The problem is that we sometimes get what we ask for. On February 10 this year Babel-on-the-Bay was pleased to note that John Tory would be running for mayor of Toronto. The tell-tale signal was that he was sporting a new toupée. That was a most worthwhile investment. It carried him through the campaign in fine style.
But all is not roses.
What we always added to any comments about John Tory was that he is a card-carrying Tory. There was nobody else in the running who could defeat Rob Ford. Olivia Chow’s supporters did her in. And she is no leader anyway. That does not excuse John Tory for not considering a better balance to his executive committee. It is a perk of the mayor to make the choices. To ignore the centre and left of council in favour of a bunch of old and tired Tories is a bad call. Tory needs to hold out an olive branch to the left wing. He is going to need their help over the next four years.
Considering the messes left by the Ford administration, Mayor Tory cannot fix them without cooperation. He has to get the left wing to hang up their bicycles for the winter and concentrate on Toronto’s real transit problems. He needs to have the right wing of council paying attention to the shocking conditions for community housing tenants and agree to a make the repairs and help in doing the planning.
What everyone on council has to recognize is that there is a growing strain on the city’s food banks as more and more people are coming to them for help. The province and the city have to recognize that the recent increase in the minimum wage came nowhere close to helping people in Toronto and either the province is going to have to make separate rules for Toronto or let City Council address the problem.
Toronto can be a wonderful city. Like a really beautiful garden it takes continued efforts to keep it growing and looking good. Torontonians elect politicians at three levels of government, each in their own sphere, who need to pay attention to this city’s problems. The focus for this is the city council lead by its elected mayor. The mayor has almost 100 elected councillors, MPPs and MPs to call on to help him do the job.
Okay Mayor John Tory, get to work!
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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