The
Toronto Star’s fantastic transportation reporter, Tess Kalinowski,
reported on a new booster group, known as FAST (Friends & Allies of SmartTrack). Its spokesperson would be Alvin Curling, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and Speaker of the Provincial Parliament.
Other members of its Public Advisory Board include Kyle Rae, former city councillor who is now a City Hall lobbyist, and three prominent lawyers – Andrea Geddes Poole, Michael Brooks, and David S. Young. Also involved is one Tom Allison.
According to a press release, FAST claims it’s “here to advocate for SmartTrack and to educate the public about how it could make a huge difference in cutting congestion and moving people around the region.” It would raise funds “devoted to creating a variety of awareness campaigns such as town halls and informational videos.”
FAST’s website – launched today – is comically full of spelling and syntax errors, misinformation, and complete fabrications of basic facts. Here are just a few.
[...]
Updated: Councillor Gord Perks posted
part of the minutes from the April 22, 2015 Toronto Financial Group BIA meeting on Twitter We learn that SRRA,
the group that originally created SmartTrack, presented to the BIA; it involved in reviewing SmartTrack (where an independent firm would probably be more appropriate). The minutes also include a summary of a visit from John Duffy and Amber Crawford, of city hall lobbyists Strategy Corp. to discuss FAST. John Duffy was Tory’s campaign policy chair; in May, Duffy and fellow Tory campaigner Nick Kouvalis
were hired by Uber to lobby councillors at Toronto City Hall.
[...]
Today’s launch of FAST reeks of incompetence, and I snickered many times reading this website. But there are major concerns raised by the establishment of FAST. Why does an un-evaluated transit plan, albeit one with support from all three federal parties, need lobbyists to support it, especially if it was one advocated by the sitting mayor? Why is there a link to a John Tory for Mayor campaign website, if FAST’s press release states that the mayor “will not be consulted or have any direct involvement”? Why should a lobby group ask for non-refundable donations? Why is former provincial Liberal strategist and John Tory campaign manager Tom Allison involved, and what interests is he and the other lobbyists representing?
