Hey, for all those weighing in on the "who would be worse (or better, if you like): Ford or Tory" debate: I want to shift the emphasis of my point a little, because this is what it's really about for me: I don't want to see the Scarborough subway or SmartTrack happen, ever. They are both travesties that will f*ck Toronto over, albeit in different ways, with regard to making the right decisions about the limited amount of funds available for the transit the city desperately needs.
John Tory is pushing for both projects, and I believe he could make a lot more headway on them than the Fords ever could---in a way, it's a compliment to him. Like a lot of voters and councillors, I think he seems decent, intelligent and honest (enough). There is no comparison between him and Doug the human bucket of garbage juice. I feel quite certain that if Doug were elected, he would find some way to make the Scarborough deal come crashing down. I truly believe in his ability to f*ck things up completely.
Well, part of living in a democracy is accepting that sometimes your leader isn't the guy you voted for; most of the time that guy isn't going to be as obviously horrific as Rob Ford.
Scarborough subway isn't a travesty so much as it stupid and short-sighted, but it's also approved by council and while I'd opt for LRT, I think Tory's fundamental point is correct. It galls me that it's the decision they made but that debate was so horrible that the idea of going through it again to reverse course still strikes me as ridiculous at this point. You may disagree, but I think it's time to let that one go. Even if Olivia wins there is no guarantee she gets it through council and in the meantime everything is on hold. Again. Same as it has been for seven years already. I know LRT can still be built faster and there's something to be said for the idea that if you have to start over to get things right, dammit, you do it. I just think enough is enough.
SmartTrack is basically Tory's version of the already-in-existence RER plan the province is moving on. Oh, it's "marketed" for a Toronto-only audience, ignoring that the entire purpose of Metrolinx's existence is to make sure projects serve a regional network and not one municipality's narrow needs. So, I think Tory is smart enough to know that his financing plan is untenable and that there is no way it gets built according to his diagram. Toronto will work with GO/Metrolinx to co-ordinate the RER and DRL. There was actually a
good article about Metrolinx on Torontoist last week and, as it points out, Metrolinx is already working on a
regional relief plan that is looking at all of this.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that I think Tory knows a lot more than he is letting on in the campaign. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure he's got a good 30-40 IQ points on Doug and, quite sincerely, I cannot think of a single category in which Doug Ford beats him. Even if the leader is someone I disagree with (our PM comes to mind) I'd still rather s/he at least be intelligent and presentable. Doug won't have Rob's personal foibles (unless more comes about the hash era, which it could) but he'll be at least bad, and possibly worse, at actually governing. Policy aside, I think Toronto needs stable, sensible governance and I really don't care if it's Chow or Tory (though I've been leaning to the latter after seeing their campaigns). Doug would be a disaster and I wouldn't wish him on the city, out of spite or for any other reason.
I can't say I share it either. Having Ford as a mouthpiece of the city enboldens like-minded people to think that the actions of Ford are socially acceptable.
At this point I hope/think all those people are out of the woodwork. We know that 27% of the city (give or take) is just psycho, so at least we can put a number to it. A few years ago I would have just been taking a shot in the dark
