Category: Municipal Politics

It took a lot of excruciatingly boring repetition and alarmist claims in the news media over many weeks but we can now declare the Mayor Rob Ford affair to be officially boring. It took time. It was more than some people could handle. It has finally been resolved. Official boredom sets in when the media are at the point that they are interviewing each other. That is boring.

When there was nothing new for a few days, the e-mail must have gone out from the Toronto Star. It might have said something like: Hey fellow news outlets, our Publisher John Cruikshank is available for interviews on how the Toronto Star broke the story of Rob Ford and his crack use. It got him on lots of weekend shows. We saw him a couple times. The best was with Tom Clark on Tom’s West Block show, Sunday on Global.

The media have reached a point where this mutual admiration society can think of nothing new in a story but to congratulate each other for breaking the story. Cruikshank wants all the credit. He was unable to buy the original crack video but explained it away saying that the Star did not want to give that much money to (unnamed) drug dealers! Oh? Yet, they paid someone (unnamed) for a video of Mr. Ford cursing in an animated discourse about what he was going to physically do to some (unnamed) person. Exactly why the Toronto Star thinks it should pay for videos to embarrass the mayor of the city was not explained.

One surprising note on Tom Clark’s show was an interview with an articulate gentleman who explained why he would still vote for Rob Ford. That was creative. You probably think of Ford Nation as knuckle draggers and people who move their lips while reading the pictures in the Toronto Sun. This guy appeared to have graduated from high school and he made his case quite well. As a concerned liberal, we might argue the case with him but we respect his right to make it.

As for the Toronto Star, many Torontonians can explain to you that the Star does not seem to like Mayor Ford. It also appears that Mayor Ford does not like or trust the Toronto Star. The Toronto Star has even complained to the Integrity Commissioner at City Hall about the Mayor discriminating against the newspaper. Any professional public relations person working for the mayor would hope to heal this rift as the Toronto Star does have a major influence on a sizable number of Toronto voters. The problem might be that Mayor Ford does not listen.

But until the media comes up with real news, boredom has set in and nobody is really listening to anybody.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

That spectre that comes for you as your life flashes before you in death is your doppelganger. It seems totally fitting that the wraith Toronto Mayor Rob Ford should see is Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. And remember, your doppelganger does not appear as others see you but as you see yourself.

So why cannot Rob Ford see himself as tall, fit, sophisticated and well turned-out as Chief Blair? Or maybe it is because they might be brothers under the skin. And would not Rob Ford look better in a well tailored chief’s uniform? They both have much to answer for as they stand in wait for the ferryman at the River Styx.

When Bill Blair calls a news conference to malign and denigrate Toronto’s Mayor without charging him with any crimes, is that an honourable act? And if the mayor sometimes seems drunk and boorish while using crack cocaine, does he take this act to work with him? The guy has told you before that he is not perfect and you can certainly believe him.

But it is the Mayor’s twin, Chief Blair we should question more stridently. Where was the chief when his troops abused and disrespected the citizens of Toronto back during the G8 troubles? What ever happened to “Serve and protect” at that time? Since then, the man has brazened his way. He fails to understand that he has destroyed his effectiveness as chief and thrown his force into disrepute.

With Mayor Ford, what you see is what you get. The man was just as much a slob when elected in 2010. What has changed? He told you what he hoped to do. He might not have told you how. And note that he leaves it to his brother to attack Chief Blair before he confesses to using crack cocaine.

The Mayor of the city has no control over the Chief of Police. All he can do is speak out on items in the soon to be debated police budget. Is it to the Chief’s advantage to isolate the Mayor? Maybe it is if he believes the Mayor is going to attack his budget.

There seems to be little question that in recent years, the heads of our police departments have got their jobs more because of their political skills than their knowledge and skill at running an effective police force. Part of the problem might be some of the spineless, political appointees we get on the police services boards. This needs fixing.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

It is far too early for a morning line forecast on the race for the Toronto mayoralty but the key apparatchiks are in play. While nobody can legally be campaigning until they formally file early next year, there is a lot for the teams to do. The Toronto Star City Hall Bureau is trying to keep track as the teams form to challenge for the mayoralty in the October 27, 2014 election. The following are the Star’s guess at who might be candidates and who might be their key supporters—the comments are ours!

The only campaign that is already out there openly campaigning is incumbent Rob Ford. Legal or not, he uses his radio show to put forward his agenda and the news media are going along with his pumping his candidacy. His brother Doug will probably be his de facto campaign manager despite having a provincial campaign of his own to try to win. This next campaign is Rob Ford’s to lose and he has been working hard at that.

MP Olivia Chow is a desperate choice for mayor but could win given no other strong opponent than Rob Ford. If the mayor’s job was purely ceremonial, she might be able to pull it off. If you are looking for someone who can exhibit leadership and political savvy, you best look elsewhere. Conservative John Laschinger who is supposed to already be aboard the good ship Chow is a very able campaign manager and knows what needs to be done. The addition of NDPer Joe Cressy and Liberal Warren Kinsella spells confrontation and trouble. Cressy could run the ground game that the campaign needs but will not be too happy with taking orders from Laschinger. Kinsella has always seemed to us to be the ego that walks and he could bring the campaign the wrong kind of exposure.

Radio personality John Tory might have to settle for being the best mayor Toronto never had. You cannot get him elected against Rob Ford unless everyone else quits the race and gets behind him.

Karen Stintz has yet to show that she has the political drive to be mayor. It sounds as though she is playing Rob Ford’s game with subways and somebody has to convince people that his stand is irresponsible. With former MPP Greg Sorbara and Liberal apparatchik Don Guy behind Stintz’ campaign, she needs to check to see if she has some gas plants for them to cancel.

The Toronto Star staff person thinks former Councillor David Soknacki and Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong are also likely contenders. The Star writer must have a very vivid imagination.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Apropos a recent Babel-on-the-Bay story about our backward burghers of Babel who run our small city, there was a delightful story in the Toronto Star the other day about a different kind of poop. And if you think poop is poop, you have never wandered too far at the Toronto Zoo. It is all fecal matter but the animals at that great Zoo produce some 3000 tonnes of it per year. Now that might be small change to what the citizens of Babel can produce in a year but at least the Toronto Zoo knows what to do with poop when they have to shovel it anyway.

The story in the Star was about the new biogas plant the non-profit ZooShare Biogas Co-operative is building. The good news is that it is not costing the taxpayers a nickel. Smart Toronto Zoo members have already bought $755,000 in seven-per cent, seven-year bonds and the rest of the $2 million worth of bonds needed are going on sale to the general public. It is hoped the plant will be in operation by the end of 2014.

The point of this story is that the Zoo entrepreneurs know their chemistry. They know that poop by itself is not the answer. It is the same point that Babel-on-the-Bay tried to make with the burghers of Babel. The Zoo people have made a deal with a large grocery chain to take 15,000 tonnes of food waste off their hands each year. Combined with the animal poop, they have an effective biogas production that will provide revenues from electrical generation, hot water for heating, tipping fees from the grocery stores and the sale of high quality fertilizer. The Zoo is even going to get ten per cent of the revenues for supplying the land.

The difference when you use human poop is that we have these convenient sewage systems that direct the poop to just where it is needed without any shovelling. And, the point that Babel’s burghers cannot understand, you can add kitchen waste by the simple step of promoting garburators. People will be pleased to send you their kitchen waste without putting any strain on the delivery system. (It has been proved that garburators are only a problem in communities with combined storm and sanitary sewers.)

And even without garburators, why would we truck our green bin wastes more than 100 kilometres from town when the sewage works could better handle it. And why turn down an opportunity to increase your community’s ability to profit from increased production of heat and power and fertilizer?

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Babel-on-the-Bay knows that our readers are not very interested in parochial items about our modest little city here on the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. We are only telling you this tale as fair warning. The jewel of Babel has always been our beautiful beaches and the joys of bikini watching on hot summer days. It  is with heavy heart therefore that we advise you that after next year, when visiting Babel in the summer, you would be well advised to bring a gas mask with you should there not be an adequate off-lake breeze.

The backward burghers of Babel have ordained that there will only be every second week garbage collection starting in 2015. Desperate Babel citizens will be turning to any available dumpster, public waste receptacle or convenient ditch to rid themselves of their more odorous refuse in the weeks between collections. It will do little for Babel’s reputation as a summer playground.

But that does not seem to be the concern of Babel’s backward burghers on city council. These people only seem to do what city staffers tell them to do in any event. And city staffers are completely uninterested in the ideas and suggestions of Babel citizens.

Just try to provide these people with some good ideas. Last time we were at a city council meeting, we were showing them how they could earn more money from waste and help the environment. They were not interested.

We suggested that they could at least support the use of garburators in condos because they were not collecting green bins from these taxpayers. They wanted to keep the extra money, thank you. They had absolutely no interest in how garburators can enrich the methane production from sewage and add to the heat and power generation capability of the sewage treatment plant. Instead they choose to remain ignorant of the potential revenues and continue to burn off excess methane while heating the water of Lake Simcoe to the detriment of the lake environment and the fishing.

Babel could be a really fine town if it were not for the blundering burghers that get elected to city council and the ultra-conservative municipal staff that does things their way. Did you know that they still pay to truck the contents of the city’s green bins more than 100 kilometres from town to get rid of it—one of the best sources of renewable, clean burning energy?

And they have already proved that they consider condo dwellers as silent simpletons who willingly pay exorbitant taxes and are willing to receive little consideration in return. Maybe next year, during the municipal election, someone is going to realize the potential of those condo votes!

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

The pollsters are telling us that Olivia Chow can be mayor of Toronto after the next municipal election—more than a year from now. The only problem is that the polls are meaningless. They are based on too many suppositions. There are just too many ‘ifs.’

And who is surprised to see that polls show Rob Ford’s base vote is holding? What point is an automated telephone poll of a sample of voters when you know that less than four out of ten people will vote? And you have absolutely no idea what will motivate people to get out and vote a year from now.

All the polls show at this time is that there is a substantial anyone-but-Ford attitude in Toronto. The high figure for Chow is what is referred to as a ‘parked vote.’ These are respondents who know they do not want to vote for Ford and will indicate the alternative that is offered—even though they would not vote for that person if they thought about it.

It is just that it is far too early to think about it. Ask people where they are headed after Labour Day next September. That is when their opinions will start to formulate. It is when you hope that the number of voters who will vote for or against something specific will exceed the number of voters who vote because they are supposed to vote and have no clue as to why they are going to vote for Tom, Dick or Harriet.

Municipal elections in Ontario are nothing better than a crapshoot. They are easy to win if you are serious. They are a road hazard if your objective is to unseat someone. In an open race without an incumbent, the mathematics is easy. All you have to do is multiply each of you serious workers by 30 to 40 and that will tell you your vote number.

It is reported that Olivia Chow has even had a book produced in support of her campaign. The danger with that tactic is that the hardcover will probably be remaindered prior to the election. And it is extremely rare that type of book makes it into mass-market paperback. It all depends on how fictional it might be.

The one thing we know is that Olivia Chow is no leader. Ford has many more problems.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

The two-wheel cart known as a tumbrel was developed originally for agriculture work as it could be pulled by a single draft animal and the simple, two-wheel design made it easy to dump contents, such as manure. The carts came into renown because of their use to haul prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution. There would be a form of justice to use one to haul Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair before the courts for his actions during the days of the infamous Toronto G20.

While the Toronto Police Chief is hardly the only unindicted participant in the extremes of abuse of Canadian law at the time, he remains the loudest hypocrite. The police were under his command and he has never been called to account for it.

It does no good that finally one of his policemen has been convicted for using excessive force.  Despite Blair’s denials, the videos of the event clearly showed the brutality of the officer beating the citizen. And the other police in the video were allowing it. They were all equally guilty.

Blair’s police enabled and participated in inappropriate treatment of Canadian citizens. They failed to protect our citizens and our property when a few anarchists were running wild in downtown Toronto. The police had enough personnel available to set 100 trained policemen to capture and arrest each of those criminals and they stood back and watched. They used it as provocation against the curious, the gawker, the innocent and the citizen going about legitimate business. The police under Blair abused us all.

There is nothing new in the Police Services Board failing to do its job. It is a badly structured system of control. It can be a sham. Police like to be a power onto themselves.

But there must always be a time of accounting. Bill Blair, this is your time.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Toronto Council’s left wing councillors love to show off their power. And Mayor Rob Ford could not be a better foil for them. The only problem is that Toronto ends up without direction, leadership, ideas, or a future. It is a shame as it had the potential to be a great city.

There might be a bit of a bias in this. This is the city where we were born and where we spent our formative years after the Second World War. It grew so fast at that time and we were used to people living in their basement until the first floor of their home could be built. We understood the needs of rapid growth and the city accommodated it. Toronto built Canada’s first subway and ran a first class transit system. We built new roads and widened old ones, bringing in the additional labour we needed from Europe and the rest of the world. Our city might have been smaller then but it had an unlimited future.

But Toronto has developed a supposed left wing of council that today preys on the downtown wards. These are not people who care about people. These are people who realized their power under left-wing Mayor David Miller. They want to use that power for their own ends. Under a single, amalgamated government, Toronto has become a city divided. It is downtown versus the suburbs.

And with this growing dichotomy, came a reversal of roles. The downtown left-wing councillors became the preservationists, the conservatives. The suburbs continued the struggle for growth and relief from the city’s traffic congestion. A good example of the problem is that the left has no sympathy for the problems of air travellers and want to stop growth of the Island airport. Given the chance, the left will build barriers to the best business success story of Toronto in the 21^st Century. The city of Toronto needs Porter Airlines more than Porter Airlines needs the city. If the city lets the left wing of council fabricate alarms over jet noise and other potential problems such as pollution, it will be a cruel disservice to a great city.

The left wing is looking for Olivia Chow to take on Ford for the mayoralty next year and, without other options, she could win. That would be a very sad end to the long term growth of Toronto. All you need to do to understand the concern is check Chow’s voting record for the years she was on Toronto Council. This is no leader. This is not a progressive. Chow is the same problem as Rob Ford. You cannot turn an uninspired ward healer into an effective mayor.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]