Category Archives: Mayor Rob Ford & City Hall

Politics at 100 Queen West

06.05.13
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HOLEY MOLEY – TORONTO SCORES A $248.1 MILLION BUDGET SURPLUS . . .

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. . . but before Mayor Rob Ford gets too cocky about this, it’s worth knowing that the surplus funds came largely from the Land Transfer Tax, a golden goose that the mayor wants to kill.

City Councillor Gord Perks: “This is the sixth year in a row that basically the Land Transfer Tax has kept us out of a deficit. If we start phasing it out, we take away the one thing that is keeping the city afloat.”

BIXI TORONTO - Stunt rider Trevor Bodogh

The Toronto Transit Commission has also done well, enjoying a $41 million surplus because of lower fuel and hydro costs and higher fare revenues as more people took the TTC than expected.

Images - Patrick Corrigan http://www.urbanbandit.ca & BIXI Bikes

06.02.13
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The princess & the pea – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne & Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

Two individuals hold the immediate future of the City of TORONTO in their hands.  One of them, fortunately, is Premier Kathleen Wynne, who also happens to be Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture and Food.  She’s managing two giant portfolios, as well as being the MPP for Don Valley West.  Ms. Wynne appears to be a ‘happy warrior’ – conciliatory, but no pushover.

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Premier KATHLEEN WYNNE, 25th and first female premier of Ontario.
- Grew up in suburban Richmond Hill
- holder of two masters degrees
- former public school trustee
- elected to the Ontario Legislature in 2003
- Minister of Education for 4 years
- former Minister of Transportation
- former Minister of Municipal Affairs, Housing and Aboriginal Affairs

Editorial excerpt, Toronto Star, June 3/2013, as the Premier and her Finance Minister ask for federal cash to fund the Metrolinx Big Move regional transit plan: “Premier Kathleen Wynne has proven to be an adroit strategist, threading her way to reach key political goals without sacrificing public good will.”

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Mayor ROB FORD, 64th and current mayor of TORONTO
- millionaire businessman
- quit university after 1 year without a degree
- went into the family business as a salesman
- elected as a city councillor in 2000
- elected Mayor in 2010

Here’s the ‘Kicker’ – Mayor Rob Ford, while discussing Premier Wynne’s governance on his radio show, Sunday, June 2/2013: “She couldn’t organize a two-car funeral and you’re telling me to get my house in order? I’ve proven I can get my house in order, I’ve saved a billion dollars in two years (a questionable claim).  Premier . . .  straighten up.”

<PHOTO – MAYOR FORD DOING HIS RADIO SHOW, June 2/2013 – Tyler Anderson/National Post>

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I’d love to see how this all turns out, but it’s time for more traveling.  Will begin posting again in late-JUNE.  Meanwhile, give TORONTO some love, and don’t let the Ford Brothers grind you down!

Flower mosaic, Dupont subway station:  http://www.flickr.com/photo/daniel_scott

06.01.13
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A TRAIN WRECK INSIDE, PEACE AND QUIET OUTSIDE – THAT’S CITY HALL

INSIDE TORONTO City Hall this week it was like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.  MAYOR ROB FORD is in the middle of a scandal involving crack cocaine, unsavory characters, refusing to answer questions from the media, 4 daily newspapers that smell blood in the water, a Darth Vader defender in the person of his brother, COUNCILLOR DOUG FORD . . .  and then there’s PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE, who’s growing increasingly worried.  With good reason.

GERRY NICHOLLS, a communications consultant, puts it this way . . .

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Shoot-from-the-hip TORONTO Star columnist, ROSIE DIMANNO added . . .

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SUE-ANN LEVY, uber-rightwinger, who writes a stream-of-consciousness screed in the TORONTO SUN, has gone after Premier Wynne, who is presently enjoying a high approval rating.  Writes SUE-ANN:  “Back in September 2010, Wynne, then Transportation Minister, sent a back-to-school e-mail to constituents lauding the accomplishments of (George) Smitherman and discrediting (then mayoral candidate Rob) Ford . . . She (Premier Wynne) claimed back then that a Toronto led by ROB FORD would not grow and prosper and that he’d practice the politics of division and anger.

“In an interview . . . . she told me (Sue-Ann Levy) that Ford would not have the “best interests” of the city at heart, a “grand vision” for the city or compassion for its people.  However, she assured me back then that the provincial Liberals would work with whomever is elected as mayor.  . . Note to Wynne: If I were you, I’d worry about your own circus.  In other words, M.Y.O.B.” – SUE-ANN

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HEY, SUE-ANN . . . PREMIER WYNNE WAS SPOT-ON.  Rob Ford does indeed practice the politics of division and anger (suburbs vs downtown).  He is not working in the best interests of the city, has no vision – grand or otherwise – and seems to dislike TORONTO and its people.  The city is growing in spite of Ford, not because of him.  I see no evidence of compassion or intelligence either, especially when it comes to the folks living downtown, who – by the way – pay taxes – BLOGGER DAVID

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MEANWHILE OUTSIDE, peace and quiet in City Hall’s beautiful Green Roof Garden.  It surrounds the council chamber and provides some excellent views of the Financial District.

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05.27.13
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FORUM RESEARCH POLL: FORD NATION HAS DRUNK THE KOOL-AID

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A poll just released of nearly 1,400 Torontonians shows that a week filled with drug allegations and vehement denials from both ROB & DOUG FORD hasn’t changed Mayor Rob Ford’s election prospects.  His supporters still resolutely stand behind him, despite multiple pages of investigative reportage from 4 daily newspapers and a couple of weeklies.

HOWEVER, ROB FORD would lose to OLIVIA CHOW.

One-on-one, MS. CHOW wins more than half the vote, 56%, to 36% for Ford, according to a poll released Sunday by Forum Research Inc.  In a three-way contest with JOHN TORY, CHOW wins with 42%, Ford with 27% and 24% for Tory.

- Forum Research, Monday, May 27/2013
Kool-Aid t-shirt design, http://www.t-shirtrater.com

PHOTO BELOW – MP Olivia Chow, Canadian Press

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05.23.13
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MAYOR ROB FORD is making Americans laugh

TORONTO’s embattled mayor, ROB FORD, is involved in a crack cocaine smoking scandal.  As one councillor put it, the mayor’s office is beginning to look like a train wreck.  Today the Mayor’s Chief of Staff was unceremoniously fired and marched out the door.  Yesterday, the Mayor himself was fired as a football coach with the TORONTO Catholic School Board.  Tomorrow?  Who knows.

The Americans, who have their own share of wingnuts and loose cannons, are yukking it up with late night TV hosts JON STEWART, JAY LENO and JIMMY KIMMEL.  TORONTO has become a punch-line.

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BUT, life in TORONTO goes on.  We’re still the buildingest town in North America, Canada’s economic engine, a city of theatre, tourism, banking, opera and art.  The restaurants are full.  Streetcars and subways are running more or less on time.  The Blue Jays and Maple Leafs are playing.  The lights are on.  The sky isn’t falling.

Some young artist at CLAUDE WATSON SCHOOL even created a Jolly Old Mayor Rob Ford (!) pillow.

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05.17.13
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ROB FORD: WHERE DID WE EVER FIND A MAYOR LIKE THIS?

COCAINE3MAYOR ROB FORD may have picked the wrong enermy.  For 3 years now, the TORONTO Star – daily readership over a million – and the mayor have been at war with each other.  The Star, under the banner ‘no one is above the law’, has been relentlessly tracking the mayor and his shenanigans.  As Jason McBride writes in TORONTO LIFE: “The mayor might be a gift to all local newspapers, but the Star more than any of the other dailies relishes unwrapping it.”

Today, in a front page exclusive and editorial, two Star reporters and the editor of Gawker (a US website) screened a video 3 times, purporting to show MAYOR FORD inhaling from a crack pipe and speaking incoherently.

Star editorial excerpt, May 17/2013: “The city has become sadly familiar with this mayor’s troubling pattern of behaviour, from being asked to leave a gala because he appeared impaired to being accused of inappropriate conduct at a public event by a former candidate for mayor. Add to that the mayor’s erratic work schedule and past incidents of drunkeness – all accompanied by denial and evasion.

“But the video points to activity that is much more serious and would render Ford completely unfit to serve in office. The behaviour it shows, if true, is clearly illegal. And the chain of events that led to the video becoming public involves drug dealers. There’s enough evidence here, absent a convincing explanation, for Toronto police to get involved.”   http://www.thestar.com

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BELOW – editorial cartoon from the Chronicle-Herald, HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 18.  CLICK ON PIC TO ENLARGE.

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05.13.13
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The ‘Lindsay Lohan of Canadian mayors’ is having one crazy year – TORONTO LIFE

TORONTOLIFE1TORONTO LIFE magazine, May/2013: It’s been a crazy year for the Lindsay Lohan of politics, which makes it a good moment to take stock: the highs and lows, the friends and foes, the scandals and woes of the world’s most resilient mayor – all in the May issue. Eight pages of it, fully illustrated.

(With apologies to LINDSAY LOHAN)

“We expected a bumpy ride with Ford as mayor, but we weren’t prepared for a self-sabotaging Lindsay Lohan of politics.  With a new scandal every week, it’s easy to lose track.  Hence – a scrapbook of two very long years in Fordlandia.”

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04.03.13
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Mayor Rob Ford gets hit with a $116,000 legal bill . . . you win some, you lose some

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TORONTO Mayor Rob Ford, attempted to make a citizen who’d launched a conflict-of-interest court case against him pay all the court costs.  No go.  The Mayor himself has been handed the $116,000 legal services bill.

Ontario Divisional Court has denied Ford’s request to be reimbursed for the case, which almost saw him bounced out of office.

A three-judge panel gave three reasons for their decision:

1) Success in the proceedings were mixed.  Although the mayor won on appeal, three of the four grounds he raised were unsuccessful.

2) The court said the case raised novel legal issues with respect to matters of public importance.

3) The court said it was reasonable for the citizen to pursue the application.  The citizen-client’s lawyer, Clayton Ruby, said “the court went out of its way to say that he (i.e. the citizen) was a genuine public-interest litigant with a reasonable cause.”

The mayor said “people say I could go to the city and get (the $116,000).  I’m not going to do that.”  For the record, Mayor Ford is paid roughly $172,000 annually to run Canada’s largest city.

03.27.13
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Mayor ROB FORD responds to Toronto Star’s “intoxicated Mayor Rob Ford” story

LIES2LIES1- Mayor Rob Ford, March 26/2013

Columnist MARGARET WENTE, the Globe and Mail, March 28:  “Whatever the truth about Mr. Ford’s drinking, the man looks like a walking time bomb.  You can’t help thinking that a coronary, a stroke or a burst blood vessel could fell him any time.  He badly needs some help with anger management.  It’s easy to imagine that one of these days, he’ll get so angry he’ll haul off and pop someone in the nose.

“If Mr. Ford announced tomorrow that he’s checking into rehab, all of TORONTO would be on his side.  Right now, he just strikes me as someone who’s dangerously in denial – of the havoc he’s wreaking on himself, his family and his city.”

03.26.13
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Premier Wynne explains it all to Mayor Ford: road tolls are (probably) on the way

TOLLS1Ontario needs a dedicated fund to repair roads and bridges, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Monday as she suggested new tolls or taxes could be introduced to pay for the upgrades.  Apparently there’s no ‘transit fairy’ to wave a magic wand, fund subways, and solve TORONTO’s gridlock mess.

Says the premier: “The reality is we need more money than we’ve got in the provincial treasury.  We need to find a way to create dedicated revenue streams for roads and bridges, i.e. a fund that would allow us to continue to work with municipalities to make sure infrastructure needs are met.

“There are tolls, there are taxes, there are fees, there are a whole lot of names, words for these mechanisms,” she said.

“Tools is the word that’s being used, and I’m not using it as a euphemism. I’m using it as a catchphrase for all the different ways that we can raise new revenue.  In the Greater TORONTO-Hamilton Area that translates largely into transit funding, but beyond the GTHA it’s about that broader transportation network.”

TOLLS2And as usual, MAYOR ROB FORD is dead against any of this stuff.  Unlike Ms. Wynne, he believes in federal and provincial ‘transit fairies’, and maintains new taxes are unnecessary and government can find the money by other means.  Asked last week about transit revenue tools, he replied: “I told you before, I don’t support any of that.”

On another matter altogether – Mayor Ford made the front page of today’s TORONTO STAR . . . March 26/2013

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