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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Graeme seems to have deleted his Twitter account. His last message was one congratulating Tory and his team on their victory.

Amin Massoudi hasn't said a thing.

Siobhan Morris ‏@siomo 1m1 minute ago
WHAT IS THIS!? John Tory started his newser EARLY. EARLY #TOPoli
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Big changes already!
 
animatronic said:
Because if you can't accomplish what you want to do in 12 or 16 years it's time for someone else to try. Also good because it forces competitive mayoral races between qualified councillors.
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Rob's a 30-year man. Said so himself.

"Toronto mayor tells debate audience he promised to be in politics for 30 years."
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha...ord_says_hell_be_mayor_for_14_more_years.html

pud99 said:
Lamport Davenport - they've done gone and sold your suite!

View attachment 36450
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I bet a lot of people don't know that - until very recently - the Royal York Hotel had a fully equipped "Emergency Hospital" complete with two wards, dispensary, consulting room, nurse's room, waiting room and an operating room.
 
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Kat's Meow said:
Inclusiveness is the key here. It is painfully obvious that 1 in 3 feels unheard and disenfranchised. They vote Ford because Fords articulate in office what they feel: the elitists don't listen to them, don't do anything for them and are not reachable/approachable. That is why Ford resonates. Ford may not actually end up doing anything for them in reality but Ford makes public their feelings and is available to them. It may be all for show but Ford is accessible. The 66% that voted against Ford don't help to assuage Ford Nation feelings of being marginalized and disregarded when they are called stupid or dumb for buying in to the Ford propaganda. We actually works against ourselves and solidify their views every time we are disparaging about Ford Nationals. And Ford always has an excuse: I couldn't get X through which would help you because 44 councillors were against me.

It may not be logical but you never win over emotion using logic. To conquer emotion, you must let emotion spend itself then allow logic to demonstrate what is possible. And this is why I have more hope for the Tory administration today than I did yesterday. Just imagine if Tory is able to win over Chow, Soknacki, Goldkind and Baskin to his administration. Imagine also if he is humble enough, strategic enough and prescient enough to be able to then deliver an administration that is accessible to Ford Nation and TCHC residents where work is actually done for these disenfranchised people, rather than just hollow rhetoric. Imagine being able to stand for reelection with accomplishments that include real progress in Ward 2, despite Ford, and other "left behind" wards and the ability to demonstrate what happens when you build bridges rather than isolate yourself with moats as the Fords have.

Perhaps if we wish to eradicate the cancer that is the Fords, we must stop behaving as they do, calling into question others intelligence and choices, and show that working together gets us further. That is what Tory has reminded me this morning. Being inclusive and tolerant will get us further. Perhaps 4 or 8 years from now, we will be able to thank Ford for helping us to build a better city by exposing the great divide that exists.

Yeah, I know, I'm full of idealistic crap and such ...
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Thanks for this Kat's Meow, it's an excellent post. And while still licking my wounds after last night's Ward 2 result, I am sickened to see comments on Twitter referring to Ward 2 residents as 'morons' and the like. We get nowhere (and act no better than FN) if that's how we regard fellow citizens. I did a few rounds of canvassing towards the end of the campaign and the people of Ward 2 are not morons.

Andray's failure to win more votes than he did is complex and I hope we are able to get some insight into why. I know he was surprised and disappointed by how few Ward 2 residents volunteered and how few African-Canadians offered support. Apart from being a first time candidate without any powerful backers, and the general obstacles of low engagement, under-informed voters, we also encountered language barriers, racism, and fear of the Fords, which was definitely a factor in some areas. It's a big ward with population spread thinly. The key issues of unemployment, poor daycare, poor local transit, and lack of development primarily affect the less-well-off; there are fewer issues affecting the better off who live in nice neighbourhoods and are somewhat separated geographically from the lower-income people.

I'm gobsmacked by the sheer force of name recognition. Starting with Mikey, who won 44% of the vote for school trustee without canvassing. Is 44% the Ford auto-recognition factor?

Although Rob won ~59% of the Ward 2 vote, that's a drop of 13% from Doug's 2010 share of ~72%. And non-Ford candidates increased their share of the vote in Ward 2 by 45% (from 28% to 41%). I'm no statistician so make of that what you will. The Fords still have a grip on Ward 2, but it's been weakened.
 
ParkdalePetunia said:
The effects of Rob Ford as mayor are still ongoing, even if he won't be wearing the ceremonial chain of office.
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The effects of Rob Ford are, unfortunately, here to stay. He and Doug have laid down the blueprint for winning by dividing and exercising an ugly politics like the city has never seen. And though Doug didn't win tonight, those tactics could very well succeed again. If not for them, then some other ruthless opportunist goon. There's some relief for sure, but this is going to be "Rob Ford's Toronto" for a while yet. Ranked ballots can't come soon enough. Either that or return to the halcyon days of Casita's late, lamented Metro.
 
TRA said:
What can be done about the returning of expired incumbents!?! Is there any hope for developing a system that protects against this? How?
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Ranked ballots should help, especially where there's a strong backlash against an incumbent but no clear frontrunner.

You can write to your councillor and your MPP to urge support.
 
GavinTheAlmighty said:
I have an immense amount of respect for Ms Baskin for what she decided to do. Even if she was a fringe candidate, making those steps is hard.

That said, this was very difficult to read. There were typos and grammatical errors all over, and her age and maturity level really shone through.
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Don Andrews received 3 more votes than Baskin. That must sting a bit.
 
casita said:
But, they only had to take care of 37 square miles. JT has to take care of 240 square miles.
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Yes, but a DM's power to act in place of the Mayor depends on the Mayor being out of play - which to me doesn't turn on the square miles (e.g., Robbie was no more or less on leave of absence because the amalgamated city is larger than the old city). I suppose one might surmise that a combination of the Mayor being out of play and some emergency occurring might be more probable if there are more square miles of city in which an emergency might occur.
 
I like his sense of humour:

Don Peat @reporterdonpeat · 58s 58 seconds ago
John Tory says he has been asked to host a Sunday radio show. Just asked the press gallery to vote on it

Don Peat @reporterdonpeat · 7 mins 7 minutes ago
"It will not be Mr. Cherry" John Tory on special guest at inauguration
 
adma said:
It was all urbanite-pleasing organic airy-fairy, not enough real Steak Queen meat and potatoes.
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For that alone, adma, you deserve to be thwacked around the head with a wet halibut.

Andray's platform was developed with a lot of thought to Ward 2's actual needs/recent history of neglect. As for the urban-pleasing bit - the campaign took some snark for its Twitter presence, but that's where the money came from. More than twice as many donors as any previous council candidate (compared with 2010 figures) - you may consider north of $65,000 to be airy-fairy and organic, but it broke records.

As I understand the lawn sign thing, Luke got the Liberal lawn sign list. Being a novice at this I have no idea how this works or whose horse got traded, but that sorta explains the lawn proliferation.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
It would be interesting to see how the Fords use Mikey as the proxy to work the TDSB.

AoD
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I wonder if they'll bother?

The truth about the Fords and politics is that they love the prestige and the grandstanding on broad ideological "principles". They love temper tantrums on the floor of council. They do not like the actual, mundane work of being a councillor. I suspect the even more mundane issues of the school board will bore them to tears.

Of course, there is the whole expense scandal thing. I'm sure they'll coach Mikey on how to have a full Fordian red-faced tantrum over that. But I don't think Mikey will be very good at it. His uncles will soon become preoccupied with their own stuff.

Poor Mikey is in over his head and on his own. If he doesn't have a substance abuse issue yet, I suspect it won't be long.
 
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