hurt feelings in that, already dysfunctional, family.

 

[tkip]

Really? Is this what this thread has come to now?

Some people are actually trying to pin domestic problems already present in certain families on Ford? If family members were so quick to stop speaking to each other regarding who voted for who in the election, then I would suggest that there were already some serious underlying issues there to begin with.

And didn't Miller magically come up with over a 100 million in savings last year with his own creative accounting? Not just the conservatives that do this. They all do.

 

[adma]

While this came out last Friday, it's still making the rounds today.

You know, the spectacle of Ford seemingly deliberately lying about the numbers (or at least, making us ask to be pinched upon reading the column, surely this must not be true) might, in our Murdochgate era, have a bit of mileage. Especially if it's moderate municipal columnists like Marcus Gee leading the fire (however passive-aggressively), rather than the usual-suspect Michael Holletts...

 

[tkip]

I started to read the article but then came across this....

"The mayor, who pointedly declined to raise the Pride Week flag last month, even did a little dance with a woman in a feathered headdress. Apparently he has no trouble cavorting with scantily clad revellers just as long as they aren’t gay." This is exactly the inflammatory rhetoric that just fires people up. Ford missed Canada Day celebrations too.

Where's the outrage over this? Nothing. No one is upset.

People screaming Ford hates gays and women and immigrants don't raise a fuss about missing the celebration of the formation of our nation. No one cares which is a shame cause Canada Day is a far more important historical moment in our history. I didn't finish reading the article because of that cheap shot though.

It had nothing to do with the matter of whether his numbers add up.

It you want to criticize Ford on how he's handling his duties and whether he's being honest with the public, then fine. But when you just can't resist making snide remarks on why he's at one event but not another without alluding to homophobia then... It just gives permission for the haters to start with the personality assassinations again based on their hate of the man.

You just lose credibility with this type of tactic in my honest opinion. And Miller lied about numbers too. People conveniently overlook this.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Ford missed Canada Day celebrations too.

Where's the outrage over this? Nothing. No one is upset.

Scroll back, I was one who nailed him on being absent for Canada Day celebrations along with touring the ACC while the Pride flag was being raised and the Proclamation read. He needs to re-read what his duties and responsibilities are as the Mayor of this city.

 

[tkip]

My apologies. I was generalizing. With the exception of a handful, no one else seems concerned that Canada Day wasn't considered important enough to attend or mention.

I was making this comment to the Ford critics/haters that seem to only want to focus only on the Pride incident as the author does in this article. Just irks me when people fixate on this one, all consuming issue but intentionally overlook or refuse to raise the same outrage over other, equally important events.

If we're going to bash Ford, it needs to be on his overall performance. Hence my saying it's okay to criticize how Ford is handling things.

 

[GenerationW]

And didn't Miller magically come up with over a 100 million in savings last year with his own creative accounting? Not just the conservatives that do this. They all do.

I wonder if Ford hopes this quoted figure of a $774 million shortfall for 2012 turns out to be fact or fiction.

 

[grey]

Wow, left-of-centre Councillors are embarrassing KPMG. KPMG’s standard response seems to be “we weren’t asked . . .” or “that’s what the chart told us, it’s not our fault”. Feel bad for Joe Penachetti. He must be near early retirement to have taken this on – there’s no way he’s surviving this. I wonder if KPMG will give him a job.

 

[tkip]

I've always wondered and been suspicious that when a firm is hire do an "audit" whether they tailor these reports to fit the desires/intentions of their clients.