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Avenue said:
Again, I think the unpopularity of Ford in Toronto is hugely overstated. He has done nothing so far that would upset his voters in Etobicoke, Scarborough, North York and so on. His approval might have gone up with conservative voters, if anything.
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I doubt it - his approval rating is ridicuolously low and he doesn't even make the pretense of governing for anyone but his hardcore base. Either way it's fair to say around 2/3 of Torontonians are already virulently anti-Ford, so it's hard to say his unpopularity is "overstated" or anybody but Ford isn't a sizable constituency.
 
I would also add that many ridings went PC because of the trend and in spite of Ford doing poorly in them municipally (Eglinton-Lawrence, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Willowdale). There's a lot of people who (rather naively) thought "adults in the room" would take control and they'd get a normal PC government.
 
Jasmine18 said:
Keesmat looks like would be roadkill in front of the Ford as Premier, that is why I support Tory.
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I have yet to hear of one female candidate from any party at any political level that you approve of. Are you sure you don't think all female politicians are weak.
 
narduch said:
I find it ironic that anyone would call Keesmat roadkill, considering how Tory is already looking totally weak by Ford.
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I find Tory to be a true politician. He took what he learned from provincial politics and ran with it. He grew up in and around Bill Davis and the Ontario PC Party.

Keesmaat is more of a local politician, she built her career on local issues. Take from that what you will but realistically you need someone in office who is familiar with the local issues and not just intergovernmental affairs.
 
narduch said:
I find it ironic that anyone would call Keesmat roadkill, considering how Tory is already looking totally weak by Ford.
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Indeed. If Keesmaat is roadkill, than what does that make Tory?

Anyway, I am ready to be spiteful to the province. If Queen's Park wants to meddle so deeply in local politics, then they are free to pay the full cost of the Scarborough Subway. Make it 3-stops while we are at it. *

Some people might not like Keesmaat's position on the subway, but being strong against the meddling Province is making me want to vote for her more every day.

* - if Municipal funding is pulled, so too is Federal funding. Explain that one, Doug.
 
WislaHD said:
... Make it 3-stops while we are at it. *

Some people might not like Keesmaat's position on the subway, but being strong against the meddling Province is making me want to vote for her more every day.

* - if Municipal funding is pulled, so too is Federal funding. Explain that one, Doug.
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Most likely the municipal portion and the federal portion will not change in the dollar amount. The provincial portion may go up to cover the added costs of 2 additional stations.
 
King of Kensington said:
Mostly in agreement with Marcus Gee here:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-why-the-keesmaat-campaign-is-faltering/
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Agree with this- she has to get her message across and Ford has naturally sucked all the air out of the room. Keesmaat is still not bringing her message to non-political people- I still don't see her much beyond her Twitter bubble and she isn't really trying to harness any sort of populist forces.
So what has gone wrong? Bad luck is part of it. The contest has been overshadowed by the dramatic fight over Mr. Ford’s council-slashing plan. It only began in earnest this week with the first of the election debates. Ms. Keesmaat has been left with a small window for getting her message across.
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Disagree though about Gee's 'brave centrist' criticisms of her attacks on Tory's dithering- though I will say that she needs to promote her own plans more alongside the criticisms- pure criticism turns people off if you can't offer an alternative.


As a side note, the sheer presence of Faith Goldy's supporters on social media is staggering- I see them in nearly all feeds.
 
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WislaHD said:
...Anyway, I am ready to be spiteful to the province. If Queen's Park wants to meddle so deeply in local politics, then they are free to pay the full cost of the Scarborough Subway. Make it 3-stops while we are at it. *

Some people might not like Keesmaat's position on the subway, but being strong against the meddling Province is making me want to vote for her more every day.

* - if Municipal funding is pulled, so too is Federal funding. Explain that one, Doug.
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W. K. Lis said:
Most likely the municipal portion and the federal portion will not change in the dollar amount. The provincial portion may go up to cover the added costs of 2 additional stations.
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Meant to add to these posts earlier, still haven't had a chance to dig more deeply for reference, but Wisla *appears* to have this correct: (I'll dig more later to buttress or dispute this, but I recollect this being the case, not to mention the Feds grant the money *after the fact* by being invoiced, not 'up front')
Building Strong Cities Through Investments in Public Transit
[...]
Projects include:

  • Upgrades to subway tracks, bridges, signals and switches for the Montreal Metro;
  • Fleet replacement, including the purchase of new subway cars, low-floor buses, and street cars by the Toronto Transit Commission; and
  • Accelerated design, implementation and construction work for new large-scale projects, such as new light rail transit lines in Greater Vancouver and Ottawa.
To get projects moving quickly, the Government is funding up to 50 per cent of eligible costs for projects. Funding under the program has been allocated to municipalities based on ridership, as per the PTIF allocations table.

*Taken from the CUTA 2014 Fact book.

To learn more about the program, see the Program Overview. [...]
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https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/ptif-fitc-eng.php

Note: "Funding under the program has been allocated to municipalities". Ford may have shot off his accelerator and brake foot, and backfired at the same time if he wishes to "upload the subway".
[...]
Annex B – Eligible Recipients

The PTIF will be largely managed through funding agreements between Canada and each province and territory, which will be responsible for the administration of the programs and may further distribute funds to the eligible recipients for eligible projects. At the request of provinces or territories and at Canada's discretion, or, in order to ensure flexibility to allow the full amount of funding to flow into the economy quickly, Canada may enter into agreements with the following eligible recipients:

  1. Organizations designated by a province or territory and agreed to by Canada,
  2. Municipal or regional governments established by or under a provincial or territorial statute, and
  3. Transit agencies or authorities established by a provincial, territorial, or local government.
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https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/ptif-fitc-eng.php

Canada may enter into agreements with the following eligible recipients:
[...]
  1. Municipal or regional governments established by or under a provincial or territorial statute, and
  2. Transit agencies or authorities established by a provincial, territorial, or local government.
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Looks like a wee bit of a problem for Ford. Guess the Feds will have to rewrite some of the agreements for LRTs instead of subways...

You see Dougie boy, two can play your game...and beat you at it.
 
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