The real fight starts October 26 in Toronto

I am amazed at how easily the right wing has taken flight to gain hold of Toronto City Hall.  Rob Ford is an all out capitalist with goals to eliminate jobs, privatize garbage collection and slash taxes.  The result will be fewer city services, dirtier streets, more homeless and city parks, pools and arenas will start to fall apart.  I am not exaggerating. 

If you eliminate jobs, then there are fewer people to do the work.  If you privatize garbage, then the costs go up over time as we are then captive to their service.  If slash taxes, how do you find the money to pay for upkeep of pools, libraries, arenas, community centres, and parks.  Some choices will have to be made and they won't be easy.

Smitherman on the other hand is a wolf in sheep's clothing, though his disguise is coming away.  He too wants to cut taxes, he too wants too see jobs cut and more private delivery of city services.  You might say Smitherman has poured a little sugar on his campaign, just so it tastes okay, but after the election, there will be no more sugar.

So those two are the front runners.  Unless there is a big swing, ie Pantalone manages to swing some voters, either George or Rob will be Mayor.  That will mean more work for many of us to beat back the cuts these two men have been proposing. 

This is a time to stick to our convictions and The Bullet has some good advice,

This means that the election in Toronto has become a plebiscite on privatization. In this situation the left should back Joe Pantalone, despite his silence on the city workers strike and his support for the police during the G20. The better showing for Pantalone means a bigger base from which to challenge privatization in Toronto.

The fight against Ford, Smitherman and their right-wing corporate agenda though won't be won through the ballot box, but through mobilizing and fighting back. In Toronto, several campaigns have been successful in stopping previous attempts at privatization.

The Water Watch campaign beat back the privatization of the water system. Toronto Hydro workers have built campaigns that beat attempts to sell off Toronto Hydro. It will be crucial to push the leadership of the municipal unions to link up with communities to fight the attempts that will come under Ford or Smitherman to privatize city services or contract out work to the lowest bidder.