Will Tory face stronger opposition from the Left or a right-wing populist in the next election?

[jje1000]

Byford's point is a good one- and one that needs to be done soon before the election. Moving the TTC away from a year-year budgeting process to a longer term budget process will improve stability and stop the mad rush of cuts and fare hikes that occur every year.

One year out: Toronto leaders talk about the biggest challenges facing our city
City planners, developers, police weigh in on what Toronto's priorities should be in an election year

It's one year until the next municipal vote in Toronto. That means we'll be hearing more from candidates, city councillors and residents in the coming months, but what do leaders in our community think we should be focusing on in an election year?

We asked developers, police, community organizers and city planners to weigh in.

Jennifer Keesmaat, former chief planner for Toronto
"Do we want to be a 21st Century city that is sustainable, that is focused on walkable places where you can cycle, where you have great access to transit? If that's what we want to be then we need to be investing our money in a fundamentally different way," says Keesmaat.

"We've already accepted ... a tremendous amount of density in this city and that's a good thing," she says. "But there's another part that's all about the public space in the public realm; ensuring we have the park space to support all of those people, ensuring we have the amenities such as schools, such as recreation centres, in order to support that density and ensure that we are a livable city over the long term."

Brad Lamb, Toronto developer
"I think there's plenty of challenges facing the city of Toronto going forward. I think that infrastructure is probably the largest problem we have; there's not enough sewer capacity. As a developer we're constantly having problems with our developments because of that," says Lamb.

"There's this massive anti-development sentiment within the city of Toronto, within the public sector of it and there's this bizarre fear of height."

Lamb says in an election year he wants people talking about growth, and educating the public on rules around zoning and intensification in the city.

Kaltuma Haji, Somali community worker
"The biggest challenge I'll say that's facing my community right now is mostly the language barrier and not knowing how to navigate the system, not knowing who to connect with when they come to the country as a newcomer," says Haji.

"I want to see more community centres built," she says. "I think the city really needs to focus to see what the youth are doing. Are we creating community centres for them where they can burn off their energy?" she asked.

"The youth dying, it's because they're really idle. They are walking around the streets doing nothing. So I want the city to really look into what we're missing."

Andy Byford, Toronto Transit Commission CEO
"This is a growing city, a global city, a 24-hour city," says Byford. "That does create problems and challenges for us as the transit provider."

"We need to continually build the TTC out; add more subway, more LRT lines ... so we can continue to serve what is a growing city."

"[The candidates] have got to be transit friendly. They've got to understand that transit is really the life-blood of Toronto," he says.

Byford describes the challenges facing the TTC in Toronto as three-fold.

"We have aging infrastructure trying to carry ever-greater customer numbers on limited funding. The TTC still is the lowest subsidized transit in North America," Byford says. "A real plea for me would be to move away from what is a bit of a hand-to-mouth, year-over-year budgetary process."

Olivia Nuamah, Pride Toronto executive director
"Certainly the most vital thing for us is equity and ensuring that everybody has the same opportunities in this city, regardless of who they are or how they identify." says Nuamah.

"I would love to see a more rigorous approach to collecting data, I would love to see a more rigorous approach to understanding exactly who makes up the communities of this city, their income levels and their quality of life," she says

"We would like to see equity policies and anti-discrimination practice that gets much, much, much lower to the ground of people's real experiences."

James Ramer, acting chief, Toronto Police Service
"From our policing perspective, security is a big issue for us," says Ramer.

"We're constantly monitoring what's happening around the world, including what's happening here in Toronto to ensure we're doing what needs to be done to ensure the community is safe."

"There's been different security enhancements taken across the city and I think that's something that's a huge priority for us."

Ramer says in addition to public safety at events, taking the time to implement the police's plan to modernize needs to be a key focus of the city moving toward an election.

Jared Kolb, Cycle TO executive director
"I think the number one issue that is facing Toronto is a growing road safety crisis," says Kolb.

"We live in a city where a pedestrian is hit every three hours of every day of the year and a cyclist is hit every six hours ... Our most vulnerable are being most impacted," he says.

"I seriously believe this city has got to come to grips with its road safety crisis and commit to bold action to solving that crisis."

Kolb says there are many changes the city could make to ensure the roads are safer, but one idea should be implemented right away.

"On the pedestrian file a city-wide reduction of speed limits is top of mind."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...bout-biggest-challenges-facing-city-1.4363906

 

[Skeezix]

Interesting blog post by Warren Kinsella, about the recent opinion poll showing Dougie with almost 33% support.

(h/t to @1236)

 

[blixtex]

Interesting blog post by Warren Kinsella, about the recent opinion poll showing Dougie with almost 33% support.

(h/t to @1236)

I think it's actually pretty accurate. Those that voted for Ford last time, I highly doubt they'll switch to Tory and they haven't gone anywhere. That number was near the rock hard base support of the Fordites. It all depends on turnout (are they motivated to turn out). Now Tory probably has convinced many or at least some center lefts to join him, while his voters last time also probably haven't changed their preferences much although likely some losses since the incumbent generally loses some 'believers' (come to think of it, this King St. Pilot project was kind of a hail mary for Tory to ensure his victory as he hadn't delivered on any real visionary campaign prizes).

A big dependency is that 3rd party candidate, and how effective of a left wing contender they are. Right now, there does not seem to be anyone credible or darling of it and media. If maybe a Smitherman were to run again, that might erode enough support from Tory, and Ford running an impeccable campaign seizing on certain issues might actually result in a Ford win.

 

[steveintoronto]

Sounds like Sweet John realizes someone left of centre is about to declare:

If re-elected by Torontonians next year, Mayor John Tory says he will be more open to listening to, and working with, left-leaning downtown city councillors.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...-with-downtown-councillors-if-re-elected.html

Nothing like the fear of a split vote to sober a mayor up.

 

[ShonTron]

Sounds like Sweet John realizes someone left of centre is about to declare:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...-with-downtown-councillors-if-re-elected.html

Nothing like the fear of a split vote to sober a mayor up.

It's not as if John Tory wouldn't have won without the support of so many of those downtown wards he's been shafting.

 

[steveintoronto]

It's not as if John Tory wouldn't have won without the support of so many of those downtown wards he's been shafting.

Needless to say, and without a third candidate running (ostensibly to the left) he could repeat that, even with the new wards, but something has shaken him, and here's the closest I can find: (and one presumes those downtown wards would gravitate to a 'pro-core' candidate, and split the vote sufficient for a Tory loss)

OK, so Josh Matlow denies rumours he’s planning to run for mayor in the municipal election next year; but how refreshing that someone not from the Family Compact or Etobicoke might take a shot at the city’s highest office. However unlikely Matlow’s candidacy may be, the rumours are enough to remind us that civic politics don’t have to be as dreary, predictable, self-destructive and anti-urban as they have since 2010.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2017/12/26/10-signs-of-hope-for-toronto-from-2017.html

Or Tory got a visit from the Ghost of Toronto Future....

 

[SunriseChampion]

Looking at that map you'd think there'd be a correlation between income and intelligence.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Looking at that map you'd think there'd be a correlation between income and intelligence.

Because there empirically is. It is not a secret. Just an inconvenient topic.

Though, the third correlation there is equality of opportunity. The whole nurture side of that debate. The areas that voted for Ford suffer not just lower-income, but also suburban built environment that limits opportunity. Lack of opportunity + lower incomes beget poor political decisions?

Anywho, we digress from the topic of this thread. These past few weeks have had Jennifer Keesmaat definitely rule out running for mayor, and Desmond Cole stepping into the rink. I think Tory should be celebrating as Desmond is not going to attract centrist voters in Tory's base.

 

[Jasmine18]

I doubt most people in Toronto who want a mayor who sees everything thorugh Race like Desomond Cole and I says this as a minority.

 

[Videodrome]

I have nothing against electing a visible minority as mayor of a very multicultural city. Calgary elected Nenshi again and I think it is great!

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

I have nothing against electing a visible minority as mayor of a very multicultural city. Calgary elected Nenshi again and I think it is great!

I don't think it is accurate to compare Nenshi to Cole. Nenshi has never campaigned on or proposed policy with an exclusively marxist race lense, which is what we would be getting with Cole. I am sure that, in contrast to Cole, a Nenshi type of politician would actually have wide-ranging appeal to Tory's centrist base in downtown/midtown and the suburbs.

As an aside, being in a city as multicultural as Toronto, we should have learned by now that electing visible minorities for the sake of them being visible minorities is not by virtue of them being visible minorities going to lead to more urban, more progressive or more inclusive policy-making. We have many counter-examples, such as Denzil Minnan-Wong, Chin Lee, Michael Thompson and Raymond Cho. If we extended the criteria from visible minority to ethnic minority, you add the likes of Mammolitti, Karygiannis, etc. to the list.

 

[Videodrome]

I don't think it is accurate to compare Nenshi to Cole.

For sure! I wasn't comparing the two, just giving an example of a visible minority getting elected as mayor in Calgary, a very white city.

 

[King of Kensington]

For sure! I wasn't comparing the two, just giving an example of a visible minority getting elected as mayor, in a very white city.

So-called visible minorities make up half the population of this "very white city."

 

[Videodrome]

I was talking about Calgary in this case, which is around 36% visible minorities if Wikipedia is accurate. Sorry I wasn't more clear about it.