Our mayor

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  • #61
    Re: "The message he needs to hear, from every corner, is not get help, but get out."

    The New York Times has an interesting editorial today entitled 'Rob Ford, America's Mayor'.

    http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/...as-mayor/?_r=0

    Comment


    • #62
      Re: "The message he needs to hear, from every corner, is not get help, but get out."

      One thing I recently learned about the Mayor is that he is the son of a billionaire. That gives a whole different perspective on his - admittedly successful - attempts to depict himself as an underdog fighting the "fat cats" of City Hall.

      As if.
      Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.

      Comment


      • #63
        Re: "The message he needs to hear, from every corner, is not get help, but get out."

        One of the unfortunate things about this whole saga is that Rob Ford (who apparently had only one vote on Toronto's city council, like for Ottawa's city council power division) managed to improve Toronto's situation fiscally - he may well have managed to get a bunch of left wing Toronto councillors to voluntarily agree to measures that he had wished for (part of me suspects that the real 'brains' behind all this is his brother Doug, however, who at least held a second vote that Rob could count on). This is something that previous left wing Toronto mayors did not accomplish.

        Toronto council apparently was functioning fairly well before the mayor's worst past personal excesses and faults were laid bare, in part thanks to the continuous efforts of his numerous enemies to dig up whatever dirt they could on him. Now that these excesses and faults (e.g. past great intemperance, a hot temper, and at least signs of excessive narcissicism, with at least the latter being apparently all too common in these days of moral relativism) are exposed, Toronto's reputation has suffered. As well, at least some impressionable people (especially children) may draw [possibly wrong] conclusions, and exposure of the weakness of the existing rules to deal with such a situation has happened (though the latter may ultimately be a good thing for democracy, if a possibly more suitable remedy can be created and put in place for any future such happenings involving a sitting mayor).

        If Rob Ford runs for mayor again, with or without a slate of right wing candidates for being councillors, he may well be re-elected by a largely forgiving city (whether it should be is debatable). If he is elected again, lets hope he cleans up his act as promised.
        Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Saturday, 23rd November, 2013, 12:31 PM. Reason: Spelling
        Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
        Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer

        Comment


        • #64
          Sheriff of Bradford county, Florida: "This isn't Toronto!"

          "The Bradford County Sheriff’s drug unit recently obtained an arrest warrant for the mayor of Hampton, Fla. ... Following the arrest, the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office posted a statement to its official Facebook page. Barry Layne Moore, 51, faces charges of selling a Schedule I or II drug, as well as possession of a Schedule I or II drug. "This isn’t Toronto," Smith said in the statement. "We will not tolerate illegal drug activity, in my jurisdiction, by anyone to include our elected officials." "

          This isn't Toronto, says the sheriff!
          Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.

          Comment


          • #65
            Re: Our obtuse mayor

            An interesting article on the Deputy Mayor.

            http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle15691199/
            Gary Ruben
            CC - IA and SIM

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Our obtuse mayor

              Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
              An interesting article on the Deputy Mayor.

              http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle15691199/
              I like his views on climate change.

              Comment


              • #67
                Re: Our obtuse mayor

                Originally posted by Vlad Drkulec View Post
                I like his views on climate change.
                Likely after the next provincial election the cons will have the most seats but not a majority. The NDP will be the government and the Libs will be propping them up. Likely Ford will still be there.

                I'm wondering if Ford will find some decent candidates to run in the wards in the next Toronto election on a cut taxes platform and a Team Ford ticket.

                If Ford were running for Mayor in this city on even a hold the line on taxes platform I'd vote for him. It's about the money and I don't care about the noise.

                Did you see the projections on the increases in electricity over the next decade? Are the manufacturers and industries in your area complaining?
                Gary Ruben
                CC - IA and SIM

                Comment


                • #68
                  Re: Our obtuse mayor

                  Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
                  Did you see the projections on the increases in electricity over the next decade? Are the manufacturers and industries in your area complaining?
                  No one is complaining yet other than the people who will be hit with the big increases to fund useless green energy boondoggles and gas plant cancellations. I am sure Harper will be blamed for the deindustrialization of Ontario though with the Canadian dollar sinking it may be harder to make the argument that the blame for the problems should be laid on the Feds doorstep. The big industrial customers often make cozy deals with Hydro or even in some cases generate their own power. Its the individual customer that will suffer the most with those wonderful delivery charges and other charges that show up on the bill.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Re: Our obtuse mayor

                    Originally posted by Vlad Drkulec View Post
                    The big industrial customers often make cozy deals with Hydro or even in some cases generate their own power. Its the individual customer that will suffer the most with those wonderful delivery charges and other charges that show up on the bill.
                    Do they buy directly from the province in your area or do they buy through a utility company?

                    You're right about them getting better pricing as far as I know. But I haven't kept up. They also likely get bulk purchase pricing which makes it seem "cozy". However, no matter how low a price they get when pricing rises and their contract runs out the price goes up, I would assume. Capacity purchase agreements.

                    Here's some information. Near the bottom of the page click on the info for the year you want and it will display. I almost missed that feature.

                    http://www.oefc.on.ca/ppa.html

                    In some area of Canada and the U.S. electricity rates are going down. Private companies are having to negotiate lower rates when contracts expire.
                    Gary Ruben
                    CC - IA and SIM

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Re: Our obtuse mayor

                      I understand that Windsor has a right-wing city council, and as a city it is currently comfortably in the black ink. Meanwhile, neighbouring Detroit has had left-wing city govenance, and that city is now bankrupt. Perhaps just a coincidence?

                      If I lived in Toronto I'd certainly vote for Rob Ford's brother Doug. Rob himself would be a tougher choice, especially before I was feeling somewhat sure that there are no more skeletons in the closet. For that to be the case here, one apparently needs to wait at least for some months, not just for weeks. Nevertheless, as is the case for the Conservatives federally, it is worth noting that there have been no criminal charges laid, as far as I can recall. A voter often can only go by his gut feeling in such cases.
                      Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
                      Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Re: Our obtuse mayor

                        Originally posted by Kevin Pacey View Post
                        I understand that Windsor has a right-wing city council, and as a city it is currently comfortably in the black ink. Meanwhile, neighbouring Detroit has had left-wing city govenance, and that city is now bankrupt. Perhaps just a coincidence?

                        If I lived in Toronto I'd certainly vote for Rob Ford's brother Doug. Rob himself would be a tougher choice, especially before I was feeling somewhat sure that there are no more skeletons in the closet. For that to be the case here, one apparently needs to wait at least for some months, not just for weeks. Nevertheless, as is the case for the Conservatives federally, it is worth noting that there have been no criminal charges laid, as far as I can recall. A voter often can only go by his gut feeling in such cases.
                        Windsor's council is middle of the road on average and the individual councillors are across the political spectrum and somewhat leftish overall. Windsor's success is largely the work of the mayor Eddie Francis and his tireless work on behalf of Windsor taxpayers. He dominates council which for the most part is composed of individuals who are plodders. He is a personal lifelong friend from early childhood of one of my former bosses and I was happy to help his campaign in a small way by helping him with some of his computer problems at his campaign headquarters at the behest of my boss.

                        He has been supportive of chess turning up for the CYCC that was held in Windsor a few years ago and providing letters of support at key moments.

                        Detroit has in large part been run as a kleptocracy for most of its recent existence. The rhetoric may have been leftish but in fact the behaviour was to steal as much as possible as quickly as possible. Some issues don't fall conveniently into the established explanations and narratives that depend on dividing the world into left and right.

                        In general I tend to favour the pragmatic right side as they seem to do the best job of running things without relying on the illusions that the left is peddling.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Re: Our obtuse mayor

                          Originally posted by Vlad Drkulec View Post
                          Windsor's council is middle of the road on average and the individual councillors are across the political spectrum and somewhat leftish overall. Windsor's success is largely the work of the mayor Eddie Francis and his tireless work on behalf of Windsor taxpayers. He dominates council which for the most part is composed of individuals who are plodders. He is a personal lifelong friend from early childhood of one of my former bosses and I was happy to help his campaign in a small way by helping him with some of his computer problems at his campaign headquarters at the behest of my boss.

                          He has been supportive of chess turning up for the CYCC that was held in Windsor a few years ago and providing letters of support at key moments.

                          Detroit has in large part been run as a kleptocracy for most of its recent existence. The rhetoric may have been leftish but in fact the behaviour was to steal as much as possible as quickly as possible. Some issues don't fall conveniently into the established explanations and narratives that depend on dividing the world into left and right.

                          In general I tend to favour the pragmatic right side as they seem to do the best job of running things without relying on the illusions that the left is peddling.
                          Hi Vlad

                          I'd have to defer to you on the leanings (or lack thereof) of Windsor's current city council (wikipedia's entries for Windor's councillors are somewhat out of date, btw). I was going by something I'd heard from Ottawa media (i.e. comments by the legendary radio host Lowell Green). Same for Detroit.

                          Fwiw, here's a link with comments by other people on what they think caused Detroit's bankruptcy:

                          http://www.myheritage.org/news/what-...nt-liberalism/
                          Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
                          Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            It's About Democracy!

                            http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/st...-s-legal-costs
                            Gary Ruben
                            CC - IA and SIM

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Ford served with libel notice for publicly calling reporter a pedophile

                              Rob Ford served with libel notice

                              Apparently, the Toronto Mayor can't just call a reporter a pedophile if he doesn't like the questions the reporter asks. Who knew?

                              In the claim, Mr. Dale is looking for a public, abject, unreserved and complete apology "if they wish to even begin to undo the harm caused by ... Mr. Ford’s outrageous statements".

                              Who's the bully, again? Rob Ford or his victims? Of course, if that great friend of democracy (and a nice spot in the British Senate thank you very much) Conrad Black is on your side, the sky's the limit.
                              Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; Sunday, 15th December, 2013, 02:55 AM. Reason: details
                              Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Re: Ford served with libel notice for publicly calling reporter a pedophile

                                Well, Nigel, you'll be pleased to hear the amount in the crowd funding is rising.

                                http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/st...-s-legal-costs

                                The truth of the matter is I don't know what Mayor Ford can or can't do. In this case a jury will likely decide. However, my understanding is a notice has been issued. Not a claim.

                                I'm a Toronto Star shareholder. Probably tomorrow I'll call their investor relations and express my feelings. The way that works is the person who answers the phone takes my name and phone number and someone calls me back within a half hour. It's not anonymous.

                                To be clear, I'm not a Toronto Star subscriber. I let my subscription run out some months ago.
                                Gary Ruben
                                CC - IA and SIM

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