The right quotable Councillor Ashton won't seek re-election

City Hall can seem like a humourless place and reporters have long counted on Councillor Brian Ashton for a mischievous grin, a good quote and some deep dish.

In characteristic style, his press release announcing his retirement from politics after 26 years as a Scarborough alderman, Metro councillor and Toronto councillor features a box with the headline Job Wanted!

"Energetic male looking for new opportunities. Accustomed to long hours and a demanding work environment.
A deft orator who has directed and manged billion dollar organizations is looking to employ his skills and creativity outside of elected office.Whether leading on of North America's largest transit authroities, or directing Canada's largest police service, he is a proven problem solver and strategic planner.Relying on a quarter century of public service in an expanding and diverse city, he has developed unique skills and experience that are in great demand in Toronto.He takes on challenges with unbridled enthusiasm and a "can do" attitude.Brian Ashton will be available to meet your private or public goals beginning in December, 2010.Looking for someone who can make a difference? Don't let this opportunity slip by!"

The likable and loquacious Scarborough Southwest representative, who in recent years has been a thorn in Mayor David Miller's side (Ashton was kicked off executive council in 2007 after breaking with Miller on a crucial vote on the land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee, and he voted against the city-negotiated settlement that ended last summer's garbage strike), goes on to say: "I've loved every moment of being part of Toronto's evolution from a sometimes sleepy city to a funky and edgy 21st-century cosmopolitan centre. I've experienced so many things, met so many interesting people, and had so much fun that it probably should be illegal.

He concludes by quoting Will Rogers in his advice to council newcomers after the Oct. 25 election: "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." 

CAW endorses Pantalone

Given the smouldering public fury over last summer's garbage strike, the value of a union endorsement is debatable in this civic election.

But give Joe Pantalone his due - he got a big one.

CAW to Support Joe Pantalone for Toronto Mayor

TORONTO, June 23 /CNW/ - The CAW is throwing its support behind City of Toronto mayoral candidate and current Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone.

"Joe Pantalone has an impressive track record and I believe he is the only option for Torontonians seeking a progressive candidate for the position of mayor," said CAW President Ken Lewenza.

Lewenza said that Pantalone's support for regional manufacturers and service providers would help create jobs across the city and province; and his commitment to keeping public infrastructure public would maintain the backbone of Toronto's economy.

Lewenza also commended Pantalone's focus on public transit. "He is the only candidate defending the vision of Transit City, a critical initiative which will connect all parts of the city. All Torontonians, regardless of income level or neighbourhood, should be able to enjoy the same service."

CAW members across Toronto will be actively campaigning on behalf of Joe Pantalone, said Lewenza.

Sarah Thomson accepts campaign manager's resignation

The Sarah Thomson mayoral campaign has thrown a cloak of secrecy over the abrupt departure Monday of Wendy Stewart, her campaign manager and spokesperson.

"We're maintaining a no-comment position on that," said John Tory Jr., son of the radio talk show host, who is advising Thomson on strategy and policy.

Thomson wasn't talking and Stewart, responding by email, said any comment would have to come from the campaign. Stewart, who describes herself as a conservative marketing and PR specialist, has been a constant presence at Thomson's side since the campaign started in January.

"We're telling you what happened," Tory said. "Wendy obviously had her reasons which were shared with Sarah.

"She offered her resignation and Sarah accepted that resignation."

The undisclosed events that prompted Wendy Stewart to officially step
down unfolded over the weekend, he said.

Tory denied it is a sign of trouble in the campaign. While Thomson has lodged some surprisingly good poll numbers recently, the Women's Post publisher was forced to cancel a Board of Trade speech because of poor ticket sales. While other camps have trumpeted fundraising totals, Thomson remains silent on the issue.

"The state of the campaign is strong and energized," Tory said, adding Stewart will be replaced but he can't say when.

In April, it was Stewart who was explaining the defection of Thomson advisor Sam Goldman Goldstein to the Rocco Rossi camp.

“There was no big, dramatic, oh my god the world is coming to an end here,” Stewart told the Globe and Mail at the time.. “He's busy ... sometimes we don’t see him for weeks on end. I really don’t even know if he’s left.”

When asked what he will do if his father, chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, accedes to pressure to join the campaign and offer a moderate-right alternative to Councillor Rob Ford, Tory Jr. joked: "Phone him and congratulate him, I guess," adding that he wouldn't speculate on a hypothetical situation.

George Smitherman has felt Thomson's pain. His campaign manager, Jeff Bangs, quit in April, apparently over personality conflicts.

Ford advisor's opinions on TTC, media, all his own

Rob Ford's campaign is divorcing itself from comments about the TTC made on a blog by the candidate's policy advisor Mark Towhey, a self-described, " international management consultant specializing in issues, risk and crisis leadership and a frequent political commentator."

Made at the height of the TTC's recent customer service debacle, Towhey's remarks amount to "a scorched earth policy piece," according to transit blogger Steve Munro.

But Ford's communications manager Adrienne Batra says Towhey's blog, "Coffee with Mark Towhey,"is completely separate from the campaign.

"Yes, he is an advisor, he’s our director of policy," she confirmed. "However those are his personal opinions. We work with Councillor Ford and the things he is committed to and, at this point, our position has been pretty clear – we are looking at making TTC an essential service."

The lead item on Towhey's blog Tuesday, however, is about his work on the Ford campaign and his opinions of the candidate, including a picture of Ford walking alongside his policy advisor and sign-carrying supporters.

Towhey's blog entry on the subject of transit suggests the city simply stop funding the TTC and give the billions it spends back to taxpayers.

This, he expects, will drive people back into their cars, onto bikes or into cabs and ultimately, motivate the private sector to take up transit delivery.

"Many bus routes, how ever (sic), would be abandoned. They're not profitable. Such is life," concedes Towhey. "The TTC should have dumped these routes long ago."

And what about the people who need that service?

"Well, life's tough. instead of being the only three people on a 60 passenger bus, perhaps these people will have to introduce themselves, get to know their neighbours and share a taxi," he writes.

Towhey Consulting Group bills itself as specialists in risk and crisis management for clients such as McCain, CIBC, the Ontario and Canadian governments.

But Towhey doesn't reserve all his choice words for transit. He's got some opinions on the press too. He's got some thoughts on the media and the masses too:

"Increasingly, there are three things I dislike about our modern mainstream news media. First, is the growing penchant to create scandal where none exists. Second, is the ubiquitous assumption that audiences are stupid. Third, is the mounting evidence that maybe we are," he wrote the same month.

Team Ford won't be retweeting this

Mayoral candidate Rob Ford isn't one of your iPhone-wielding Twitter addicts who is really jonesed about geotagging and microblogging.

It's acknowledged, however, that his campaign team has been pretty good at using social media to get his message out.

Some wag (we're guessing from Team Smitherman but have no proof) has turned Twitter against him with a feed we will call "Stuff Rob Ford Says" listing old eyebrow-raising comments from the Etobicoke councillor, along with some fresh out of the oven.

Watch for Team Ford to strike back with a feed that includes a lot of "eHealth" quotes soon.

An IT guy is behind johntoryformayor.com

It's not exactly a sophisticated website, and it's anybody's guess what happens to the names that people type into what seems to be an electronic petition. It's also a little tough to see the point. Between the council-level effort to draft Tory, and the poll that shows he would, if the election were held now and he was in the race, blow his mayoral rivals out of the water, Tory doesn't need a list of names to tell him many people want him on the ballot. Badly.

The most interesting thing about all this is what it says about the current race. You have six candidates perceived by the media to be potential contenders, with political views ranging from Rob Ford on the right to Joe Pantalone on the left, and still there is enough dissatisfaction with the choices presented that the arguably most exciting candidacy is one that doesn't (yet?) exist. 

Which brings us back to johntoryformayor.com.  A Whois search on the domain name points the finger at Jay Jordon, chief executive of small Toronto IT firm Baldhead Systems Inc.

Here is his company bio:

A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Jordon has founded, grown, acquired and exited a number of companies. Prior to his current position at Baldhead, Mr. Jordon was the Chief Technology Officer and Founder of Sona Innovations Inc., a joint venture company originally held between Baldhead Systems and Royal Bank of Canada. He was also a founder of Byte Media, a digital media company and purveyor of digital signage solutions to York Region Transit. Mr. Jordon began his career with CIBC Wood Gundy and Angross Software as a developer and consultant. In his spare time, Mr. Jordon coaches amateur wrestling with Team Impact. He is the past Vice President of Marketing & Administration for the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association and former Treasurer for the Metro Toronto Wrestling Association. In 2005, Mr. Jordon successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania via the Macheme route. His cousin Peter Jordon, Director of Mont Source, and Baldhead Co-founder, Ron Leach, were also on the expedition. Mr. Jordon is the proud father of three children.

Oh, and a quick look at Jordon's Facebook profile shows Tory is in good company - Jordon likes the page "Help nominate William Shatner for Governor General of Canada."

Smitherman puts "wake-up" calls to Ford

Polls that say Rob Ford is tied with or leading George Smitherman have already changed the dynamic of the race. Such movement inevitably puts more pressure and scrutiny on the frontrunner. To capitalize on that, Smitherman's team have started writing "morning wake-up calls" for Ford and posting them on the team's website and emailing them to reporters.

Here's a sample:

A Thursday morning wake up call for Rob Ford

Good morning Rob... it’s time you answered some questions
Keeping things simple: Rob you are fond of saying that talk of millions and billions confuse people so you like to keep things simple.  Simple is good for storytelling, but accurate and honest is better when you are running for Mayor. Earlier this week, it seems you got a bit confused yourself as you tried to over-simplify things for Toronto voters. Eager to prove your fiscal competence, the opposite was revealed.  You told the National Post that you could save $500-million at each and every council meeting. Asked for details, you refused to provide any. $500 million?  Half a billion dollars in savings... every time Council meets?  Really?  We know you have never sat on the city’s budget committee – but, just so you know, that works out to cutting half of the city’s budget over the course of a year. So please tell us – how exactly do you plan on cutting the equivalent of 5% of the city’s operating budget every time Council meets?  And how is it credible to promise to cut the city’s budget in half while at the same time promising to build new subways, hiring more police and subsidizing rents (to name just a few of your unfunded promises)? The details on this one should be interesting...

Given Ford's proclivity for returning calls, maybe they should include a number.

The Toronto Week in Review

The brother and father of slain teenager Aqsa Parvez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, the Toronto Eaton Centre will get a $120 million facelift, and as the city braces itself for the G20 - which is going to cause all kinds of problems, problems, problems, problems - the US issues a travel advisory for Toronto-bound Americans.

On the mayoral front, man-to-beat Rob Ford - Toronto's Sarah Palin? - once again finds himself at the centre of controversy.

Q&As about the Forum poll on Ford, Smitherman and Tory

Since publication of our story about a poll by Forum Research Inc. that put mayoral candidates Rob Ford and George Smitherman in a dead heat -- with the caveat that John Tory could blow both out of the water -- many people, including some who work at the Star, have asked me about the poll.

The vociferousness of some of the external questioning is related, I think, to the fact that the Tory results rained on Ford's frontrunner parade. Many Ford supporters are quick to jump to his defence, and it doesn't take much for some to see a master plan at work. (Most journalists' respond to such conspiracy theories with something like: "Do they actually think we're that organized?")

Here are some of the questions, and answers, about the poll.

1. "Did the Star commission the poll?"

No. As the story stated, it was "provided exclusively" to the Star. Forum conducted the poll independently and provided the complete results to the Star for free. We didn't shape it or ask Forum president Lorne Bozinoff, a former vice-president at Gallup, to include the Tory question. For a smaller polling company that isn't known for political work, having a poll reported in Canada's biggest-circulation paper is good publicity.

2. "Can I see all the questions and answers?"

Yes. The complete results weren't online when the Star story was published but they have since been posted here.

3. "Is it a real poll?"

Yes. The sample size, the margin of error and the number of undecided voters are all roughly the same as the Toronto Star-Angus Reid poll we commissioned in April that showed Ford had surged into second place. The Star-Angus Reid poll, which we helped shape, was done online while the Forum poll was done by telephone. Both are scientific. A mayoral poll conducted independently by Environics had only a slightly bigger sample size.

4. "With more than 40 per cent of respondents undecided, can you really read anything into the results?"

The pollsters say yes. There is a lot of controversy over political polling and how it is used by media outlets and whether it shapes a race. However, no credible polling expert has stepped forward to say you can't draw any conclusions from the Star-Angus Reid poll, the Forum poll, the Environics poll, and the Globeandmail/CTV/CP24/Nanos poll that was published the same day as the Forum poll. All have similar ratios of undecided voters. Having said that, any poll this far from Oct. 25 with a large ratio of undecided voters must be taken for what it is -- a blurry snapshot -- and not an indicator of who will become the next mayor of Toronto.

5. "Is this part of the Star's master plan to thwart a particular candidate?"

No. We didn't commission the poll or dictate its terms. It was offered to us, we checked out the company, took a hard look at the poll and reported its results. Besides, many candidates do a good job of thwarting themselves.

UPDATE: The Torontoist blog has posted a useful survey of surveys past to let people gauge their usefulness in determining the outcome.

Here's how the G20 links to air travel

Those tenacious folks at the Clean Train Coalition are at it again. Today, the residents' group that has banded with some city councillors, Toronto's medical officer of health, and environmentalists, to push for the electrification of the Georgetown GO corridor, released the following list:

Air Rail Links of the G20 Nations

 

 

USA - Washington, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San

Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles - All Electric

 

Canada - Vancouver Electric, Toronto Diesel

 

Mexico - Mexico City - Electric

 

Argentina - None

 

Brazil - Porto Alegre, Recife - Electric

 

China - Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou - All Electric

 

Japan - Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka - All Electric

 

South Korea - Seoul, Pusan - All Electric

 

India - New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangaluru - All Electric

 

Indonesia - None

 

Saudi Arabia - None

 

France - Paris - Electric

 

Germany - Berlin, Hamburg, Rhein-Ruhr - All Electric

 

Italy - Milan, Napoli, Rome - All Electric

 

Russia - Moscow - Electric

 

Turkey - Istanbul - Electric

 

United Kingdom - London, Manchester - Electric

 

Australia - Sydney, Melbourne - Electric

 

South Africa - Johannesburg - Electric

 

European Union - Greece, Netherlands, Spain - All Electric