Crusading lawyer remembers fallen cyclists

Bike advocate and personal injury lawyer Patrick Brown sent this seasonal bulletin.

"Each Halloween is a haunting reminder of the unnecessary and tragic loss of Ryan Carriere [father, husband, cyclist, artist and so much more].  Hopefully Martin and the others will see fewer and fewer memorial rides," Brown wrote in an email.

Toronto cycling advocate passes the torch

 
Yvonne Bambrick, the enthusiastic and civically engaged head of the Toronto Cylists Union is cruising to greener pastures, although she's not saying which way she's pointed.

Bambrick was the first executive director of the union since that was established in 2008. When she decided earlier this year it was time to move on, she stepped into the role of communications director while Andrea Garcia, director of advocacy and operations, got her feet firmly planted on the union pedals.

Under Bambrick's direction, the union has become an influential voice not just for cycling in Toronto, but for walking and transit. She has lent her energy and support to the upcoming Bixi bike sharing program, cycling lane expansion and projects like the Union Station bike station and on-street bike parking.

Although she is a fierce advocate for cycling as a means to a healthier city, Bambrick is also a patient listener even when others' views aren't necessarily aligned with her own.

Here are her closing remarks.

Smitherman has "social media" momentum, but what did that do for Rossi?

Here's the rest of an interesting final analysis by Patrick Gladney of Northstar Research Partners, charting how Toronto's mayoral candidates are doing in terms of social media.

 

Ward 32 - Bussin is in trouble

Mary-Margaret McMahon is in a position to unseat incumbent Sandra Bussin.

It looks like Mary-Margaret McMahon has a real chance to unseat Sandra Bussin in the Beaches.

Up until now, Bussin has been protected by vote splitting, specifically between McMahon and Bruce Baker.

Well this morning Baker announced he was backing McMahon. On Wednesday, Neil Sinclair announced he too was dropping out to back McMahon.

This could do it. Earlier in the week, the Star was told that a poll in the ward still showed Bussin in the lead, provided Baker stayed in the race.

Things just got very interesting for the Speaker.

Unusual poll suggests Ford still in the driver seat

Reporters eager for another Toronto mayoral poll were rewarded Friday by pollster Frank Graves of Ottawa-based EKOS.

It shows Rob Ford with an 8-point lead over George Smitherman and says, based on that and demographic makeup of their supporters, that Ford " is considerably more likely to emerge successfully over Mr. Smitherman on Monday."

The sample size (507) and margin of error (plus or minus 4.4 per cent) are normal for such polls but two things make this one different. It was done by "robocalls" -- automated phone calls, where respondents punch numbers in response to recorded questions, in this case on both landlines and cellphones -- and the duration of the poll -- nine days, between Oct. 13 and 21.

EKOS is the only pollster in Canada that uses robocalls, said president Frank Graves, arguing they are more accurate than the online panels used by the Star's pollster and others. As for the nine-day span (no other poll reported in this campaign has been in the field more than three days), Graves said: "I would like to have it done it faster but it would have been too expensive." He added the mayoral questions on to another survey, he said.

"I'm not happy with the poll. Ideally, I would like to have done it over a shorter time with a bigger sample," he said, adding that he believes the data is reliable enough to show Ford has a "small lead."

Two other surveys conducted during the EKOS's polling period -- a Star-Citytv poll done Oct. 14-15 and another conducted for the Toronto Sun Oct. 15-17 -- both showed Ford and Smitherman tied.

So we go into the election's final weekend not really sure what's going on out there. There are hot rumours of another poll being released Saturday. Of course, as politicians like to remind us -- especially the ones who are trailing -- the only poll that counts is the one on election day.

 

 

Pantalone releases his campaign donor list

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone has followed the recent Toronto tradition of releasing his campaign donor list before the civic election. Rob Ford's campaign has vowed to do so, although the clock is ticking, while George Smitherman says he plans to wait until after Monday's vote because donations are still rolling in.

Pantalone raised about $850,000, well under the $1.3 million limit, says campaign spokesman Mike Smith. Unions and corporations are banned from donating. Individuals can give up to $2,500 to mayoral candidates. The name of everyone who gives more than $100 must be disclosed. Smith said the list is not available online but those who ask the campaign for a paper copy will get one.

Here are some of Pantalone's donors:

Stephen Diamond (lawyer and president of Diamondcorp, a real estate development and consulting business, picked by George Smitherman for John Sewell-headed panel on government reform)

Bronwyn Krog, developer and retail and planning consultant

Russell Lazar, general manager of Honest Ed's

Cynthia MacDougall, development lawyer

Michael McClelland, heritage architect

Alan Menkes, condominium developer

Howard Moscoe, city councillor

Ben Rothman, Irene Sepp, assistants in Moscoe's office

Brad Butt, president, Greater Toronto Apartment Association

Ian Connerty, vice-president and area manager of Parsons Brinckerhoff, project manager for initiatives including Transit City

Sandra Bussin, city councillor

Claire Copeland, executive and chair of Toronto Hydro

Glenn De Baeremaeker, city councillor

William Duron, Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Joe Halstead, outgoing Caribana CEO

Gord Perks, city councillor

Paula Fletcher, city councillor

Anne Johnston, seniors' advocate and former councillor

Chris Korwin-Kuczynski, lobbyist and former councillor

Joe Mihevc, city councillor

Paul Sutherland, lobbyist and former councillor

Andrew Weir, vice-president, Tourism Toronto

Olivia Chow, MP and former councillor

Jack Layton, NDP leader and former councillor

Mike Layton, environmentalist and council candidate

Adam Brown, development lawyer

John Laschinger, Pantalone's campaign manager

Eb Zeidler, renowned architect

Rosari Marchese, NDP MPP

Sam Sniderman, founder of Sam the Record Man

Peter Soumalias, Walk of Fame president

Lyle Hall, managing director, tourism consultants HLT Advisory Inc., past chair Tourism Toronto

Bruce Scott, chief of staff to Mayor David Miller

Kevin Beaulieu, former aide to Councillor Adam Giambrone, current council candidate

Nick Dominelli, council candidate and former aide to several councillors

Gay Cowbourne, former councillor

Andrew Pask, lobbyist and former executive assistant to Rob Ford

Peter Kormos, NDP MPP

Frank Lewinberg, architect and former city planner

Robert Millward, former planning commissioner

Richard Peddie, chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment

Brian Iler, lawyer and a leader of opposition to the island airport

Austin Cooper, lawyer

Debbie Field, local food advocate

James Harbell, development lawyer)

Ann Ball, Pantalone aide

Alan Brookes, organizer, Scotiabank Waterfront Toronto Marathon

Paul Pellegrini, president of lobbying and public affairs firm Sussex Strategy Group

Sol Wassermuhl, architect

Alfredo Romano, principal, developers Castlepoint Group

Catherine Leblanc-Miller, school trustee

Peter Tabuns, NDP MPP

Matthew Kellway, union rep

Arnold Amber, former president of CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild

Patchen Barss, communications professional, former David Miller spokesman

Peggy Nash, NDP MP

Angela Bischoff, outreach co-ordinator of the Clean Air Alliance and partner of the late activist and mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg

Smitherman camp attempts to put a price on Ford's vision of Toronto transit

The George Smitherman camp has been researching the costs of some of rival Rob Ford platforms.

Using the city's candidate information service, which allows candidates equal access to financial and other information from city staff, Smitherman's people have compiled a detailed look at some of Ford's transit plans, including the penalties for cancelling Toronto's historic order for new streetcars.

Ford has suggested that streetcars cause more congestion than they alleviate and he is proposing to rip up some of the existing downtown lines and halt the building of light rail into the suburbs.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross confirms the numbers are directly from transit officials but many are guesstimates because they represent scenarios the TTC has never had cause to calculate.

"We get asked frequently the cost to cancel contracts for the streetcars. We don’t know. It’s not the kind of thing we would have undertaken unless direction were given to us," he said.

The cost of ripping up streetcar tracks, for example, is tough to calculate.

"We would never rip up the network. It’s not something you would do. If a policy decision was made to eliminate streetcars, then over time, the track and overhead wires would obviously be removed, but only over time… so we never provided an actual dollar figure. It’s too difficult to say," according to Ross.

But some of the numbers being floated in response to the Smitherman questions, include:

- $116.3 million wasted on Transit City light rail work so far

- $1.6 billion in contracts against which penalties could be levied, including new streetcars and tunnel boring machines for the Eglinton Transit City line.

- $1,100 to remove and repave each metre of existing streetcar tracks (although Smitherman's documents didn't have the total metres, Ross called The Goods to report that there are 90,000 metres of double track)

-$1,100 to remove each metre of overhead wire along streetcar tracks

-$200 million for new bus garages given that Ford is proposing to replace downtown streetcars with buses

- $407 million for 550 new hybrid buses at a cost of $740,000 each

- $35 million a year for 700 additional bus drivers

Did Smitherman seek Miller's endorsement?

The Joe Pantalone campaign says George Smitherman tried to get Miller's endorsement. Miller's office says Smitherman asked to meet the mayor for coffee and an endorsement request was apparently coming. The Smitherman campaign says not only didn't the former deputy premier ask for Miller's blessing, he would not have taken it if offered.

All this starts with Pantalone campaign manager John Laschinger calling to react to a Star-Citytv poll that found Miller's endorsement was a net loss for Pantalone. He explained why he sought the endorsement and is airing radio ads featuring Miller urging Torontonians to vote for his deputy mayor because rivals Smitherman and Rob Ford want to "slash and burn public services."

The gruff-voiced "Lasch" said his research told him Miller is actually positive for Pantalone because, while Ford supporters (who made up about 40 per cent of decided voters in our poll sample) are not going to be influenced by Miller, those left over could be swayed by the mayor's opinion.

And then Lasch drops this: "One day before Miller endorsed Joe, Smitherman called Miller asking for his endorsement."

OK, we'll bite.

To the mayor's office, where spokesman Stuart Green says: "I do know that George called the mayor requesting a sit down 'for coffee' to discuss issues (earlier this month). I heard the voicemail.
"His tone was clearly that of trying to reach out for support from the mayor but he never explicitly asked for the endorsement ... although we know through very reliable sources that he was going to ask for it. The mayor chose not to call him back."

Such a request would be a shocker. For much of the early part of this campaign, before the Ford phenomenon came into focus, Smitherman seemed to be running against the retiring Miller, criticizing waste and inefficiency at city hall and blasting the Miller regime's "sense of entitlement." On the other hand, as Smitherman himself said Monday, "You take support any way that it’s offered."

It's all a load of rubbish, says Erika Mozes, Smitherman's spokeswoman. "At some point, I think back in the summer, George reached out for a chat. George talks to politicians of all stripes ... he just wanted to catch up with Daviid."

"George respects the work David has done but never sought his endorsement, nor would he have taken it ... (Smitherman) feels the city needs new leadership, and that includes David Miller."

UPDATE: More from Miller spokesman Stuart Green:

"We had also heard that George was going to seek help in getting Joe Pantalone to drop out of the race.

If anyone needs reasons why the Mayor would not call George back or consider endorsing him, I'd say this...

The Mayor is a city builder while Mr Smitherman has spent the campaign running the city down.  The Mayor has for 7 years pushed for transit renewal and Mr Smitherman sat on his hands while the Premier gutted Transit City.  The Mayor has made the difficult decisions of raising taxes so we can invest in the city while Mr Smitherman has promised tax cuts and tax freezes which will result in cuts.  The Mayor has invested in the priority neighbourhoods and Mr Smitherman wants to do a rethink even though everyone agrees including the United Way and other agencies that we are making a real difference.

Clearly there really was not much to talk about.

Ouch. If Smitherman wins, we suspect the torch won't be passed, as much as brandished.

 

 

Barbara Hall "horrified" at Smitherman fundraising email snafu

George Smitherman is like a son to Barbara Hall. He was the former Toronto mayor's chief of staff and campaign manager, and is like a "surrogate grandmother" to Michael, the son that Smitherman and his husband Christopher Peloso are in the process of adopting.

No doubt, Hall would love for Smitherman to be Toronto's next mayor, and wishes she could do everything in her power to make that happen. However, she is also the chief commissioner of Ontario's Human Rights Commission, and as a provincial appointee she is not allowed to get involved in election campaigns. Officially, she's neutral in Toronto's civic election.

So eyebrows were raised when the following email was sent late Sunday night from Hall's private email account, soliciting $30,000 for Smitherman's campaign to print a flyer advertising the Star's endorsement of the former Ontario deputy premier. The email, obtained by the Star's Robert Benzie, is signed by Max Beck, Hall's husband, a prominent Liberal and chief executive of Easter Seals. He sent it to himself and numerous others, whose emails don't show up. We have redacted the first part of the email addresses for privacy reasons.

From: Barbara <xxxxx@rogers.com>
To: 'Max Beck' <xxxxx@rogers.com>
Cc: 'Pamela Gutteridge' <xxxxx@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Sun Oct 17 22:00:37 2010
Subject: I want George Smitherman to be my Mayor, and I need your help

I need to ask you a very special favour. The election for a new Mayor to lead Toronto into the future is just a few days away.

I have helped recruit 100’s of volunteers….and they are working hard.

George is working hard.

The Toronto Star this morning endorsed George Smitherman as the best choice for Mayor of Toronto.

I want to ensure that every potential voter in Toronto knows about the Star endorsement, so I have promised to raise $30,000 by Tuesday midnight for a special flyer.

I have given all that I am allowed to in support of George, so….

I need you to help me on this. I want you to personally raise $1,000 for George and it will only cost you $100…. after the municipal political contribution rebate.

I want you to fill out the attached form and donate $350 for George’s campaign. And I want you to get two others to send $350: it could be your partner, a family member, a business associate, or neighbour.

The cost after the rebate to you and the other supporters you recruit will be $100. Not a bad investment for the future of our city.

You do not need to live in Toronto to get this rebate.

The urgency, is that I need to be sure that this money has been raised by the end of the work day on Tuesday.

So I ask you to use the Appeal form attached and FAX it back to Pam Gutteridge.

Pam will track donations for me and I will keep at it until I get the $30,000.

I will let  you know the results and I will host a small reception after the election is over and we have won. Hopefully with a special guest!

Thank you for your help….Max Beck

and then on Monday, Beck sent this:

From: Max Beck <xxxxx@rogers.com>
To: 'Max Beck' <xxxxx@rogers.com>
Cc: 'Pamela Gutteridge' <xx@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Mon Oct 18 23:56:19 2010
Subject: FW: Correction of email send last night

I sent you a personal fundraising appeal for George Smitherman last night. You will recall that immediately after I sent a second email with the attachment included. I have just discovered that not only did I make an error in not sending the attachment, much more importantly I used the incorrect Rogers account to send the email. Not sure how that happened but it was a serious error.

Althought the email was written by me and clearly signed by me, the email went out from my wife's account - xxxxx@rogers.com. Barbara as many of you will know has a public position with the provincial government and she is not permitted to have any involvement whatsoever in partisan political activity. I apologize to you for making this error and more importantly to my wife, Barbara Hall, for damaging the politically neutral position that she works so hard to maintain.

With regret.....Max Beck

In an interview Tuesday, Hall said she and her husband share a computer and he mistakenly wrote from her email account. "I was in bed reading when he wrote it and had no idea about the email or what was in it," until Monday when Beck told her about his mistake, she said.

"I've made it totally clear that I can't comment on individual campaigns or candidates. Max knows how hard I've worked at that. He was pretty horrified as was I. My only involvement with George during the campaign has been occassionally babysitting his son or taking him to the park."

Beck told the Star he feels awful about his mistake, adding that personal emails to him and his wife all arrive in a single inbox and he should ask Rogers how to separate them.

"I'm just mortified by this because Barbara has worked so bloody hard to do everything properly."

Beck, a wealthy businessman and former chair of the board of Ontario Place, said he has no official role with the Smitherman campaign. Asked if he has raised the $30,000, he said, "Not quite yet but we're getting there."

Pantalone urges campaign troops to have "courage"

Shortly after waking up to public opinion polls suggesting he has virtually no hope of being elected mayor next Monday, Joe Pantalone paraphrased NDP icon Tommy Douglas to his supporters and campaign workers, telling them: "Courage my friends, there's plenty of time to get a better world."

Pantalone repeated that he has no plans to drop out of the race, despite rival George Smitherman's argument that votes for Pantalone could help get the race's most conservative candidate, Rob Ford, elected.

The deputy mayor, chipper as ever, also said that "The Lord created the world in six days ... So we have seven days to do it. We have to work harder."

He noted that a Star-CityTV poll showed that one-fifth of Torontonians, and almost half of Smitherman supporters, say they plan to vote strategically -- to stop a candidate from winning.

"They should be voting for their best hope, not their least fear," Pantalone said. Asked how he plans to beat back Smitherman's aggressive efforts to steal his support, given that the poll said his support is by far the softest of the three main candidates, Pantalone said: "You may be able to beat it back, you may not be able to beat it back ... However, in my view it needs to be beaten back because ithe future of Toronto is at stake."

He accused Smitherman of not being straight with Torontonians, arguing that his spending cuts will mean cuts to funding for priority neighbourhoods, youth at risk and senior citizens.

Pantalone was joined by supporters including councillors Gord Perks and Janet Davis, and his pronouncements were loudly cheered.

But a reporter who arrived early found a Bloor St. campaign office with only a handful of youthful workers chatting solemnly as Pantalone read the Star's poll story.