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Rob Ford's Toronto

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IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER FORD FEST IS A CAMPING EVENT OR NOT.

The City's Policy on the use of City resources in an election year states:

B4) No permits, licenses, leases, or any other agreement for the use of City of
Toronto facilities, including civic squares and parks, will be issued for the
use or promotion of a particular candidate, political party, registrant or a
supporter of a question on a ballot during an election...
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Which, when reduced to the simplest applicable terms, reads:

"No permits... for the use of City of Toronto facilities, including...parks, will be issued for the use... of a particular candidate... on a ballot during an election."

The issued permit violates the CoT policy, whether RoFoDoFo are camping or not. It is a permit; it is for the use of a civic park; it is for the use of a particular candidate on a ballot during an election.

Write to Penachetti and demand that he pull the permit!
 
Lamport Davenport said:
RoFo must go, and Responsible Government must come. It’s time.
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Not sure what you mean by 'responsible government' here.

Presto makes absurd equivalencies between broader state systems, within and without federalism, and municipalities which are, as we all know and often fulminate against, 'children' thereof. It's a dumb argument (Not yours. Presto's. He's ground zero for simplistic, 'folksy, common-sense' solutions to complex problems. Still gives me the willies.).

Maybe if Toronto/GTA had some kind of status/powers equivalent to those of a 'polis' (meaningful, broad and independent abilities to tax, legislate (criminal, common and civil), and with borders and the ability to make independent trade agreements, etc.). But currently, with what it is, best to suffer through the sausage making.

What kind of responsible government? Westminster? A Repubilc? With Parties? That would be disastrous for this city. It would be entrenched, 'Outer v. Inner' open warfare through political channels. Essentially a codification of what Harris/Ford have tried to impose/exploit. No thanks.

Right now, as weak and stupid as it is, council is 45 votes with the Mayor being only one. Considering the last four years, and despite the dysfunction of council, thank heaven's for that. Maybe we should look to Nunavut or the other Territories for guidance on governance before we check in with Preston F'ing Manning.

Sincerely,

A. 'Red' Tory (no relation).
 
hper said:
Right now, as weak and stupid as it is, council is 45 votes with the Mayor being only one.
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Based on this argument, what is the purpose of the mayor? If he is only one vote and he cannot form a coalition, should the position be phased out, or should we then be given the mandate to remove said failure?
 
hper, I’m probably using "Responsible Government" incorrectly, as I’m only thinking of how a leader of an elected group should be responsible to that group, as well as his/her own constituents.

I see voters as one group and the mayor’s councillor peers as a different-but-equal group. To be responsible to their constituents, Council has to get stuff done. Integral to that is cooperative work with the mayor, as well as other similarly elected councillors.

Considering that all councillors’ votes are equal, they should have some stake in their peers’ performance. It’s one thing for a voter to support a candidate from a distance; it’s quite another for a council to work with that candidate, once elected. Non-performers tend to claim “a mandate from the people” to absolve themselves from responsibility between elections. It’s kind of hard for a councillor to cop a beating for CH constipation when he/she can’t do anything about the cooperation or conduct of his/her peers who caused it.

I like Presto’s idea of adapting the “non-confidence vote”, or some kind of stronger peer censure than what we’ve already got. Shouldn’t the mayor have some kind of responsibility to his/her peers on council? In its absence, it enables guys like Ford and Mammo.

Given that RoFo’s behaviour has stretched the boundaries of what a mayor can get away with, I see future candidates recalibrating their political behaviour towards something more autocratic -- as long as they do it more discreetly than RoFo did.

Any thoughts?
 
Lamport Davenport said:
hper, I’m probably using "Responsible Government" incorrectly, as I’m only thinking of how a leader of an elected group should be responsible to that group, as well as his/her own constituents.

I see voters as one group and the mayor’s councillor peers as a different-but-equal group. To be responsible to their constituents, Council has to get stuff done. Integral to that is cooperative work with the mayor, as well as other similarly elected councillors.

Considering that all councillors’ votes are equal, they should have some stake in their peers’ performance. It’s one thing for a voter to support a candidate from a distance; it’s quite another for a council to work with that candidate, once elected. Non-performers tend to claim “a mandate from the people” to absolve themselves from responsibility between elections. It’s kind of hard for a councillor to cop a beating for CH constipation when he/she can’t do anything about the cooperation or conduct of his/her peers who caused it.

I like Presto’s idea of adapting the “non-confidence vote”, or some kind of stronger peer censure than what we’ve already got. Shouldn’t the mayor have some kind of responsibility to his/her peers on council? In its absence, it enables guys like Ford and Mammo.

Given that RoFo’s behaviour has stretched the boundaries of what a mayor can get away with, I see future candidates recalibrating their political behaviour towards something more autocratic -- as long as they do it more discreetly than RoFo did.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Autocratic ... like Harper?
 
Willowdale councillor working on a book about mayor's time in office

“I’m trying to write a fair, accurate and complete account of Rob Ford’s time in office,†Filion confirmed in an interview Tuesday, July 22. “I don’t have a book deal. I may or may not get one. At this point I’m primarily writing because it’s something I want to do.â€

A long-time councillor and former journalist, Filion has been at work on the tome since the beginning of 2014, around the time that reporter Robyn Doolittle’s book Crazy Town hit bookstores.

Doolitte’s book focused on the Ford family dynamic and in particular on Rob Ford’s now-admitted drug and alcohol abuse, delving into her investigation as a Toronto Star reporter on a video of Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

Filion said his book will be taking “a very different approach.â€

“I’m certainly not so much interested in what’s already out there or any scandals that will be quickly replaced by other scandals, or information that will get dated,†he said. “I just don’t think there’s been any account written that people might want to pick up five or 10 years from now. I’m more interested in writing something that might shed some light on the Ford years in a way that hasn’t been done.
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http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-s...rking-on-a-book-about-mayor-s-time-in-office/
 
Tired of all the real mayoral candidates? How about a squirrel?

image.jpg


http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/tired-of-all-the-real-mayoral-candidates-how-about-a-squirrel-1.1931214
 

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Progressives in the heart of Ford Nation
A group of young, bright candidates are tackling far right politics and voter disaffection in Toronto’s northwest

"There's a strong sense of disenfranchisement in this community," she says of the area where she has lived for 25 years since arriving here from Somalia.

On paper at least, the conservative streak in Toronto's northwest suburbs can seem counterintuitive. Most people living in Wards 1, 2, and 7 are visible minorities (the most diverse is Ward 1, where 81.9 per cent of people are non-white), the result of waves of immigration during the 1990s and 2000s from places like India, Pakistan, Somalia, Guyana, and Jamaica. Residents earn household incomes significantly below the city average, and many lack access to vital municipal services.
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http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=199005
 
TOBorn said:
Based on this argument, what is the purpose of the mayor? If he is only one vote and he cannot form a coalition, should the position be phased out, or should we then be given the mandate to remove said failure?
Click to expand...

The real danger is having the power to appoint committees. That's how we ended up with a horribly fucked up, totally non-representative executive committee. At least right now, that power is null, though DM Kelly hasn't done anything to fix Ford's choices. I can't imagine it'll get better if Ford gets re-elected.
 
Lucinda said:
Snow confirmed idiot. He had dropped by CH to visit Rofo and was interviewed by CP24 as he left. Admitted that he didn't know anything about municipal affairs or "the left-wing thing" and the right-wing thing, but supports Rob 100% because he did everything he said he would and only had a couple of indiscretions in his private life, the kinda thing everyone does. F*(^#$%!!!

As well, the fawning of CP24 reporter Farah Nasser and anchor George Lagogianes over this formerly famous musician, *while reporting on issues at Toronto City Hall*, was just gross.

Edited to add: report here -- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...pper-snow/article19748843/#dashboard/follows/

Buddhism for imbeciles -- “You gotta live in the now. I live in the now. So the past don’t exist and the future don’t exist. Only now. What I’m doing now, I got love for him, you know what I mean?”
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the only thing i like, is the irony of ford being back by a performer whose name is slang for cocaine.

example title that made me giggle...

Rob Ford Loves Snow

http://www.edge.ca/2014/07/24/rob-ford-likes-snow/
 
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TOBorn said:
Based on this argument, what is the purpose of the mayor? If he is only one vote and he cannot form a coalition, should the position be phased out, or should we then be given the mandate to remove said failure?
Click to expand...

Mayors act as ambassadors of their respective municipal governments, regardless of extra powers granted by their city counsel. We could create a system of rotation for extra duties imposed on councillors, that could cause other problems, including lack of continuity in public relationships with other cities, delegates, and other levels of government.
 
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