10.25.2010

Rob Smitherman or George Ford - Not for me Toronto

Today is election day in Ontario.  Municipalities across the province are voting.  In Toronto, we do have some great races and choices for councillors, we however it seems have come down to two front runners for the Mayor's chair.  The Mayor is really not all that powerful unless they also have 23 of 44 votes from council.  Without that they are in fact lame ducks.

The two front runners leave a great deal to be desired.  Both have checkered pasts.  Both are political bullies.  Both have lied about the state of our city.  They have gotten away with it because our current Mayor has failed to communicate the real situation well enough. 

The candidate running to be the progressive voice has not done well.  I can only hope he has a secret weapon today, alas I am not really expecting it to be there.  The race is between Rob Smitherman and George Ford.  They both promise to slash, cut taxes and "fix" Toronto. 

Toronto does not need fixing.   We have a great city that has made great progress over the last seven years. 

The Liberal bastions out there, the Liberal Party of Canada, has done what they generally do at election time.  Vote for us because that nasty right wing Tory will win if you don't.  The worst of it is the LPC folks don't even ask it in an apologetic manner.  It is like it is their born right to expect you and me to abandon our principals for this election. 

Quite frankly it is time to take a stand.  To say no to LPC blackmail.  I know the election is going to Rob Ford right now.  I also know that over 50% of George Smitherman's support right now is from people that just want to stop Rob Ford.  The LPC blackmail means we have many thousands of people in Toronto voting today for someone they don't believe in.  Imagine if they voted for someone they did believe in.

I will vote in the my interests, for who I think would be the best Mayor of Toronto.  It is neither Rob Ford nor George Smitherman. 

Vote for Joe today if you want a better Toronto down the road.  We will survive the likelihood of a Ford or Smitherman as Mayor for four years.  Especially if we act on our conscious today rather than allow ourselves to be blackmailed into something we like as little as the alternative.

2 comments:

Simon said...

hi Ricky...Sorry, what absolute nonsense, complete unmitigated crap. You would vote for an old hack and loser like Pantalone so a homophobe can be mayor, because it makes you feel good? What are you thinking?
Please read this:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/voteto/2010/story.cfm?content=177381
And then ask yourself what the fuck am I doing ?

Rick Barnes said...

Simon

Ever since Trudeau was in a minority in 1972, Liberals have been screaming at progressives to vote for them. Well, many have and little has changed.

The Mayor of Toronto is one vote of 45. As long as 23 councilors are progressive we are still okay.

I can't support George or Rob. They have both stated the City has been run into the ground and they are the only ones that can fix it. I hate to bust their bubble but I believe the city has been well run over the last 7 years.