Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

[Fishbone Jones]

I want him to be Mayor again after the election.

 

[Brad Sallows]

I see you like raising the middle digit as much as I do.

 

[The_Falcon]

If Doug Holyday decides to come back, now that he has been trounced from Queens Park, I wouldn't mind Ford again.  But he is not my first choice.  Voting Michael Tramov.  2nd Choice John Tory, 3rd Rob Ford 4th Anyone but Chow.

 

[CougarKing]

John Tory is the new mayor of Toronto to the disappointment of the Ford brothers.

Reuters

Toronto replaces disgraced mayor, rejects brother's bid for top job

By Andrea Hopkins

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto voters replaced their notorious mayor, Rob Ford, on Monday and rejected an attempt by his brother to take the city's top job, electing instead a conservative politician and broadcaster who promised to unite a city divided by four years of scandal and vitriol.

John Tory, a former Progressive Conservative party leader in Ontario, won the election in a closer-than-expected race, according to local media including CBC radio, fighting off a strong challenge by the mayor's brother, Doug Ford.

With about 80 percent of the ballots counted, the city's election website showed Tory with 38.6 percent of the vote, ahead of Doug Ford's 36.0 percent.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[ModlrMike]

John Tory is the new mayor of Toronto to the disappointment of the Ford brothers.

Reuters

So that's two mayoral elections the big orange machine has lost. Might make for some interesting political theatre.

 

[The_Falcon]

So that's two mayoral elections the big orange machine has lost. Might make for some interesting political theatre.

Because the "burbs" awoke from their sleep in 2010, and won't go back to bed now.  Despite all her talk of unity, Chow still only really catered to inner core of the city, and the people in Scarborough/Etobicoke, saw right through her.  A pithy few rush hour buses means diddly if you are trying to commute via the TTC from points beyond Kennedy and Eglinton, or Kipling/Islington Stations.

 

[mariomike]

Because the "burbs" awoke from their sleep in 2010, and won't go back to bed now. 

Looks like some overslept, or went to bed early, according to this graphic. This map breaks down the percentage of voter turnout by ward:
http://politics.theglobeandmail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/turnout.png

"How the great Ford divide could come to a city near you
Rob Ford won on a wave of suburban voter discontent, and those voters are still angry—as are people just like them, in cities across Canada"
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/how-the-great-ford-divide-could-come-to-a-city-near-you/

Macleans
October 21, 2014

 

[The_Falcon]

Looks like some overslept, or went to bed early, according to this graphic. This map breaks down the percentage of voter turnout by ward:
http://politics.theglobeandmail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/turnout.png

"How the great Ford divide could come to a city near you
Rob Ford won on a wave of suburban voter discontent, and those voters are still angry—as are people just like them, in cities across Canada"
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/how-the-great-ford-divide-could-come-to-a-city-near-you/

Macleans
October 21, 2014

They still overwhelming voted Ford though. 

 

[mariomike]

They still overwhelming voted Ford though.

They certainly did.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1638377/interactive-map-election-shows-sharp-geographic-divide/

 

[jpjohnsn]

They still overwhelming voted Ford though.

Well, they HAD to, didn't they.  The prospect of John Tory being elected is "like ISIS coming to Toronto.  It couldn't be worse!"
:facepalm:

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ford-nation-predicts-doomsday-for-toronto-after-tory-victory-132358457.html?cmp=cafb_news

 

[The_Falcon]

Olivia Chow would have been much much worse. 

 

[X Royal]

Doug Ford after losing his bid for Toronto's mayor is now considering running for the Ontario P.C. leadership. :
http://www.am980.ca/2014/10/29/doug-ford-considers-run-for-ontario-pc-leadership/

 

[The_Falcon]

Doug Ford after losing his bid for Toronto's mayor is now considering running for the Ontario P.C. leadership. :
http://www.am980.ca/2014/10/29/doug-ford-considers-run-for-ontario-pc-leadership/

Certainly make things more interesting, his numbers in a lot of Toronto were no joke.  Wouldn't be surprised if Chow, also considers the provincial NDP.

 

[Danjanou]

Certainly make things more interesting, his numbers in a lot of Toronto were no joke.  Wouldn't be surprised if Chow, also considers the provincial NDP.

Possible, their present leadership is considered vulnerable after their recent performance in the last election at least according to soem MSM reporting.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Certainly make things more interesting, his numbers in a lot of Toronto were no joke.  Wouldn't be surprised if Chow, also considers the provincial NDP.

I agree, the results must make Conservatives, of both the provincial PC and federal CPC varieties happy:

Let's make John Tory a mix of Conservative and Liberal for the purposes of 2015, but we must see Doug Ford as 100% Conservative ... anathema to Liberals.

Now look at this map:

The heaviest voter turnout was in the middle class, middle aged suburbs, Ford territory. The areas that voted for John Tory often showed the lowest voter turnout.

And, one more important map:

The "ethnic vote" is suburban and Conservative.

 

[mariomike]

Doug received 28% less than Rob did in 2010 by percentage of total votes.

"For the most part, turnout was higher in wards that voted for winner John Tory, and lower in areas that voted for Doug Ford.
Wilfrid Laurier University politics professor Barry Kay attributes the record-high turnout to a combination of enthusiasm from fired-up Ford Nation – and fear, from others in the city, of another four years of Ford."
http://globalnews.ca/news/1639076/interactive-map-torontos-record-high-turnout-by-ward/

 

[X Royal]

The heaviest voter turnout was in the middle class, middle aged suburbs, Ford territory. The areas that voted for John Tory often showed the lowest voter turnout.

Actually if you look at the maps you posted the area that Ford won in is generally in the areas of the lower voter turnout.
If you look to see where Ont PC support is you will find it is in the rural areas in southern Ontario from Windsor to Ottawa. This area basically misses the Toronto area.
These areas which hold PC seats provincially would never support Ford as a party leader.
With Ford as a leader I highly suspect at least 1/2 of these seats would be lost.
Outside of Toronto the Fords are considered as jokes.

 

[a_majoor]

Two interesting data points:

1. Although leftists were practicqally salivating over the idea Olivia Chow would become Queen of Toronto, she came in third in the election; and,

2, John Tory and Doug Ford were both cast as "Conservatives", but came in 1-2 and had vote totals that were both individually and collectively higher than Olivia Chow's. (I use quotes around Conservative since neither one is fully consistent with conservatism as a political philosophy).

While this does not mean that Toronto is suddenly jumping into the Conservative camp, it may mean Toronto is not the Liberal/Left/NDP bastion that many people seem to think it could be in 2015 for the Federal election, and more seats than we imagine might be up for grabs.

I also think the Fords should not be written off so quickly, look at the vote count again (Rob won his riding and Douog came in a respectable second). There are a lot of supporters out there and they can become a force for good or ill (depending on if they want to help or hinder Toronto's new political order).

 

[mariomike]

(Rob won his riding and Douog came in a respectable second).

Mikey Ford also got in as Trustee without doing a single interview or debate prior to the election.

His political debut is at 02:10
http://vimeo.com/110365134

 

[pbi]

Two interesting data points:

1. Although leftists were practicqally salivating over the idea Olivia Chow would become Queen of Toronto, she came in third in the election; and,

2, John Tory and Doug Ford were both cast as "Conservatives", but came in 1-2 and had vote totals that were both individually and collectively higher than Olivia Chow's. (I use quotes around Conservative since neither one is fully consistent with conservatism as a political philosophy).

While this does not mean that Toronto is suddenly jumping into the Conservative camp, it may mean Toronto is not the Liberal/Left/NDP bastion that many people seem to think it could be in 2015 for the Federal election, and more seats than we imagine might be up for grabs.

I also think the Fords should not be written off so quickly, look at the vote count again (Rob won his riding and Douog came in a respectable second). There are a lot of supporters out there and they can become a force for good or ill (depending on if they want to help or hinder Toronto's new political order).

Not surprisingly, I disagree with you. I don't think that you can characterize a city as diverse and fragmented as Toronto as a "bastion" of anything. Although, we should recall that when a particular political faction can't seem to get traction somewhere, they are quick to condemn the place in question as a "bastion" of whatever it is they don't like. IMHO Chow never, ever, had a shot at Mayor under the current political structure of Toronto. She might have swung it in the pre-amalgamation days, but those days are long gone.

What Toronto desperately needed (and most egregiously did NOT have in Brother Bob) was a "Mayor of All The People". If you consider the entire Toronto voting list, The Bobster got in by a slim plurality: about 40% of the 40% of voters who actually bothered to cast a vote, or in other words about 20% of the list.  I would speculate that many of the people who voted for Ford were actually indulging in that ancient and honourable Canadian tradition: "voting against something". In this case, the "something" was the lacklustre Miller regime, which provided a great stock of ammunition for Ford Nation and all its populist pot-bangers, along with sane Torontonians who were just fed up with the way things were.

This time around, if I'm not mistaken  about 60% of the voting list actually voted. In my opinion, this makes the Ford defeat this time more significant than the Ford victory last time.

What TO has now, I think, is a man who, if he is careful, can be a "Mayor of All The People", or at least a lot more of the people. I would expect now to see a lot less high-school bully-boy behaviour and more of a steady hand on the tiller. God knows the city needs it, right now. The whole business of running these gigantic contraptions we call "cities" is not getting simpler and easier (or cheaper). There is at least a minimum intellectual level required for the job, and my impression is that Mayor Tory has it and much, much more.

I wish him luck.

As for the Fords...well--after all their squawking about democracy, they can now eat the results of democracy in action. Be careful what you wish for. Brother Bob is reduced once more to the place he came from, but after having revealed what a city with him at the helm would be like. As for Doug: well, let's see what he can do with the Ontario Tories (if, in fact, any human being can do anything with them).

One day the folks on the Right will realize that this isn't Alabama: we are much more comfortable with the good old Red Tories of the cut of Bill Davis (remember the Big Blue Machine?), than with disruptive demagogues who appeal to the lowest common denominators in their flock.