[sno man]

I'm getting very bored of the gas plant becoming the Canadian Benghazi, something the right brings up (typically grossly oversimplified into easily digestible talking points) any time one of theirs is in trouble.

I'm still trying to figure out why the (not dissimilar vote pandering and similarly priced) Scarborough Subway isn't getting the same 'vote getting waste of tax payers money' hate as the gas plant cancellations.

 

[freshcutgrass]

Wynne is a hypocrite with her holier-than-thou attitude given her involvement in the $Billion gas plant scandal.

Bah...the Liberals will take their lumps over the whole thing. They won't like it, but at least they aren't total lying sacks of shite like Ford. Wynne is WAAAY more of a man than Ford is.

I'm still trying to figure out why the (not dissimilar vote pandering and similarly priced) Scarborough Subway isn't getting the same 'vote getting waste of tax payers money' hate as the gas plant cancellations.

Considering the scale...perhaps even worse. What's Ford's transit cancelation tab up to now...is it over $200 million? The worse part is, we would have been better off with what was canceled.

 

[evvabeing]

Fordtacular Spectacular!

depicts a blimp-like Canadian politician facing a media circus at Toronto City Hall as his scandal explodes, has sparked a bidding war among North American buyers, according to cartoon studio president Adam Shaheen.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-gets-661718

 

[TonyV]

Fuck's sake.

I dunno. Hand 'im more rope, I say.

 

[dforthandbview]

During the last election didn't all three parties include the gas plant cancellation as part of their platform?

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

It is a gross simplification to say Wynne is shunning Ford because his friend was busted for pot. It's that Ford has been the subject of a serious police investigation, has admitted to smoking crack and drinking and driving, likely abuses his wife, and has been stripped of many of his powers by council (to name just a few of his travesties)

Your comparison would be stronger if Wynne held a presser in front of a Esso station calling her former aide a great guy, and refused to let him resign despite the charges against him.

Props! I'd say that's the best response to Peepers among many strong contenders. LMAO at the idea of K Wynne at a gas station trying to defend a disgraced former aide.

Peepers: As the sports cliche goes ... get that weak stuff outta here.

 

[John_Dee]

At his website, Warren Kinsella has pointed out several times now that the Tories and NDP were both onboard with cancelling the gas plants, only to start screeching when eliminating them turned sour. With that in mind, it's pretty funny to see Peepers and his ilk continually use that particular fuck-up as a handy club to bash the Liberal Party with. Had the Tories been in charge when this decision fell, the shoe could have oh-so easily been on the other foot, no?

I'm no fan of the Liberals, and I don't particularly think much of Wynne, but she's hardly single-handedly responsible for the gas plant fiasco. Not in the same way that Ford can genuinely be held accountable for the Scarborough subway debacle. Both episodes huge wastes of taxpayer money, but appearently this is acceptable when Ford does it.

 

[Tulse]

the Tories and NDP were both onboard with cancelling the gas plants, only to start screeching when eliminating them turned sour.

I'm still a little befuddled as to how respecting local wishes and bowing to local opposition is a "scandal" -- isn't that also called "responsive government"? If the Liberals had imposed the gas plant over resident objections, no doubt the Tories would have complained as well.

Or is it a scandal any time a politician cancels a large infrastructure projects due to politics, and hence wastefully costs the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars? Because I've heard there's a lot of that going around...

 

[The Fool]

I'm no fan of the Liberals, and I don't particularly think much of Wynne, but she's hardly single-handedly responsible for the gas plant fiasco. Not in the same way that Ford can genuinely be held accountable for the Scarborough subway debacle. Both episodes huge wastes of taxpayer money, but appearently this is acceptable when Ford does it.[/QUOTE]

That's what happens when people support / vote for politicians based on brand / party and not performance. They'll give their "guy" a pass and crucify the other guy. Quite frankly I don't care if it's $1 billion wasted or $1 million wasted, waste is waste and will never be recovered.

 

[Johnny Au]

The usual classic conservative tactic of "Look over there!" is at play here.

The art of deflection does not fool progressives.

Yes, the Liberals wasted money. So did the PCs and the NDP. Every major political party wasted money by some degree.

 

[Jude]

Haha, that's awesome...not his criminal escapades, but his fat yap that got him canned from the one thing he seemed to be good at with out help from DoFo/fam. But, really? A couple of comments that might not be too far from being accurate causes them to spite themselves to the degree of returning the $50k in equipment?

I think there had to be more.

Q: Who says the equipment was worth that much?
A: Rob Ford.
Q: Did he provide proof of payment to substantiate this statement?
A: Haha!

#FordMath

The "more": as long as the old equipment was stored at Bosco, Rob Ford and crew would be a presence there. While his coaching days with the Eagles were done, the Rexdale Raiders continued in the summer. Why should Bosco provide storage for another program, with the added strings / baggage?

 

[CalgarianExOntarian]

Quite frankly I don't care if it's $1 billion wasted or $1 million wasted, waste is waste and will never be recovered.

Please don't take this as personal criticism but I am about to criticize your one particular statement as harshly as I can, because it comes across as stupid and innumerate, and reflective of a lot of what is wrong with debate over public spending.

(Followers of TO council budget debates, I imagine you get that this is pertinent to the "Rob Ford's Toronto" discussion.)

In the city I live in, $1 million is roughly $1 per capita. I really, really don't care if that gets wasted every week or two by the city government.

$1 billion is $1000 per capita. If that gets wasted a few times a year, heads should roll.

It's not good that the English words for so many gruesomely out-of-scale numbers all end in "illion". Really the word "billion" should be replaced with "so-hugely-more-than-a-million-it-will-make-you-puke". As for "trillion", don't get me started ...

This is not to say that I think the federal Senate scandal should be dismissed because the per capita cost is effectively zero. That's a big deal, but it's all about integrity, transparency, and honesty, not money. If you want to worry about money, think about how much you want to spend on F-35 jets, or not.

 

[VTB]

Q: Who says the equipment was worth that much?
A: Rob Ford.
Q: Did he provide proof of payment to substantiate this statement?
A: Haha!

#FordMath

Apparently not even close. I recall Don Bosco replaced the equipment at a fraction of the cost, something in the region of 40-50% of what Ford claimed it was worth. But then again, we shouldn't be surprised with the typical Ford exaggerations and hyperbole.

 

[JWBF]

Sociopaths don't feel those kinds of emotions. It seems like the whole family has inherited the sociopath gene.

Or the facist gene; Despots always promote "power" of the people as long as they were the instrument of that "power".

 

[JWBF]

I'm not trying to white wash anything just add some perspective. Yes Ford has done some terrible things in his private life - he could have killed someone with his drunk driving which is unforgivable -but Wynne is a hypocrite with her holier-than-thou attitude given her involvement in the $Billion gas plant scandal. I also think that if and when investigative journalists start digging into the business dealings between Kathleen Wynne's wife's consulting company and the Ontario government some eyebrows will be raised. I think it stinks that the Premier's wife (and hence the Premier herself) are getting an untold number of contracts directly from the Ontario government worth untold millions!

Tom... Tom Sawyer. Right?