...people are going to have to get off their fat asses and go and vote and if they are wise they will vote for the candidate that offers positive change.
City Hall power shift?: Levy
‘Anger and disillusionment from the David Miller legacy’ could help decide ward races
Last Updated: July 23, 2010 8:57pm
It’s hard to believe there are just 13 weeks left until Election Day and we have heard precious little about the 43 ward races.
Not that it really is any candidate’s fault — mind you — since it has been awfully difficult for a would-be councillor to break through the noise of a feisty mayoralty race full of good gossip, some scandal, more than a few twists and turns and some policy thrown in, now and then.
Nevertheless, one should not forget that although the mayor can drive the agenda on council — for better or for worse — he, or she, needs the consensus of the 43 councillors around him, or her.
There’s no doubt that in the past seven years — under Mayor David Miller and his cabal of like-minded champagne socialists — the balance of power has rested with the NDP.
As retiring 26-year councillor Brian “The Silver Fox” Ashton said last week, he thinks council will shift to the centre and possibly to the right depending on how much “anger and disillusionment from the Miller legacy” remains on voting day — an observation with which I wholeheartedly agree.
The political leanings of council will not just be a reflection of the councillors and mayoralty candidate who get the nod but how much those who do win “are willing to trade their philosophical agenda for power,” said Ashton.
He figures even some NDPers, desperate to cling on to positions of power, may decide, for example, that a right-winger like Rob Ford “is the most wonderful guy in the world if he’s mayor.”
Ah yes, I can’t wait to see the grovelling from the socialist hypocrites.
But I digress.
In my 12 years covering the antics at City Hall, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a campaign with so many wards up for grabs — as many as 10 depending on what some of the long-time holdouts decide to do.
Ward 10 councillor Mike Feldman, who’s been in politics for 18 years, said he’ll decide sometime this week whether he intends to run again. He told me he has two letters written and at the printer, who is waiting for the word on which to print.
If does choose to run, he also told me he won’t need to campaign.
OK then.
David Shiner, who’s represented Ward 24 for 19 years, is still tight-lipped about whether he’ll take another stab at council.
He did not respond to requests for an interview last week.
Etobicoke’s Mark Grimes in Ward 6 also has not filed his papers yet to run.
Then there’s the Howard Moscoe-sauarus, a 30-year council fossil, who’s presided over Ward 15 for 30 years. The scuttlebutt is his name will not be on the ballot come Oct. 25.
But whether his daughter (with the same last name) will jump in to replace him, or he’ll throw his support behind another candidate, remains to be seen.
Those three unknowns aside, there are another seven seats up for grabs with the candidacies of Rob Ford and Joe Pantalone for mayor — and the departure from Socialist Silly Hall of Adam Giambrone, Michael Walker, Kyle Rae, Case Ootes and of course Ashton.
The races in each of these wards are wide open.
In Ward 27, Rae’s Toronto Centre-Rosedale ward, there are 14 candidates signed up to date. In Ward 19, Pantalone’s turf, there are 11 candidates. Giambrone’s ward also has 11 candidates vying for a council seat. Unless some of them drop off by the last date to register — Sept. 10 — any candidate could easily win with just 20% of the vote.
In others, like Ward 29 now occupied by Ootes, I’m told the NDP cabal is working overtime to try to re-claim another bit of turf. They’ll have to fend off workaholic and former right-of-centre councillor Jane Pitfield, however.
Ashton feels the other issue in this year’s campaign will be whether those representing suburban wards will hold more power on the next council.
Miller and his inner circle were seen to cater to the downtown dwellers — often leaving the suburbs and the councillors representing these wards out in the cold.
