Rob Ford's Toronto

[LowPolygon]

For what it's worth, tomorrow's Maclean's cover story will feature Ford. To what extent it will be new information, I'm not sure...

"On the night Ford won, Maclean’s asked the man who ran his campaign, the Conservative operative Nick Kouvalis, why he’d allowed this unusual photo opportunity. Kouvalis smiled and passed his hand over the crowd at Ford’s headquarters. “Look at his supporters,†he said. “They’re all overweight.â€

 

[MetroMan]

Council would probably need 2/3rd majority, no?

No, a simple majority would suffice. Any councillor can ask for an inquiry into any councillor's books. It's just not done because it's poor form to be sticking your nose in another councillor's office. However, in this case it's justified because the Mayor is shutting everybody out. A motion to do this would probably ask the integrity commissioner to get to work on investigating the Mayor's office and to make it all public. Where is he when he said he's on personal time? Why is there so much personal time? What prompted him to lose his 3 most senior staff in a matter of days? These are all legitimate questions that we are asking and he's not answering. So we'll send somebody in to get the answers.

 

[Torontovibe]

"On the night Ford won, Maclean’s asked the man who ran his campaign, the Conservative operative Nick Kouvalis, why he’d allowed this unusual photo opportunity. Kouvalis smiled and passed his hand over the crowd at Ford’s headquarters. “Look at his supporters,” he said. “They’re all overweight.”

Birds of a feather...?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

No, a simple majority would suffice. Any councillor can ask for an inquiry into any councillor's books. It's just not done because it's poor form to be sticking your nose in another councillor's office. However, in this case it's justified because the Mayor is shutting everybody out. A motion to do this would probably ask the integrity commissioner to get to work on investigating the Mayor's office and to make it all public. Where is he when he said he's on personal time? Why is there so much personal time? What prompted him to lose his 3 most senior staff in a matter of days? These are all legitimate questions that we are asking and he's not answering. So we'll send somebody in to get the answers.

Got it, thank you. Isn't not making his agenda public unusual? He's been dodging the media for well over a year now, then most often does not take questions. There's so little accountability here. Oh - and why does Doug, a City Councillor, have the benefit of doing a talk show each week with the Mayor and why is he the voice of the Mayor? I know he's Rob's brother but that also seems inappropriate to me. Why can't my City Councillor have her own radio talk show each week? Doug gets one.

 

[FutureBuilder]

Even if Ford steps down, at the next election the downtown voters are going to have a tough time getting their candidate elected. This whole thing is going to end up totally dividing the City into "downtown" vs "suburban".

Ford still has a lot of support in the suburbs and if they see "their guy" taken out, they may just about vote for anyone to spite the downtowners.

i sadly thing we're going to be more like Europe with a very polarized political landscape between "left" and "right". In our case downtown vs suburbs.... and the suburbs have more people. Without level headed moderation, how can the serious issues facing this city be taken care of properly?

 

[MetroMan]

Even if Ford steps down, at the next election the downtown voters are going to have a tough time getting their candidate elected. This whole thing is going to end up totally dividing the City into "downtown" vs "suburban".

Ford still has a lot of support in the suburbs and if they see "their guy" taken out, they may just about vote for anyone to spite the downtowners.

i sadly thing we're going to be more like Europe with a very polarized political landscape between "left" and "right". In our case downtown vs suburbs.... and the suburbs have more people. Without level headed moderation, how can the serious issues facing this city be taken care of properly?

This can be solved with ranked ballots. A Mayor being elected with the consent of less than 50% of the population is not democracy.

 

[FutureBuilder]

Got it, thank you. Isn't not making his agenda public unusual? He's been dodging the media for well over a year now, then most often does not take questions. There's so little accountability here. Oh - and why does Doug, a City Councillor, have the benefit of doing a talk show each week with the Mayor and why is he the voice of the Mayor? I know he's Rob's brother but that also seems inappropriate to me. Why can't my City Councillor have her own radio talk show each week? Doug gets one.

LOL is this some sort of a joke? Has no other councillor ever had a tv show? or radio show?

Maybe your councillor can't get a show because no one wants to hear them.

Btw, I've only listened to 15 minutes of Doug Ford's show. That was enough.

 

[jje1000]

What would really be bad for Toronto is being the city that re-elected the crack smoking mayor, or the city that cannot get rid of it's crackhead mayor. There's an embarrassment.

Definitely. While this drug issue currently revolves solely around Ford (no one knew this was going to happen), re-electing him will bring the focus onto the city (we re-elected Ford despite knowing this drug issue) and makes us look bad.

The only way that Ford will be removed without creating a persecution complex in the suburbs is if he gets arrested by the police.

 

[FutureBuilder]

This can be solved with ranked ballots. A Mayor being elected with the consent of less than 50% of the population is not democracy.

Ranked ballot is not the answer then.

if it's 50%+ you want, it has to be the European style where they eliminate people and the last two have a "run off". Sort of like the French Presidential Elections. That is the fairest way.

 

[FutureBuilder]

Definitely. While this drug issue currently revolves solely around Ford (no one knew this was going to happen), re-electing him will bring the focus onto the city (we re-elected Ford despite knowing this drug issue) and makes us look bad.

The only way that Ford will be removed without creating a persecution complex in the suburbs is if he gets arrested by the police.

Didn't he support a nice fat pay raise for them? Makes me wonder.

 

[jje1000]

Didn't he support a nice fat pay raise for them? Makes me wonder.

Also makes me wonder how impartial Blair will be. While Ford has a lot of bluster (cutting police officers), he's ultimately been a pushover in favor of the police. Perhaps councillors' calls that this be taken up by the OPP should be heeded.

 

[junctionist]

The world may laugh at us, but we continue to be a strong metropolis that keeps improving because of all the talented people working towards progress. People come here and are impressed. So Torontonians should see these scandals and be confident in Toronto. We'll get past Rob Ford to effectual and intelligent leadership, laugh at the incidents and remark at just how boring municipal politics have become without him. But no matter what Rob Ford does in his personal life, he can still be seen as maintaining his values that resonate with a lot of people--no big spending or tax increases. Defeating him in the next election won't be easy.

 

[OSS 117]

Got it, thank you. Isn't not making his agenda public unusual? He's been dodging the media for well over a year now, then most often does not take questions. There's so little accountability here. Oh - and why does Doug, a City Councillor, have the benefit of doing a talk show each week with the Mayor and why is he the voice of the Mayor? I know he's Rob's brother but that also seems inappropriate to me. Why can't my City Councillor have her own radio talk show each week? Doug gets one.

They stole the show out from under Josh Matlow who was starting to be a little critical of the Fords on it. They showed him.

 

[FutureBuilder]

The world may laugh at us, but we continue to be a strong metropolis that keeps improving because of all the talented people working towards progress. People come here and are impressed. So Torontonians should see these scandals and be confident in Toronto. We'll get past Rob Ford to effectual and intelligent leadership, laugh at the incidents and remark at just how boring municipal politics have become without him. But no matter what Rob Ford does in his personal life, he can still be seen as maintaining his values that resonate with a lot of people--no big spending or tax increases. Defeating him in the next election won't be easy.

Politicians all over the world are pretty interesting characters. In the USA, South America, Africa, Asia, and many places in Europe, they have politicians that are less than stellar.

 

[jje1000]

Politicians all over the world are pretty interesting characters. In the USA, South America, Africa, Asia, and many places in Europe, they have politicians that are less than stellar.

Hence the reason to not continue emulating those places. Conservatives need to rally around a smart conservative who knows know to bring people together, not a populist like Ford.