Monthly Archives: September 2006

The First 2006 Toronto Mayoral Debate

toronto,

I arrived about thirty minutes early for last night’s debate, which was fortunate, since by the time things got going it was standing room only in the Innis College auditorium.

Of the currently thirty people running for Mayor of Toronto, only two were invited to participate in the debate: His Worship (we’ve got to get rid of that title) Mayor David Miller, and Councillor Jane Pitfield. I suppose the thinking was that they’re currently the only two “serious candidates” running. Well, Jane may have tested that assumption.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that everything Jane Pitfield says is crazy, nor do I agree with everything David Miller says or does. But good gosh, is she even listening to herself? Here are some of my personal highlights from last night:

  • Jane opposes the closing of streets for community events. She’d create a designated space in the city where all street fairs and community fairs are to take place. (I’m assuming we’d re-name “Taste of the Danforth” to “Taste of Designated Community Area 29.”)
  • Jane helped create Car-Free Kensington. (Wait…what? Doesn’t that involve closing streets?)
  • Jane knows homelessness is a big problem in this city because of “the look on tourists’ faces.” Also, we need to make homelessness illegal because it inconveniences business people. (Those honestly seemed to be her main concerns.)
  • New York fought homelessness AND was attacked on 9/11. So there.
  • Toronto should be creating local jobs. Also, we should buy our subway cars from China.
  • The city is spending too much money. Also, we need to spend more money.
  • Our surplus is way too high. Also, our debt is way too high.
  • Staff morale is very low and we need to do something about it. Also, staff are a waste of money and aren’t working hard enough.

You can see why, by the end, I had a very hard time following her arguments. The most useful thing she contributed were some ideas on waste management, though if that’s your issue, then Rod Muir is your candidate.

Where David disappointed was when he completely ignored a comment about the secret Gardiner Expressway report that he’s refusing to make public. If you’re going to be keeping reports a secret, the least you can do is explain why.

The highlight of the night, however, came after the debate, when three media outlets (CFRB 1010, 680 News, and The Toronto Star) interviewed me about what I thought of the candidates. “That’s funny,” I thought, “none of them ever interviewed me when I was a candidate.”

An Afternoon on the Toronto Islands

toronto

Claire and I spent this afternoon biking around the Toronto islands (specifically, Ward and Algonquin islands) taking part in CommunityAIR‘s Toronto Island House Tour. (CommunityAIR is a group that advocates against expansion of the Toronto Island Airport.)

Aside from being a fundraiser, the day was also meant to raise awareness that people who live on the island are, well, real people. We met extremely nice residents (thanks Baye, Doreen, Jennie, and Ken!) who welcomed us into their homes and offered us wine and food, ranging from brie to strawberries to lemon loaf to popcorn (pretty much my four favourite foods).

Houses on the island are only allowed to be two stories high, and can’t have basements. The result is a series of pleasant and modest cottage-like buildings. At least two had fewer square feet than a one-bedroom downtown condo.

One of funniest aspects of the day was how everyone kept asking us if we were “on the list.” As in, the list to get onto the island. (Hmmm…sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?)

See, houses on the island aren’t allowed to be sold at market rates, or to just anyone who wants them. There’s a list (and a lottery system to get on said list) which gives you the opportunity to, when a house goes on sale, buy it for the price that the building (excluding the land) was assessed at several years ago, indexed only to inflation. The first person on the list gets first dibs, and if they don’t want it the second person is asked, and so on. One house we saw was assessed at less than $90,000. Others couldn’t have been much higher.

Almost everyone we talked to encouraged us to get on the list so that we could come “join them.” There’s a very strong sense of community. Children run and bike around in groups, relatively unattended. It’s hard for them to escape I guess, and they seem to be the responsibility of everyone. Every Saturday morning a group of people bike over to the St. Lawrence Market together for groceries.

“You know what the secret is,” asked Jennie? “No cars.” That’s why you know who your neighbours are. That’s why children can play in the “street.” That’s why it’s so quiet and calm. That’s why the air is so clear. (The last two, of course, come with the exception of when planes are landing.)

Add that to reason number [I’ve–lost–count] why cities should be built around people and not cars. All the more reason to look forward to this Friday’s International Car Free Day.

Economy, Environment, Health

ecology, economy, health, polls

Those are the three most important issues for Canadians, in that order, according to a poll released yesterday. The status-quo parties are still treating them as three separate issues, but we know better. You can’t have a healthy economy without a healthy environment, and you can’t have healthy Canadians on a sick planet.

“The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.” – Herman Daly, Former Senior Economist, World Bank

That’s good news for the Green Party, because we’re the only ones who can speak with credibility on all three of those issues, and how they relate to each other.

“The emergence of Stéphane Dion as the ecological conscience of the Liberal leadership campaign and the advent of Elizabeth May as leader of the Green Party, are blowing away the NDP’s chances of portraying itself as the champion of the environment.” Chantal Hébert, The Toronto Star, Sept. 13, 2006.

Our current economy is designed to use up our resources as quickly as possible. As long as we believe that “economic growth” can continue as it has for only the past millisecond of our existence, we will fail. We need to transform our economy.

Our environment is in trouble. A full two-thirds of the systems that support life on this planet are in decline. As long as environmental policies are focused exclusively on “spending money” on the environment and regulating against misaligned economic indicators, they will fail. We need to transform our outlook.

Our health system is sick. From childhood asthma in the young to a cancer epidemic in the increasingly young, costs of all kinds are rising. As long as we think we can fix our heath care system by increasing its funding in perpetuity, as we get sicker and sicker, we will fail. We need to transform the way we think about health.

Canadians are smart people, and have their priorities right. Now we’ve just got to vote like it.

Congratulations Frank!

green party, ndp

Frank de Jong, leader of the Green Party of Ontario, earned an impressive 6.2% of the vote in yesterday’s Parkdale-High Park by-election. The fact that this increase (up from 5.49 in the last federal election) happened in the face of such a tight “horse race” between the NDP and Liberal candidates makes it even more impressive.

It also happened in the face of some mildly amusing minor political interference. My friend Adriana and I were out “main-streeting” for Frank in the final week of the election when we almost got arrested (note: slight exaggeration is in effect) for, of all things, solicitation. (It’s a funny story, ask me about it some time. Turns out not all Toronto police understand that political candidates are allowed by law to, you know, campaign. Like we live in some sort of democracy or something.)

Congratulations to Frank and everyone on his team (even Adriana and I, the trouble makers).

I want to also congratulate Cheri DiNovo on her win. Cheri’s actually a friend of the family, and I wish her the best.