Category: Municipal Politics

Issues often make strange bedfellows. You would have thought that the entire left wing of Toronto Council would have voted with Mayor Ford on Monday. Instead, most of these people just reacted to the mayor’s position rather than taking a position of their own. Anyone who believes in democracy was expected to bite the bullet and vote with Rob and Doug Ford to have a civic by-election in Etobicoke this fall. They did not. Democracy was defeated.

It was like when their narrow minded hypocrisy denied Toronto a casino. That was one of the left-wing’s more telling moments. There were holes bigger than a football field in the mayor’s position but all the left wanted to do was vote against him. Instead of looking intelligent, they just made sure that Toronto lost. And Toronto lost a great deal. Forcing people to travel out of town to legally gamble was narrow-minded and costly. Leaving illegal gambling places in backrooms around Toronto was pandering to criminals. Their actions were ignorant, anti-democratic and paternalistic. And now they have proved it again by refusing a by-election to replace former Councillor Doug Holyday.

And what was the point? What did they save the city? What did it mean in a city with a budget of close to $10 billion? If this was about a matter of some six or seven months, it would be silly not to appoint someone.

But the voters now have more than a year of not being represented properly. Who was speaking for them in that hollow debate?

Frankly, this writer would never have voted for Holyday as a councillor let alone then help elect him to Queen’s Park. Giving Tiny Tim Hudak one more voice of negativity in the Conservative caucus at the pink palace was a waste of time, effort and proved nothing. Voters will be back at the voting places within the year to hopefully make a decision for Ontario.

And next fall, Toronto voters can make a judgement on Rob Ford. A single, strong opponent should be able to take him. He has no overwhelming support. What he has is a rather ignorant base vote that has a low opinion of politicians anyway. In the cynicism department, Ford is a winner.

But Toronto needs leadership. Hopefully this can be intelligent leadership. It can hardly be left in the turmoil of a confused future. We know that Ford has no future. And nobody can effectively lead that unruly mob on the left.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

“For some individuals, gambling is a devastating problem,” says the Ottawa health unit. From this you can deduce that the unit is somewhat negative about the siren lure of casinos. This is in response to a recent question about casinos from the city council. With this level of response to casinos, would you dare ask these people about bars?

Since the Ottawa council had already decided in favour of another casino, this particular response was not taken too seriously. Yet it makes you wonder about the paternalistic attitude of our public health units. Having heard similar responses from other health units where they use alarmist tactics to try to stop casinos, you wonder where they get off condemning different aspects of human nature.

People gamble. It’s fun. It’s a rush. The only problem is that in Ontario casinos one sees very few smart gamblers. And, regrettably, there are some who need to know their limit and play within it. What is the most common failure of Ontario gamblers is that while they might know how to play the particular casino game, they have absolutely no understanding of the odds they are dealing with or how to manage their money to take advantage of those odds. And the casino operators are the last people to want to tell you.

What these health units should do is collar these problem gamblers and instead of castigating them for their very human weakness, they should teach them how to protect their money while indulging in gambling. It is the same logic as when you give someone a fish, it lasts through dinner; if you teach them how to fish, they are fed more often. And it is not as though there are large numbers of gamblers to teach. It would hardly be as huge a task as teaching binge drinkers how to drink.

What these problem gamblers need to learn is that the casino is not their friend. They have to understand that the casino is constantly devising ways for them to lose more money faster. This is not a malevolent practice. As long as the gambler knows that the casino is there to make money and not give it away, it goes a long way to ending problem gambling. Of course, since the casinos will always be coming up with new ways to separate the gambler from his money, the health unit will have to update its training programs to counter them. This is a win-win situation for everybody.

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 A THANK YOU

Babel-on-the-Bay thanks its readers who sent e-mails pointing out an error in yesterday’s blog. Yes, the company once known as Research in Motion, renamed itself Blackberry some time ago. Other than that error, your writer stands by the comments about the company and Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

You sometimes wonder where Toronto voters parked their brains when they elected Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto. What was understandable throughout that mayoralty campaign was that they wanted to vote against what was happening. The voters were searching for somewhere to park their votes. In this weird Monopoly Game of city politics, Rob Ford offered the “Free Parking.”

But the voters get what they pay for. You do not know whether to blame the ignorance of the voters or the stupidity of the news media but Toronto has an archaic and unworkable system of government. For a city of over two-and-a-half million to elect a mayor at large and independent councillors from 45 fiefdoms every four years is a guarantee of constant turmoil and confusion.

City Hall in Toronto is a zany zoo where the keepers try to control the inmates as best they can. It is only the ability of the civil servants to con the councillors that allows the city to function. Staff makes the important decisions but throws the good lines to the elected so they can look like they are earning their outrageous salaries.

The current system was what elected Mel Lastman as the first mayor after Premier Michael Harris foolishly amalgamated the city for all the wrong reasons. After the experience of Mel Lastman, city voters figured it hardly mattered who was mayor.

But nobody deserves Rob Ford. He and his twin-like brother, Doug, are a couple of pseudo Libertarians who rode into town from out west in Etobicoke and seem somewhat limited in their understanding of smart politics, good manners, social graces or common decency. Rob Ford is the grosser member of the team and never seems to buy clothes that fit him.

And why the mayor of Toronto was wandering around the Danforth alone during a street festival the other day was a matter of some wonder. The street festival was about the fun and tastes of Greek food and here the mayor seemed to be very much under the weather of the “two” beers, he said he had consumed. Where were his keepers?

Before Toronto becomes the laughing stock of North America for its selection of chief magistrates, someone is going to have to lead the charge to fix the problem. And it is not just the people but the system that has to change. If Toronto had better government structure and a way to hold politicians to their promises, the voters would never have picked Rob Ford. It is the present system that encourages the buffoons.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

It is the perfect scenario. Olivia Chow steps down from her job as MP next year. She runs for Toronto mayor. Chow loses. Toronto wins. Chow retires from politics. Toronto wins.

Could you think of a better win-win situation? It might disappoint some New Democrats and leave a few pundits with egg foo yung on their face but they will certainly deserve the ridicule they receive.

The question none of the experts or pundits are prepared to answer is just what does Olivia Chow bring to this banquet? Name recognition is not enough. In 27 years in Toronto politics, Chow has no identifiable accomplishment to her name. She is not a leader. She is not even a very daring follower. She is certainly no political strategist. And if you think she is a consensus builder, you should find out what she has built.

Some people work hard. Some people work smart. Olivia Chow can do neither. A nine-month campaign for mayor of Toronto would grind your Chow down to a Chihuahua.

Look at the job. A Toronto mayor has to sort out a motley council and find a few allies who will work for power. The rest will sit back and wait for their opportunities to tear the incumbent mayor to shreds. At the same time, the mayor can fall back on potential allies on city staff. Put the right mix of staff and political allies together and you can make the system work. It can work for you if you are not too ambitious. There are few progressives at city hall.

At the very best, Olivia Chow could get sympathetic support from the left wing of council. These left wingers are against more than they are for. And they are concentrated downtown. It would take just one term to thoroughly alienate the suburbs. It could resurrect a Rob Ford.

Making a city of over two million people work requires leadership and political structure. The voters need to know ahead of time what people are going to do in office. Some day, a smart politician will go around the different city wards and make some deals. He is going to give a bunch of ward candidates green shirts and say to the voters: “Vote for the guys in the green shirts and vote for me and you will get good government, lower taxes and a chicken in every pot.” Not everyone will believe this candidate but it sounds a hell of lot better than what city voters have today.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

The subway versus Light Rail Transit (LRT) to the far reaches of Scarborough is an argument at Toronto City Hall with little common sense to it. What we are hearing is not a cogent conversation as to the pros and cons of one system over the other. One side of the issue seems to be reacting to the other side and neither is making sense or headway. And neither side is about to capitulate.

It will certainly not be Mayor Rob Ford who surrenders. You might not want to put high value on his arguments—or lack thereof. The problem he presents is that he seems to be seeing further into the future than the LRT proponents. He is arguing for capacity that will not be needed until years after he is gone. And there is no question but subways have the capacity that Toronto is going to need in the future,

But his plan is about 100 years too late. If Toronto’s planners of the 1920s had all had the verve and vision of those who knew to design the Prince Edward Viaduct ready for subway cars, Toronto would be the envy of the world today.

But the reality is that the Toronto of today is behind the curve. The city’s infrastructure is crumbling as time has passed it by. Costs keep skyrocketing as politicians dither.

You can blame some of this on the group of shallow and callow city politicians that make up the left wing of council.  This group is vitriolic in its attacks on anything proposed by what they consider the pompous right. They seem to want a pyrrhic victory over any progress for their city. They destroyed the opportunity for Woodbine to finally have a casino with their narrow minded cant. They dishonour the left who left them there.

But, despite their narrow-minded support, LRT is a solution for the long reaches of suburbia. The Eglinton Avenue mix of below and above ground LRT is an ideal solution to mid-range, long-run, frequent stop transit that would be prohibitively costly if configured as a subway.

Any city planner can tell these foolish politicians that there is no one ideal answer to meeting the needs for an accessible city. It is the mix of solutions that bring people together and send them home safely at night.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

It came as a surprise when reading all the self-congratulatory stories in the Babel Backward (our name for the Toronto Star’s local grocery-flyer wrap, Barrie Advance). We found out that the credit for exposing the Prime Minister’s Office to the ridicule it deserved is being claimed by the publication’s editor in chief. This is the first time we discovered that it had anyone to edit anything. Earlier this week we were considering sending the publication a strong letter-to-the-editor about the quality of its editing, or lack of it.

It was regarding a business story headlined “Cogeco up and running in Barrie.” Can you imagine a story that literally says: “the Cogeco Data Services centre measures 60,000 feet…” Wow, that is more than 18,000 metres! Is it up or sideways? Just think of the difference an editor could make by adding one word. It would have been much clearer if the reader saw that it was 60,000 square feet. What would have made even more sense was to tell the reader that it is about the area of a medium-sized supermarket or of a football field..

But that is just a minor quibble in the story. There are another five egregious writing errors in only 31 centimetres of copy. Cogeco Data Services and its public relations firm must be wondering who invited that reporter. There is absolutely no excuse for writing about something you do not understand. A good writer is not just a word smith but a good researcher. If you do not know, you ask.

To include that the building meets the LEED Gold standard without explaining LEED, is insulting to your readers. LEED, by the way, is an environmental standard that includes such things as efficient use of exterior light and low volume flush toilets. It is a standard promoted by the United States Green Building Council.

And there is a quote from Cogeco Data Services’ president that says “The facility, by the time it’s filled in five years, will be over $85 million.” Is that aggregate cost, annual revenues, or some measure of value? Surely the president said something more?

But that is not as bad as making Babel’s mayor sound like he had trouble graduating from Grade 8. With a masters degree from the London School of Economics, the mayor is hardly about to say: “This data centre will make us more competitive because it will allow you (sic) to offer companies state-of-the-art technology that isn’t available anywhere.”  We have no idea just what is meant by that statement.

But we Babelites do appreciate the grocery flyers that come with the publication.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

MP Olivia Chow’s campaign for the Toronto mayoralty might be peaking too soon. Any political apparatchik can tell you that the time for a campaign to peak is when people are heading for the polls—not more than a year ahead. The municipal election rules say nobody can campaign for election to city council before registering as a candidate. And you cannot register until January, 2014. These rules do not seem to apply to the Toronto news media.

The Toronto Star editors think the newspaper has already elected Olivia Chow to replace Rob Ford as Toronto mayor. Luckily, Toronto citizens will still get their say in this matter. They can do much better than Olivia Chow. She would be likely to get a nice sympathy vote as the widow of Jack Layton but that can never replace leadership or a realistic program. Anyone who has followed Olivia’s less than sterling political career would wonder why she would run for anything.

Before you point to the meaningless polls that show she would be preferred over Mayor Ford, surely you realize that your cat would get more votes than Ford at this point in his career. Rob Ford is at a low point at this time. Whether he will still be suffused in claims and counter claims at this time next year, only the Toronto Star can hope.

The trap of opinion polls is that the people conducting them have a special problem getting the opinions of younger voters. Those that are reported tend to be given more weight than their actual voting intentions. What this means to the politico is that unless you have a well funded, well managed social media and activity plan to enthral and motivate younger voters, you can forget them.

And in Toronto, you have to take into account the basic communities that make up a city of more than two million. Olivia Chow would get a fairly strong vote in the downtown areas where the New Democrats hold sway but she would hardly do as well in the suburbs where Conservative and Liberal voters hold the cards. There is also something of a pendulum effect in Toronto voting and next year is the left of centre turn but just not as far left as Olivia.

It seems obvious that we have no idea who will be the best bet to beat Rob Ford next year. Maybe the man will have an epiphany and will recant his former ways—lose weight and turn left. Maybe Ford will hire Hazel McCallion from Mississauga as his campaign manager. She has forgotten more about politics than Rob’s brother Doug knows.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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