Category: Municipal Politics

A Brown Stain in Brampton.

by Peter Lowry

Did we hear rumblings from Hazel’s grave the other day?  I am sure we can have every confidence in current Mississauga mayor, Bonnie Crombie that everything will work out all right. What would upset the late Hazel McCallion though is the thought of giving anything to Brampton’s Brown.

It was when Doug Ford first suggested that he had every confidence that an amicable divorce could be conducted in separating Mississauga from Brampton and both municipalities from Peel County that I knew, if Hazel were still alive there would be none of that BS.

The first thing we all need to understand is exactly when Doug Ford kissed and made up with Patrick Brown? The former member of parliament from Barrie was hardly in Doug Ford’s good books back in 2015 when he won the Ontario conservative leadership with all of his signups from the India diaspora (immigrants from India).

How and when the deal was hatched to bring Brown down with allegations about inappropriate behaviour was obviously from within the conservative party in Ontario. Liberals in Barrie had been studying Brown from the time he won the federal election in Barrie in 2006. They decided that Brown had got lucky as a retail politician and could be defeated in a subsequent election.

That did not happen because of another conservative politician named Jason Kenney from Calgary. Kenney (already a cabinet member) took the young MP from Barrie under his wing. He showed him what could be achieved by earning the devotion of blocks of new comers to Canada. Then there was the first of many flights to the Indian sub-continent, at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, which greatly influenced the MP’s importance with the Indian diaspora.

It was the help of the Indian diaspora that enabled Brown to swamp the membership of the progressive conservative party of Ontario and win the leadership of the party.

Not all conservatives in Brown’s Barrie riding considered his tactics fair in winning the leadership. They used some very old and well proven tactics to unseat him—they accused him of improper behaviour with supposedly under-age females. (The subsequent refuting of these allegations did not restore him to the position of party leader.)

Looking for something political to do, Brown found that Doug Ford would not accept him as a provincial candidate for the conservative party. He therefore put his name forward for chair of Peel Region. (The county that includes the cities of Brampton and Mississauga, and the municipality of Caledon.) The conservative leader also blocked that attempt by cancelling the election of a Peel chair.

But Ford found no way to stop Brown for running for mayor in Brampton. In the same way as he had won the conservative party leadership, Brown got together with his organizers in the diaspora and told them to promise the Sikh and Hindi residents of Brampton (of which there are many) and promise them that more of Brampton’s parks would be converted to cricket pitches. He won easily.

If the premier had still wanted to mess with Patrick Brown’s political career, he needed to amalgamate Brampton and Mississauga. It would not only have solved the political problem, cost less for the taxpayers, but there would be a better balance of baseball diamonds and cricket pitches in the new city’s parks.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Who Are Bike Lanes For?

by Peter Lowry

I guess bicycles are not for children any more. When we were children, my younger brother and I explored our city of Toronto from end to end on our bicycles. It was my oldest brother and I who had autos take us off the road. I was hit from behind by a driver blinded by the sun. I landed in a ditch and was bruised but unhurt. My older brother landed face down on asphalt and carried the scars from his glasses for the rest of his life.

But why is city council promoting bike lanes in a city so obviously planned for automobiles? Why would they not relegate bike lanes to parks, ravines and other less traveled routes?

Are bike lanes only for the aggressive bicycle couriers taking shut-ins their dinner?  Is this the price Torontonians have to pay to have cheap delivery. There are many days in the year when snow, sleet, hail and heavy rain challenge the most determined cyclists. Smart cyclists park their bike for the winter and wait for spring.  

How are these bikers paying their share for these generous and protected bike lanes?

Do we have this backwards? Are bike lanes only paid for by the automobile drivers? Are our city taxes to pay for reduced access to the city by auto? Where is it that we collect the tolls for automobiles from elsewhere coming into our city?

Do we want our city to be a welcoming place for people to come to do business? To see a play, a baseball, a hockey or a basketball game? This is a city with wonderous entertainments, magnificent places to shop and the fine hotels and restaurants, for all pocket books.

Toronto is a great city today. It is no longer the slow quiet city of churches that it was in the 1940s and 50s. It is cosmopolitan, it bustles. It waits for no one. We no longer encourage our children to bike outside their known neighbourhood. We warn them off from areas where bicycles are stolen. The rule is, if you leave it, you lose it.

And they might as well learn that the bike lanes in Toronto are not for kids.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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It’s Democracy Stupid.

by Peter Lowry

It is surprising that only 102 people signed on to be mayor of Toronto, in this by-election. There are probably some people in the also-ran category who would make a pretty good mayor. Hey, I would run but I don’t want to waste the $200. I know that elections are fun. Campaigning is second nature with me. It is just that there would be very few people at my age in the race.

But it is not a bloated ballot. There are people who sincerely want to help. They have solutions for our city that should be listened to. My biggest laugh is in imagining marking a ranked ballot with 102 candidates on it. It is mind boggling. It would be mining the middle ground for sure. There were only 30 some candidates in the race when I wrote my morning line. Handicapping the top ten was difficult enough at that time. A ranked ballot with 102 names would be nothing but a name-recognition game.

To try to rank a ballot with that many names on it would be a disaster. It would probably end up electing someone with a name, voters are generally confident they could pronounce.       

I guess I can never argue against ranked ballots enough. If there are only five or six candidates, most ranked ballots are counted once and the winner is declared. The result is the same as first-past-the-post.

It is when you have ten or more people on the ballot that you are in danger of mining down to the least obnoxious candidate that very few people voted for as number one. What you have done through ranking is bring up the candidate who most voters rated as number three or four. It is when those voters realize how few wanted the person in the first go-around, there is dissention in the ranks.

With the conservative party proving my point in two out of three of their last leadership contests, it is hard to believe that the liberals in Ontario chose to use a ranked ballot. That is stupid following the dumb.

But when you charge a $100,000 entrance fee, it is hard to believe that more than a few potential candidates would be interested.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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‘Scarberia’ Scorned.

by Peter Lowry

When young and single, I was once seeing a young lady in the west end of Toronto. Driving home after another late date, I often thought about my drive through six municipalities from her home to mine. That was six councils, six fire departments and six police departments watching out for speeders such as me. I must have been among the early advocates of merging Toronto with its surrounding municipalities. I lived in Scarborough at the time and I never liked hearing it called ‘Scarberia.’

Scarborough was where I first got involved in politics. At the time Albert Campbell was reeve of the municipality and then mayor. He was a hard working and practical farmer and Ab taught me a lot about being true to the people you represent. I was part of the York-Scarborough organization that dominated Toronto area liberal politics in the 1960s and 70s.

Scarborough always was a community of working peoples’ homes and apartments, served by strip malls and shopping plazas. It was not until the Ford government showed its more affluent Etobicoke leanings that I realized that Mr. Ford was showing his bias. In a city that is busy building subways, Scarborough is still waiting for the Eglinton crosstown light rail transit line to be operational. And to add insult it is losing the Scarborough tram line that took people from the end of the Bloor/Danforth Toronto line to the Scarborough Town Centre.

It seems nobody was concerned when ordering the shut-down of the tram line. It means some 35,000 transit customers are faced with using slower and crowded buses to get to the end of the Toronto subway later this year

The only recourse in the upcoming mayoralty by-election is for Scarborough to get out on-mass to vote for former Scarborough MPP Mitzie Hunter. She is the only one in that long list of candidates who can solve the housing problems across Toronto and make sure Scarborough is part of the solution. She can make sure that Queen’s Park meets its obligations to all Toronto suburbs. She has the ties to get help from Ottawa for Toronto. Besides, she would be an effective mayor.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Toronto and Mr. Ford.

by Peter Lowry

Toronto needs a new deal with Ontario. And it deserves a better deal. At a time when municipalities across Canada are facing greater financial needs, Premier Ford has been using Toronto as his whipping boy. This new deal requires the recognition by the province that Toronto is not just a creature of the province but a partner. And if it cannot negotiate an effective deal with the province, it can seek recourse through the courts and from the federal government.

To put it simply, Toronto had been bullied and mistreated by the province long enough. It is time to stand up to the bullying. The Ford government simply cannot be allowed to bankrupt Toronto because of the relationships Mr. Ford failed to bridge when he was on Toronto council. With more than 20 per cent of the province’s voters living in Toronto, they will have their weight felt if the province will not give them a fair shake in financing their city’s needs.

It is wrong for the city to be constantly going ‘cap-in-hand’ to the senior levels of government and waiting to see what they will be given. That is not how the system is expected to work. The province cannot be allowed to throttle the city’s ability to finance its responsibilities and so cavalierly download more costs.

And Mr. Ford’s extension of the so-called super mayor power to Toronto is nothing but a sham. They are only extended on the condition that any use is approved by the premier. These are not super-mayor powers. These are powers only available to use with the premier’s permission and only applicable as long as the mayor is willing to kiss the premier’s bare behind in the middle of Nathan Phillips Square.

In no other major country in the world are cities treated in this manner. Throughout world history it has most often been the cities that ultimately brought peace, order and good government to their respective nations.     

What Mr. Ford fails to recognize is that the province is responsible for the proper management of the cities. And there is nothing more urgent than making affordable housing available—particularly in Toronto.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Toronto is My City.

by Peter Lowry

While today, I live an hour north of Toronto, I still consider myself a Torontonian and I worry about my city. From my present catbird seat, I see the errors, the overreaches, the meanness of Queen’s Park, the woke of my city, though many of the treasured memories remain frozen in time.

SkyDome is still SkyDome, where I watched the Blue Jays win back-to-back World Series. Maple Leaf Gardens at Church and Carlton remains the beacon of the National Hockey League. Did you know there was a cricket pitch at one time on the west side of what is now the site of Ryerson University. I saw some wonderful shows at the O’Keefe Centre. Jarvis Street is in a different world when you are delivering The Globe and Mail at 5 AM. The memories are many.

But it is what is happening to my city that worries me. What the hell is happening down at Ontario Place that my children loved and where my wife sang on so many summer evenings? And who said this winter city needed bicycle lanes on main arteries when there are under-used valleys, the Toronto Islands and wonderful parks to enjoy on a bicycle. The Gardiner Expressway and the Allen Ditch are sad reminders of what might have been efficient highways in and out of the city.

When I was born in the 1930s, Toronto was a dull and forbidding city. I watched it grow and its mind-set change. New employment was there for the returning soldiers and newcomers after war two and new attitudes were accepted. We became more secular and rejected past bigotry. We could talk to strangers. We watched Chinatown grow and shopped in Little Italy. Bowles Lunch gave way to foods of the world. Pasty white was no longer the dominant skin colour at Sunnyside Pool.

We welcomed York University and watched the community colleges fill with our progeny. Movies were being made with our city as the backdrop as we added sound stages for burgeoning talent.

To our surprise, Toronto has become a tourist destination with the size and impact of our celebrations of our world. Our city today has become a business and financial centre of note. We have a city of millions and they are the world.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Toronto Mayoralty Morning Line.

by Peter Lowry

This is the most tentative morning line we have ever prepared. These horses have different types of work-outs. Some are running out of their class. We are only rating 10 of the 65(?) registered candidates. If the candidate is missing from our 10, you know we consider the individual a 100 to one, really long shot.

Here are the top ten:

  1. Ana Bailão            3 to 1

If you were Toronto mayor, you would want this candidate on your team. This might just be bad timing on her part. To drop out and then jump back in for the by-election seems to be a mistake and there is no prize for second place. 

  • Brad Bradford      6 to 1

We would put him on the right-wing of council. He is not the type to lead and he has too many other right-wing candidates to climb over. 

  • Olivia Chow          3 to 2

Name recognition and lack of other NDP candidates puts this candidate in a strong position. Her only problems are that she is 66, been out of politics too long and is from a past generation of NDPers in Toronto. Her chance of winning depends on a poor turn-out among suburban voters.

  • Rob Davis             12 to 1

We are not sure why this conservative is running in a field of too many conservatives. He does bring some experience to the plate. Just not enough.

  • Anthony Furey      15 to 1

If there is one thing we love about Toronto is that it has never fallen under the control of the far-right wing of politics. Toronto is a ‘live and let live’ city and Mr. Furey is not.

  • Mitzie Hunter       4 to 1

Mitzie Hunter is likely the best suited to help fix some of Toronto’s major problems. Her experience in running Toronto Housing Corporation, her years at Queen’s Park and her contacts with the federal government make her ideally suited to getting things funded and moving. All she needs to do is get her strengths across to the voters. 

  • Giorgio Mammoliti          14 to 1

Another conservative in the running. He couldn’t get elected mayor in Wasaga Beach. Toronto hardly needs him.

  • Josh Matlow                   9 to 1

The trouble-maker of council, Matlow needs to learn how to play nice with staff at city hall. Making friends might not be his strong suit. 

  • Anthony Perruzza           20 to 1

It is hard to figure out why this gentleman is in the running.

  1.  Mark Saunders              13 to 1                 

The last and the least of the conservative candidates, the former police chief is still seeking a second career in politics. He has much to learn about politics.

When reading this, the wife asked me if there was still time for some big name to jump into the race and maybe win the prize?

I assured her, first of all, that this job is no prize. Yes, there are still a few days for John Tory to say “All is forgiven” and jump back into the stew. He could win!

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Mayday, Mayday.

by Peter Lowry

Being ex-Air Force, ‘Mayday’ has always been a signal of distress for me. It seems that the real distress at this time is the Toronto mayoralty shenanigans. If I was still a Toronto ratepayer, I would sue John Tory for the millions this by-election is costing. Being a human male and preferring female companionship is hardly an excuse for him to quit and inflict this expense on the city.

There are some 50 people running around Toronto today who think they have a chance at being mayor of the city. At least one of them will but I am waiting for May 5 to announce the odds on possible winners. These public opinion polls that are periodically announced are not helping. They seem to keep the media happy as they can blame the polls for their choices of campaigns on which they can lavish their attention.

The only reason Olivia Chow is leading the parade of losers, according to the pollsters, is because she has the name recognition. It does not necessarily become votes on election day. What votes she does have are the diehard NDP votes in the downtown area. She has never endeared herself to the suburban voters and they can outvote the NDP if they are not spread across too many opposing candidates.

Another loser with name recognition is the former policeman. Saunders should have recognized his dismissal as a candidate for elected office when he ran as a conservative for Mr. Ford in the recent provincial election. I think Ford already regrets that endorsement.

It looks like Matlow made a mistake in not running as a conservative. He could have parlayed his experience at city hall into a better base vote playing to the Poilievre faction of the federal conservatives.

It looks like those votes will go to Bradford. It would certainly hurt Toronto’s chances getting better funding from the Ford Tories and the Ottawa liberals if an extreme right-wing candidate like Bradford won the mayoralty.

I am still trying to dope out Ana Bailão’s constituency. Without a base vote she has a tough challenge to pass better known candidates.

In the same way, I am waiting for Mitzie Hunter to demonstrate her organizational strength. I would also like to hear from some random voters who feel motivated. More to come..

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Flying False Flags.

by Peter Lowry

With 50 people running for many different reasons for the mayoralty in Toronto, one of the problems is finding out which political party each represents. I know there are not supposed to be political parties at city hall but if you barred all members of political parties from the chamber for a council meeting, the council chamber would look very empty.

And there is a simple reason for this. Where do you think council candidates get the physical help they need?  The easiest answer to that is you need a group of people who know how to call on their neighbours, ask them to support their candidate in provincial and federal elections and then help them get to the polls on election day.

While using the same boundaries for federal, provincial and municipal elections saves some money, Doug Ford was malicious when he forced Toronto councillors to stay with the federal boundaries when he became premier. The councillors had cut the wards in half in hopes of easing their workload. Ford was just getting even with them for the way they had treated him and his late brother Rob Ford.

The smaller wards would have enabled some independent candidates to win without assistance from a political party. That also was a lost cause.

The other side of the party coin is whether a candidate is or is not an active supporter of the party he or she claims to support. Neither federal nor provincial liberals currently charge a membership fee and all you have to do to be called a liberal is get your name on the e-mail lists to be continuously asked for money.

Frankly, councillors Ana Bailão and Josh Matlow, who claim to be liberals must be from some right-wing pocket of the party that I have never noticed. I think they looked at the lists and noted all the conservatives in the running and decided there were some openings to run as liberals.

Mitzie Hunter is the proven liberal in the race, giving up her seat at Queen’s Park to be able to run for mayor. It might come down to a race between NDP Chow and liberal Hunter. We will have to wait and see.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Leaning on Labour?

by Peter Lowry

It has always amused me that the news media, depending on their leanings, are always reporting what labour groups are supporting what parties or candidates in elections. The assumption that the labour movement only supported the CCF and then the NDP always was fiction. The only way the labour vote helped conservative Doug Ford in the last Ontario election was by staying home and not voting.

But in the June vote for a Toronto mayor, it will be the post-election analysis of some polls in certain electoral districts that will provide the answers. I have found over the years that there is no certain point in an election that people on the cusp make a decision or decide not to make a decision. I see it as a drift. It is the 30 to 40 per cent of voters who are not committed to this or that party or candidate, who hold the answers. Many of them just go with the flow. Some lose interest and fail to vote. And then there are others striking out to seek change. It was usually at the door where you can catch it. It was always the campaign manager who did not get out and canvas some doors during the campaign, or who did not know how to debrief their canvassers, who did not see it coming.

Hoped for union support, as well as seeking public approbation, was very much in evidence at the recent announcement in St. Thomas, Ontario. The proposed Volkswagen battery plant could have a major impact on the economy of south-western Ontario and both premier Doug Ford and prime minister Justin Trudeau came to have the TV publicity lights shine down upon them.

Meanwhile, back in Ottawa, Canada’s largest government union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is striking across Canada for a little more meat on the dinner table. And Mr. Trudeau did not seem worried.

I haven’t done my analysis yet for my morning line but I expect NDP candidate, Olivia Chow will be among the top four or five contenders. She finished third in 2014 behind John Tory and Doug Ford. She could take another step back this time.

My sense of the Toronto by-election, at this time, is that this will be a younger persons’ game. There is an interesting dichotomy developing between the younger generation in the suburbs and the younger people in the downtown condos. I think this is their election. Prepare to be surprised.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]