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olivia chow toronto mayor
Isn't John Tory exactly the kind of mayor we all want after the disaster Ford years? He is a real consensus builder that will actually make an exceptional 65th mayor of Toronto. He is a candidate that is rare and worth supporting. I hope many will.
Chow has dangerously slipped too fast and too far in polling for a miraculous rebound in such a scant time frame. Voters are gridlocked, stranded and unapologetic in demanding expedited change from Day 1. Chow's ideas are too late, too small and too old school for this electorate. She may very well be a good-hearted, industrious politician but her efforts as a pioneer and consensus builder leave little to be lauded.
If we truly want Toronto to be the best city it can be, we are going to need to accept the stark reality that the way we have been approaching gridlock simply is not working. Throwing more money at the problem won't solve everything, and more transit won't fix our congestion challenges alone without fixes for other modes.
The experience of Tory losing many political battles to lesser quality candidates in the past should have reminded him that in politics, the electorate wants immediate answers to their issues and not just a down payment promise. If Tory is to have any chance of being elected, he has to go beyond just being nice and start eloquently pursuing a unique brand and policies to his candidacy ASAP.
As mayor, I will move to adopt ranked ballots, a model that would help to unite our divided city by rewarding candidates with a broad appeal within the electorate. Too much of our current political discourse is spent on negativity, or pitting councillors against one another. Ranked ballots would help eliminate this rancor, fostering a more positive political environment. Ever wonder why political parties choose leaders this way? It's because ranked ballots help maintain a certain level of civility that has been AWOL from Toronto politics for quite some time.
