Toronto elected a new mayor last year, Rob Ford, a man who ran on a pledge to radically change politics in Toronto for the better (sound familiar?) by cutting wasteful spending, and by being a champion of the common man. His rival, George Smitherman, an intellectual though pragmatic politician, an allegedly gay man (it didn't help that his alleged homosexuality was advertised as something akin to blasphemy by some homophobic Taliban-like ethnic group, three days before the election), was an early favourite, presumably because his message to carry Toronto into the 21st century was very sensible.
Anyway, Mayor Ford, who campaigned to reduce waste, wasted no time, ironically, in introducing a more expensive plan to build a subway instead of an already-approved light rail line through Toronto. In his first order of business, the new mayor decreed that the meticulously planned light rail project would be scrapped in favour of his own subway plan, which would deliver one quarter of the benefit for four times the cost.
Here we are a year later and, after wasting a year arguing about it, Toronto's councillors have sensibly voted against the mayor's plan. Now, finally, wisdom has prevailed.
Or has it? This is Toronto, after all. This is 2012. Anything can still happen.
For over a quarter century, the fate of Toronto's local city centre airport, located in Toronto Harbour has swayed to and fro, from expansion to outright closure and conversion into a park. For years proponents of the airport have argued for permission for jets to land there, and for a bridge to be built to the island (one must board a ferry to travel across a small channel to use the airport in what can only be described as deliberate pain). Local residents have thus successfully managed to block such expansion, against the wishes of the majority living in metropolitan Toronto. The result has been a vastly underutilized piece of Greater Toronto Area infrastructure.
In the end, as I've often said, democracy can be messy. Toronto got a mayor who is clearly ineffective. Why? Perhaps because not enough people cared to vote. Perhaps because candidate Ford's message resonated with the working men and women of Toronto.
Personally, I believe a big reason democratic elections return anomalous results is because too many voters are just plain ignorant.
In Toronto, I predict it will be at least three years before a shovel goes into the ground on any new transit line. How will that have served anyone?
Anyway, Mayor Ford, who campaigned to reduce waste, wasted no time, ironically, in introducing a more expensive plan to build a subway instead of an already-approved light rail line through Toronto. In his first order of business, the new mayor decreed that the meticulously planned light rail project would be scrapped in favour of his own subway plan, which would deliver one quarter of the benefit for four times the cost.
Or has it? This is Toronto, after all. This is 2012. Anything can still happen.
For over a quarter century, the fate of Toronto's local city centre airport, located in Toronto Harbour has swayed to and fro, from expansion to outright closure and conversion into a park. For years proponents of the airport have argued for permission for jets to land there, and for a bridge to be built to the island (one must board a ferry to travel across a small channel to use the airport in what can only be described as deliberate pain). Local residents have thus successfully managed to block such expansion, against the wishes of the majority living in metropolitan Toronto. The result has been a vastly underutilized piece of Greater Toronto Area infrastructure.
In the end, as I've often said, democracy can be messy. Toronto got a mayor who is clearly ineffective. Why? Perhaps because not enough people cared to vote. Perhaps because candidate Ford's message resonated with the working men and women of Toronto.
Personally, I believe a big reason democratic elections return anomalous results is because too many voters are just plain ignorant.
In Toronto, I predict it will be at least three years before a shovel goes into the ground on any new transit line. How will that have served anyone?
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