[Dan416]

David Miller was a city councillor and a TTC commissioner before he ran for Mayor.

Sarah Thomson is so un-notable, that she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. It's hard to imagine someone running for the highest office in the city, who hasn't even achieved the lowest bar of notability going.

That being said, your correct, this is a democracy - and perhaps an intelligent, reasonable, candidate could come out of nowhere and win it ... given the general low calibre of any of the candidates. But I'm just not sure why anyone is taking her any more seriously than the other 26 candidates (or the other 22 perhaps ...). Particuarly after she has demonstrated just how ignorant she is, by using subway pricing that is so clearly unrealistic.

But what am I missing ... why are people taking her seriously?

I haven't even heard of a public transit strategy on the part of any other candidate. So she's ahead of the game. And she has to be if she, as a no-name candidate, expects to make a dent. It got her front page on thestar.com, so that's something. Everyone was an unknown at some point. Regardless of what Miller was before, I'd never heard of him before. I think the only candidate so far I've ever heard of is Smitherman (other than Giambrone who thank the Lords of Kobol dropped out).

 

[nfitz]

Are you telling me you haven't heard of Pantalone or Mammoliti; they've had plenty of media coverage over the decades.

 

[Dan416]

The names sound vaguely familiar. I'm not too familiar with Toronto local politics. I could name a bunch of Mississauga city councillors. But it doesn't mean they'd make good mayors.

 

[nfitz]

I'm not too familiar with Toronto local politics.

.

 

[Fresh Start]

Given that none of the lines she's proposing look like $200-million per kilometre lines, has anyone done the math, to see how many years of tolls on the DVP and Gardiner would be needed to pay for the $11-billion?

And with with a couple of dozen candidates running for mayor, are we taking this one that no one has heard of, seriously? What am I missing?

David Miller was a city councillor and a TTC commissioner before he ran for Mayor.

Sarah Thomson is so un-notable, that she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. It's hard to imagine someone running for the highest office in the city, who hasn't even achieved the lowest bar of notability going.

That being said, your correct, this is a democracy - and perhaps an intelligent, reasonable, candidate could come out of nowhere and win it ... given the general low calibre of any of the candidates. But I'm just not sure why anyone is taking her any more seriously than the other 26 candidates (or the other 22 perhaps ...). Particuarly after she has demonstrated just how ignorant she is, by using subway pricing that is so clearly unrealistic.

But what am I missing ... why are people taking her seriously?

Puh-lease. One word: Obama.

 

[kettal]

Obama was in politics for a decade. Sarah has no political experience.

I would personally support her if she was running for a council seat, but the last thing we need is a Mayor in office wondering "gee how do these city things work?"

 

[Dan416]

Maybe what this city needs is fresh blood and not the career politicians.

 

[picard102]

As for Thomson, I don't see the need to belittle her team's graphic design talent (or lack thereof). We should be looking at her proposals. Aren't we all taught to not judge a book by its cover and you know, examine waht she's actually proposed?

That's not how politics work though, esspecialy in the post Obama age. Her system is awful, and needs to be fixed stat before she prints signs or buttons.

 

[Ramako]

This is the #1 issue for me. I don't know who she is, but she has my vote locked up.

 

[oreoshack]

unless she turns out to be an utter idiot, she's got my vote as well... which is kind of sad. that we have to pin our hopes and dreams of a good subway system on this kind of candidate. why cant subway expansion be more of an issue for more mainstream candidates?

 

[DavidH]

This is the #1 issue for me. I don't know who she is, but she has my vote locked up.

You don't need to make a decision until October. If you like this plan, that's cool, but why not wait until you find out more about her?

The reality is that is that she is proposing that Metrolinx cancel projects that Metrolinx owns and Metrolinx (through the province) is funding. Before she says that she would do this, we need to know if Metrolinx would even be interested in making these changes at this date.

Overall, though, this makes a lot of sense to me, and I'd much rather see this happen than what we are getting. Hopefully her proposal sparks a serious debate. It would be great to see someone like Smitherman get onside with this or a similar proposal.

 

[adma]

The names sound vaguely familiar. I'm not too familiar with Toronto local politics. I could name a bunch of Mississauga city councillors. But it doesn't mean they'd make good mayors.

And other than Carolyn Parrish, I'll betcha none of those Mississauga councillors are any more "known" to Torontonians than Miller/Pantalone/Mammoliti are/were to you. Okay?

Anyhoo, w/Thomson, I wonder if she's betting on being the Martha Hall Findlay of the mayoral race...

 

[old boy]

Maybe what this city needs is fresh blood and not the career politicians.

Maybe it's wishful , but don't forget intelligent voters. It still starts here, doesn't it ? A career politician's worst nightmare.

 

[SimonP]

I would personally support her if she was running for a council seat, but the last thing we need is a Mayor in office wondering "gee how do these city things work?"

That's one of the weird things. Why didn't run for city council? She has a fine resume for that, and could easily have won one of the open seats. She could then run for mayor in four to eight years. Going immediately for mayor just makes her seem unhinged.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I think this is everybody's ideal subway network. (Including mine - needs way more stops on the DRL, though.)

This isn't just an ambitious plan, though - it's literally impossible. Raising billions of dollars in road tolls alone so the city can fund dozens of kilometres of subway expansion, all within a decade? That just shows how politically naive this candidate is.