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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Short answer: No.

Any rule that would allow it to occur would have to be implemented by the province, which is reluctant to intervene in municipal affairs.
 
Huge Seagull said:
FWIW, I know someone who received one of the recent Forum poll calls on her cell phone. She didn't actually go through with the poll, because she gave the 'wrong' answer to one of the 'qualifying'/screening questions at the beginning. Not sure, but that question might have been, "Is this a mobile phone?"
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I'm pretty sure that since they already have all their algorithms to correct the results for the kind of responses they get on land lines vs cell phones, they'd want to filter cell phones right out. Otherwise it would throw off their corrections.

OF course, that assumes that their corrections are correct to begin with, but that's the black magic part of polling.
 
RC8 said:
Short answer: No.

Any rule that would allow it to occur would have to be implemented by the province, which is reluctant to intervene in municipal affairs.
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It would also be unusual to have a non-confidence escape clause in a fixed term direct-elect environment. A westminster parliament can vote non-confidence for a leader because they provided that confidence in the first place. In contrast, republicans could hold every seat in congress but they still couldn't get rid of a democrat president (impeachmemt notwithstanding).

What's missing here is that Ford seems happy to ignore the accepted but unwritten comventions of personal accountability that are expected of politicians.
 
Long Island Mike said:
Everyone: I am somewhat familiar with the Parliamentary system of government used by Canada's and Ontario's governments and I wish to ask:

Can a "No Confidence" vote be implemented in the Toronto City Council to call for an election to force a incompetent official like Mayor Rob Ford from office?

I asked this question yesterday on page 2295 but I also made the mistake of inserting my post right in between one of Tewder's posts making it not stand out...

If a vote of this type were implemented I think that it should require a super-majority of Council members - I am thinking 75 percent or perhaps even higher
for a vote of this type so it could not be influenced by any kind of partisan politics and be reserved for gross incompetence in office being just one thought?

The recent votes to strip Mayor Ford of his powers and censure him made me think of this option...Was that recent vote 48-2 with just the Ford Brothers
voting in dissent am I right?

This could become an option in a situation of this type remembering that currently the Mayor or City Council members have to be convicted of a crime if they
do not voluntarily seek a leave of absence or resign as Mayor Ford has steadfastly refused to do...

Does anyone have any opinions about this and could Toronto's City Council implement a rule of this type to not allow future problems like this to occur?

Thoughts from Long Island Mike
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The short answer is no - a motion of no confidence makes little sense under our municipal system.

The long answer has to do with how very distinct the municipal government is from its federal and provincial counterparts. Most notably, there are no parties permitted in municipal politics, nor is there a municipal 'government' alike those at the provincial and federal level. As its name suggests, a no confidence motion represents a lack of confidence in the government of the day. While the mayor of Toronto has their own executive committee (per the City of Toronto Act), the executive is more comparable to provincial and federal cabinets. The 'government' of Toronto refers to the entirety of council - that is, 44 councilors and the mayor. Effectively, then, were councilors to move a motion of no confidence, they would be expressing a lack of confidence in themselves.

A motion of no confidence only really makes sense at the federal and provincial levels. This is especially true in the case of a minority government, wherein the majority of parliament/the legislature are represented by opposition members. The opposition members do not belong to 'the government', despite having a seat in parliament/the legislature. There is no such distinction at the municipal level, where being a councilor makes you a member of the government, full stop.

Does that make sense?
 
rndhd said:
So much talk about land line vs cell only!

I actually tried to go to cellphone only several years back. Regretted it because the cellphone reception in parts of my house is so lousy, in particular my basement where I keep my home office and also in my bedroom on the 2nd floor. So in the end I had to switch back to a landline except now I had also lost my old phone number.
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Fido is now selling a wireless home phone. Set it up where you have a good signal, plug it into your unused phone jack, and presto, phone service throughout your home.

John_Dee said:
I hearby predict that in 100 years time, "Rob Ford" will be a general, all-purpose boogeyman figure, like Rumpelstilsken or Bloody Mary, that older siblings, babysitters, and Bart Simpson types will use to torment and terrorize younger brats on the schoolyard:

"And he's real gross and fat - like 5,000 pounds fat!!! - and he throws his empty vodka bottles at you, and if he catches you, he sits on ya 'till you suffocate, and then he pisses all over your dead body! And he then drags you back to his crack house....to eat you!!!"

"No!"

"Yes! And he'll grind your bones ta make his crack!!"

As the 3013 edition of Mother Goose Rhymes will proclaim:

"Be good little boys and girls,

Don't kick or scream or shout.

Play nice, or in a trice...

Rob Ford'll come to get you...

...If...you...don't...watch...out!"
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Don't forget, he'll eat your cat!!

Huge Seagull said:
Because most (if not all) mobile phone users, unlike land line users, have to pay for incoming calls. So the practice of pollsters or telemarketers calling mobile phone numbers is frowned upon.

FWIW, I know someone who received one of the recent Forum poll calls on her cell phone. She didn't actually go through with the poll, because she gave the 'wrong' answer to one of the 'qualifying'/screening questions at the beginning. Not sure, but that question might have been, "Is this a mobile phone?"
Click to expand...
Don't forget that in many jurisdictions you cannot poll cell phone numbers with automated systems. You are required, by law, to use a live operator. Polling firms or clients unwilling to pay the significant extra cost acknowledge that this skews their random sample.
 
Would love to hear MM's take on the police strategy here. They see to be leaking again. On Ford assault, and now with the city wide alert.
 
How does the OPP get involved? I am so sick of RF not being arrested and the whole city being dragged through this dysfunctional family crisis!!! Enough!
 
Les Nessman said:
Enough with the landline/ cellular, pulse dialling digressing;)

Ford is known to police for domestic violence in his home.

His 1.75 tax increase instead of 2.5% is a crock! What he does is reduce taxes but creates/ increases user fees. Re: the garbage outsourcing, I believe those folks west of yonge see a separate charge for garbage collection. Therefore they are still $$ out of pocket.

Can we refocus on this real stuff.....please!
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...not to mention the parks and rec fees that amounted to millions and then he had the nerve to include it in his '$1 billion' savings since it saved us from increasing taxes !!
 
michener said:
...not to mention the parks and rec fees that amounted to millions and then he had the nerve to include it in his '$1 billion' savings since it saved us from increasing taxes !!
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Never mind dipping into reserve funds at least three different times, and sucking off Miller's surpluses too, to cook the books. The accounting to get to $1B in savings is pretty creative, I wonder if Revenue Canada would be okay with my using that kind of accounting at tax time...
 
TRA said:
How does the OPP get involved? I am so sick of RF not being arrested and the whole city being dragged through this dysfunctional family crisis!!! Enough!
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I think the worse the police look for not arresting Ford, the closer we are to it actually happening. By a certain point they'll have to arrest him just for damage control.
 
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