crazed monkey

After almost a year, the Toronto election is finally over. And what an election it was! We were blessed with five leading candidates who had it all: experience, notoriety, charisma, strong (and oftentimes differing) political platforms, intelligence, and a passion for the city. Hell, if we could have somehow fused the best parts of each candidate together, the resulting entity would have been an unstoppable über-mayor. Instead, we chose David Miller which, some might say, is the next best thing.

Not only were the candidates the best Toronto has seen for many a year, but we couldn’t have asked for a more exciting run-up to the mayoral vote: Tom Jakobek deciding to run in the wake of the MFP leasing inquiry, allegations that Barbara Hall started raising funds before announcing her candidacy, John Nunziata’s bribe claims, the issue of the airport expansion, John Tory attacking David Miller on highway tolls, not to mention the dozens of debates!

I’d like to take a few minutes to congratulate a few people for helping to make this election a great and interesting one. Congratulations go out to:

• David Miller, of course, for running a strong and winning campaign.
• The top five mayoral candidates for giving Torontonians the most exciting election in decades.
• The remaining 40-odd mayoral candidates for taking the incentive to run for public office.
• The following people for running informative and interesting weblogs either focusing on the Toronto election or containing numerous insightful posts about election issues:
  • Andrew Spicer both for his poignant weblog and for assisting the winning Miller team.
  • Rick McGinnis for his last chance city which featured a special series on fringe candidates.
  • James Bow.
  • David Janes.

I also want to thank everyone who tuned into my weblog during the election. Thanks to you, my web statistics have grown tremendously, peaking on Monday to levels not seen since the days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. October was a banner month, bringing in 50% more visitors than the previous record, and November looks to follow suit. I only hope that I can maintain interest without an election to feed off of.

Posted on November 13th, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »

How long has Tom Jakobek’s campaign website featured a list of Toronto weblogs? (Specifically, how long has this weblog been on that list?) Many of the listed weblogs are pro-Miller, and not one of them supports Tom Jakobek’s bid. Did Jakobek’s team even take a few moments to read some of those links?

Oh well. Tom was never a contender anyway, although he gets a few points for recognising the weblog community.

Update: Tom Jakobek’s internet advisor responds, and rather nicely despite my being a complete ass:

As an internet advisor to Tom Jakobek I want you to know the reasons bloggers were included on www.tomjakobek.ca is because Tom recognizes the important role bloggers play in providing independant coverage of issues and a venue for dialogue. Yes the campaign has read the opinions expressed on the blogs and several have acknowledged the value of the policies and ideas Tom has put forward. We all want a better city, dialogue will help that happen.

Amen to that.

Posted on November 10th, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »

I have been against the fixed link to the Toronto City Centre Airport from the start, thinking that it would lead to further expansion of the airport. According to John Barber’s column in today’s Globe And Mail, that was the plan all along. (Thanks to Andrew Spicer for that link.)

However, John Barber’s column is far from the last word on the topic of the island airport. Earlier today, the Globe And Mail posted a follow-up article on their website with a response from the CEO of the Toronto Port Authority:

According to the statement, Ms. Raitt noted “all three parties to the agreement have clearly agreed from the outset that there would be ‘no jets’ and ‘no runway expansion’ at the TCCA. We intend to keep that promise.

So now the question is, who are we to believe? Air Canada Jazz, who are pressuring the Toronto Port Authority into opening the island airport to commercial jet service, or The Toronto Port Authority, whose current CEO says that there will be no jets? One thing is for certain: CEOs can leave their posts, but corporate pressure to increase profits and break into new markets is constant.

Note: David Miller is the only mayoral candidate completely opposed to expansion of the Toronto Island airport, including the creation of a fixed link.

Update: Andrew Spicer has dutifully written a follow-up to the above article.

Posted on November 8th, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »

If the $5.6 billion Tory deficit wasn’t troubling enough, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario is now attempting to spin it in their favour and, I kid you not, use it to smear the Liberals.

In a Friday news release entitled Promise Breakers: Promises Made, Promises Broken by the McGuinty Liberals, the Ontario Tories list six campaign promises that they claim the Liberals have already broken. Three of those six “broken promises” deal with the consequences of the Tory deficit, and all of them are evidence of the seething occurring within the Ontario PC Party.

One of the deficit-related broken promise claims deals with the decision to lift the artificial hydro cap which was imposed by the Tories and was costing Ontario $2-million a day. Naturally, if the deficit didn’t exist there wouldn’t be a need to quickly reduce expenditures. It is unfortunate that this promise had to be broken, but it is a necessary step considering the extenuating circumstances. Such a large deficit was completely unanticipated. The Fraser Institute pegged the deficit at $4.5 billion back in September, over a billion dollars less than the actual figure.

The second and third broken promise claims have been lumped into one item entitled (and I couldn’t even make this up if I tried) “Running a Deficit and Increasing the Debt”. The Tories, who again are responsible for our $5.6 billion deficit, are accusing the Liberals of breaking their promise to balance the provincial budget and not add to the provincial debt. Evidently an elected Tory government, faced with such an unforeseen deficit, would have quickly called for their legions of pixies and leprechauns to both eliminate that deficit and fund debt payments. In the absence of pixies and leprechauns, the Tories would have carried through with their plans to simultaneously cut taxes and increase government spending, all the while putting their fingers firmly in their ears when the mighty deficit came a-calling.

The Tories’ recent Promise Breakers news release demonstrates, to me at least, that they show no remorse for the burden they have placed on the province, and will attempt to use their own failings to point fingers at the Liberals. Ontarians are smart enough to see through this misrepresentation and, hopefully, will recall this release once the next election comes around in four years time.

Posted on November 2nd, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »

I mentioned yesterday how my weblog ranks high on searches for John Nunziata and John Tory. As it turns out, I received an offer earlier today promising six figures and a cushy job at City Hall in return for turning those high-ranking pages into ads for a certain mayoral candidate. Naturally, I turned the offer down as I refuse to act as a shill for a political figure, let alone six monetary ones.

I am turning the matter over to the Toronto Police for further investigation. Goodness knows why, as no doubt they have better things to do with their time. Those who made the offer know who they are. As such, I will not be revealing the guilty parties at this time. Instead, I leave it to my readers to make wild speculations and, in so doing, drag the political process into the mire where everyone is sure to be sullied.

Oh yeah, the candidate whose team made the offer; that person will be mayor.

Posted on October 28th, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »