Monday, November 13, 2006

Quick Hits, Volume LIV: Toronto Election Day 2006

I've obviously been involved slightly less this time around! Congratulations to all the other great blogs out there that tried to make something of this election.

Just a few comments from me:


  • From the look of today's Toronto Sun cover, all I can think is that with friends like this, Jane Pitfield doesn't need enemies!


  • Various election predictions are here. Hmmm... I'll make it Miller 68, Pitfield, 25, LeDrew 1-2, No other with over 1%. I don't know who will win the contentious wards, but Diane Alexopolous has a chance to pull an upset over Case Ootes in Ward 29. (Well, that's just based on lawn signs, which isn't the most trustworthy guide.)


  • I am pleased, however, that most predictors see Joe Mihevc winning decisively.


  • Jane Pitfield's platform seemed, at least in part, based on the notion that downtown is in decline. However, everything I have been reading during this campaign has left me more convinced that it is the outer 416 where we need to be focusing our attention. The core is doing okay. Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, etc., are suffering from job sprawl, gridlock with poor transit, commercial tax rates that put them at a disadvantage compared to their neighbours just across the street, social inequality and a relative lack of community services.


  • Today's Globe and Mail suggests that new rules might enable the Mayor to get more done. I hope so. But I've always felt that a great deal of what affects Toronto is still decided at Queen's Park. The election campaign that can really affect this city is still to come next year.


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