06.25.2014 07:19 AM

#TOPOLI: what they’re saying about the T.O. mayoralty race

  • National Post: “Polls aside – who believes polls any more? – the general impression is that Olivia Chow started as the favourite with about a third of the vote, and is still there. By taking time of for rehab, Ford opened the way for fellow conservative John Tory, but the former businessman, civic activist and provincial party leader has failed to gain much ground.”
  • Toronto Star, reader comments: “[Rob Ford’s] completely delusional…I can’t wait for this city to be a Ford free zone…Please just go away.”
  • National Post: “Ask an average Torontonian where any of the candidates stand and you might get this: Chow seems like a nice person…Tory also seems like a nice person. His whole plan was to build a new subway line, but then he changed it to something else, something to do with GO trains. I think.”
  • Toronto Star, poll:  “Chow had 34 per cent support, Ford 27 per cent, Tory 24 per cent.”
  • National Post: “Tory, who should be breathing down Chow’s neck, suffers from vagueness. His campaign site reads like a corporate action plan: a binder complete with colour co-ordinated dividers with snappy titles and pledges to ‘find and eliminate the real waste at City Hall and invest in Torontonians’ priorities.’ OK, but how?”
  • Sun Media: “Last night, Olivia Chow unveiled two new radio ads in her campaign to win the job of Mayor of Toronto. The two ads are ‘attack ads’  and they go after the incumbent, Rob Ford. As far as attack ads go, they’re pretty slick and may make you chuckle.”
  • National Post: “Chow has several advantages: everyone knows who she is; she has the left-wing vote all to herself; her ideas may not be overwhelming, but they’re hard to criticize. Also, the other candidates, all being more conservative, have fractured the vote without managing to produce a clear alternative to Chow’s program.”
  • Torontoist: “Olivia Chow has her faults, she has never been one to speak meaningless drivel. Simply put: Rob Ford is a liar, and Karen Stintz is a hack, and Olivia Chow is neither of these things. We are not going to engage in false equivalencies just to make Chow appear as bad as those other two for the sake of ‘balance.'”
  • National Post: “[Tory] based his challenge largely on a pledge to end years of civic jabbering and finally build a new subway that would relieve the stress on the overcrowded, aging, existing system. But he couldn’t explain how he’d pay for it, then suddenly shifted to a new plan…While it might be a good idea, it complicated his own message and left voters wondering what happened to his original great idea and, once again, where the money would come from.”

 

4 Comments

  1. SD says:

    John Tory blew it on his “Smart Track” proposal. While there are good elements in it, before Mr. Tory presented his proposal, he made it seem like he supported a downtown/Yonge relief SUBWAY line. This line is essential in both reducing the number of people using the Yonge line and also serving the density of people who live near the proposed subway line.

    It also bugs me that John Tory supports the Scarborough subway extension along with the electrified GO train service from Scarborough to downtown Toronto. If I were living in Scarborough, I would take Mr. Tory’s electrified train to downtown Toronto before I take a Scarborough subway as the train would be faster. By taking the train, the proposed Scarborough subway extension becomes redundant and a white elephant.

  2. JH says:

    Attack ads? From a Dipper? Can’t believe it – be still my heart. LOL.

  3. david ray says:

    John Tory is the like the Leafs. Makes more turnovers than Pepperidge farm.

  4. Derek Pearce says:

    Tory just can’t help himself can he? My god how did he ever run Rogers– did he make a decisions and stick with them or not? Anyhow, I think the Torontoist quotation above is bang on, and sums up how most people in the city feel, hence she’ll do well even among those who aren’t Dippers.

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