We live in an era when governments have a greatly-diminished ability to do big things.  That’s why Doug Ford’s multi-billion-dollar transit announcements today are so unusual – and even shocking.  You just don’t see governments thinking big anymore.

So, what does it all mean for Toronto – and the guy I support, John Tory?

Quick thoughts:

• Well, I think it’s the first time the government of Ontario agreed with – and committed to support! – Tory’s transit priorities.  (Which, coincidentally, were endorsed just yesterday by the Mayor’s Executive Committee, and which help Tory secure nearly $5 billion in federal funding, right now, for transit expansion.)
• It’s a honking’ big win for the city – and it’s a direct result of the Mayor’s ongoing talks with the Premier.  And I can tell you their relationship, too, is better than it has ever been.
• So, I can heretofore reveal that the Mayor met with the Premier a couple weeks ago.  He was pretty clear with Doug that, on transit, the city can’t get, er, off track again. (Smart Track, off track, geddit?)
• John told Doug that he wanted the province to continue moving forward on big parts of the funding for the relief line, John’s SmartTrack, the Scarborough Subway, and the Bloor-Yonge Subway Station Expansion.
• So, to today.  Today’s big announcement I think showed that John has Doug’s support for his priority projects.  And, clearly, a commitment to working together.  No John-bashing was to be heard at Doug’s big announcement.
• We’re not in the promised land in Toronto, yet, of course.  There’s a bunch of questions that need to be asked.  Such as: Doug’s proposed changes to plans currently in place for the Relief Line, the Scarborough Subway and the Eglinton West LRT, and how those changes will impact progress and timelines.  Good change is good – but not if it means yet more delays, as John has told Doug.  Delays = bad.
• Anyway. The only place the city will get answers is at the table, working together with Doug to build as much transit as possible, as quickly as possible.  Which makes sense – because the only times Toronto has historically made any progress on building transit is when all three levels of government are working together.  No Mayor, Premier or Prime Minister can do it all alone.

That’s where I think John Tory’s personality helps out.  Doug doesn’t like Justin; Justin clearly doesn’t like Doug.  There’s only one guy with the skills to bring them together to get the big announcements to happen.

And that’s John Tory.

 

 

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@JustinTrudeau’s attacking @AndrewScheer for being a white supremacist. You know: the same @JustinTrudeau who defamed, demeaned & destroyed two minority women, @Puglaas and @MPCelina, because they opposed the efforts of a bunch of white men to obstruct justice. #LavScam #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/ZqiOjjcKzE

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) April 10, 2019

Oh, and @JustinTrudeau condescended to, and insulted, an indigenous woman who dared raise her voice at a Liberal Party fundraiser a few days ago. And he joined in when others laughed at her. A real paragon of tolerance, Justin is. #cdnpoli #lpc #cpc https://t.co/BNRWitpk1h

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) April 10, 2019

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Uh boy: head investigator of agency conducting #SNCLavalinScandal probe is sister-in-law to a Liberal cabinet minister. https://t.co/s9NOSO8BTY #cdnpoli @DuffConacher @DemocracyWatchr @DLeBlancNB @CIEC_CCIE pic.twitter.com/U7TEA4X6Xk

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) April 9, 2019

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Right here.

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My God I love Jane and Jody.

BREAKING: Jane Philpott says Justin Trudeau violated the law when he expelled her and Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal caucus. She says the Parliament of Canada Act says MPs can't be kicked out of their party groups without a vote and Trudeau ejected them on his own.

— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) April 9, 2019

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Trudeau’s minister responsible for democratic reform – whose first announcement was to announce there wouldn’t be any democratic reform – is now desperately attempting to change the channel away from LavScam, and making worried noises about Facebook and its ilk.

Would this be the same minister/government who:

• Welcomed the unregistered lobbying of a Facebook exec who used to work with their party?
• Hires chiefs of staff from places like Google with zero regard for possible conflicts of interest?
• Refuses to make the Liberal Party of Canada subject to the data privacy law it has imposed on everyone else?

Yeah, they’re one and the same.  And they’re still full of shit.

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(By Yeats, naturally.)

‘In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms.’
THOMAS MANN.

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics,
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there’s a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war’s alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms.

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Kudos, Zuckerberg!

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