Power and Politics, Oct. 25: The municipal edition
Peggy and I react viscerally to the news of an imminent Rob Ford win.
Clippage here, at about the 1:44 mark.
The last majority
Election Toronto: My take in the Sun
Here’s what a Rob Ford victory is going to mean for different political players.
But what of others? Who benefits from a Ford win? Who doesn’t?
- Dalton McGuinty — winner: Yes, you read that right. Ontario’s Liberal Premier wins because Ford will provide a living, breathing example of what will happen if Conservative Leader Tim Hudak somehow ekes out victory in next October’s provincial contest. I anticipate Ford will be who he has always been: A politician whose mouth gets him into lots of trouble — and a politician who has a chronic inability to get along with others. “Gridlock” isn’t a word that was invented in Toronto, but gridlock is what all of us will shortly be experiencing with Ford at the helm: He simply doesn’t have enough votes at council to do even half of what he promised. So who will step in to end the inevitable labour strife, and the gridlock? Dalton McGuinty, that’s who.
- Tim Hudak — loser: Hudak is a lifetime politician — he’s been in politics since he was in his 20s, in fact — and he therefore can be expected to know a thing or two about The Game. Hudak knows, for example, that we have a national memory of about five minutes. He also knows fear-mongering about the Mike Harris era is pretty tough do, because a huge number of new voters were in nappies when Harris was in power. Hudak knows, therefore, that every mistake Rob Ford makes — and he’ll make plenty — will be laid at the Ontario Tory leader’s doorstep.
- Rob Ford — winner today, but not everyday: Here’s the paradox about the Etobicoke-based mayor-elect: The very thing that won him the mayor’s chair is the same thing that will sink him. For a decade, Ford’s brand has been that of the angry, fed-up City Council outsider — the guy who refuses to go along with the rest of council. That “outsider” reputation obviously didn’t hurt him on Election Day. But it will hinder him in the months ahead — too many councillors just don’t like him. And the mayor always needs council to implement his agenda.
Woooot!
I’m in the Green Room at CITY-TV – they won’t let me leave – but I am happy, happy, happy that my friends Mary-Margaret McMahon, Jim Watson, Maurizio Bevilaqua, Eddie Francis, Josh Matlow and Denzil Minnan-Wong all won! Yahoo!
On the CITY bullpen thing, Andrew Coyne asked me if Rob Ford’s landslide portends bad times are ahead for Libs. Not a chance, said I. Federal and provincial Liberals won (or are leading) in Ottawa, Vaughan, Sarnia and so on. We’ll do just fine, thanks very much.
Besides, if the new conservative mayor in Toronto means bad tidings for Liberals, does the new liberal mayor in Calgary mean that Stephen Harper is going to lose his seat?
Not quite.
W@AL: Team Bussin, lawbreakers?
Well, yes, they are. Yet another reason to vote for Mary-Margaret McMahon!
The Municipal Election Act’s section 48(1), (2) and (3) say that you can’t, “directly or indirectly,” try and influence a voter at a polling place – that is, putting up one of your signs in the “immediate vicinity of a voting place.”
Sandra Bussin, and/or her team, dld that anyway. Add “lawbreaker” to their rap sheet!
(Sorry the “breaking news” soundtrack is so loud – this one was shot, edited and uploaded to the Interweeb all from iPhone 4.)
Addendum
No less than Sam Wakim and Pat MacAdam have written to me to tell me that Dief, not Romeo LeBlanc, was the source of the bear-and-rabbit-tracks parable in my column, below. I accept that is so, but it was Romeo who told me that one, and not Diefenbaker.
In any event: let the record show that I stand corrected!
Campaigns matter
Social D in TeeDot
SFH’s next gig announced!
Proceeds going to the legal defence fund for those facing Officer Bubble trouble!