Mayor Miller

[jwmorrice]

Pathetic that only 39% of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot after an interesting race for mayor. Are folks that lazy? that cynical? that...?

Or maybe it's not such a bad sign. Maybe it's because we have a healthy consensus in this society and so folks just don't feel any pressure to cast a ballot? I dunno.

Must be some non-voters here on TERB (maybe the majority!) who could enlighten us on their motives.

jwm

 

[thighspy]

I do my part---Do you??

To all Socialist'ssss--The job of the City --is to run the City,it is not in the Socialist Business,or in the Giveaway Business.Unfortunately,Toronto Cityhall suffers from Atrophy of the brain ,(if it has a Brain??) like most entrenched Bureaucrates.
There is a never ending Pool of people needing Subsidized Housing.or in other words--the more you build--the more you get.

Wishing you all a lot of luck with your idiotic Socialist Utopic Crap.

 

[lewd]

Let's see...one new mayor and I think 14 new city councillors.
All I care is what their stand on massage parlours are?

 

[jwmorrice]

Re: I do my part---Do you??

Wishing you all a lot of luck with your idiotic Socialist Utopic Crap.

Nice that you ended with best wishes.

jwm

 

[bbradk]

Tax and spend, get ready for it, it's coming

 

[SirLickheralot]

I think David Miller is great. Read a biography about him in the Globe this weekend. He is the son of a single mom who worked three jobs to put him through private school and Harvard University. Ain't nothing wrong with a guy like that.

Now that sounds like a great person with lots of character, his mother that is. It doesn't necessarily make him a great person.

 

[thunder0702]

Voting

I hope everyone who commented here voted. If not shut the F**k up because you have no right to talk. with a 39% voter turn out none of these people have a legimate right to talk for us. And you have no right to complain or compliment.

 

[Dr. Benway]

So many original comments. "Scum sucking socialist" - gosh! Never heard that one before! Look, kids, Mel was whoring out the city to his buddies like a ten dollar SW on crack. Tory is smarter, better spoken, WASP through and through, and every bit as corrupt. Every word he said was a lie, including "and" and "the". He's have jets on the island, high-rise condos marching through low-rise neighbourhoods and tax dollars galore shovelled into the gaping maw of professional sports. All done with a smile. So much more palatable than that little hair-plug clown.

Miller will make his share of errors, but at least they'll be genuine ones, instead of put-up deals on behalf of Paul Godfrey and his crew of wreckers.

Anyway ... the best part of the evening was watching that little turd Tom Bagoshit get less than one percent of the vote!

HARDY FUCKING HAR, TOM OLD SCOUT!

 

[jwmorrice]

Hey, I voted Tory. So I get to rant and rave over the next 3 years and Miller and the Scum Sucking Socialists at city hall spend our money and give us less, but the unions more.

I thought that this sort of political labelling/name-calling was mostly an american phenomenon. I've never heard any acquaintances do it except with a sense of irony. Guess I've been leading a sheltered life.

A second point: I've never understood why people who don't vote are then supposed to sit on their opinions when things go wrong. What's the rationale behind that?

jwm

 

[gibsomstreet]

Look in the mirror, boys. Consider the outsiders looking in. I don't know what they'd say about a cabal of johns attacking Miller and those Scum Sucking Socialists. In fact, the John Tory camp would probably feel pretty embarrassed having those kinds of "fellow travellers".

And you know, if you'd rather have your dollars going t/w whores than taxes; says a lot for your sort, doesn't it...

(Sorry; strictly for the sake of outside-opinion hypothesis, I'm such an ship-disturber;-))

 

[SilentLeviathan]

I'm just disappointed that so many incumbent councillors were returned to office. Many of them need to go.

 

[CyberGoth]

"Prime Minister None Of The Above. ;-)

one day, i should legally change my name to "none of the above" and see what happens on ballots when it gets put at the bottom of the list. [pierced tongue firmly planted in semi-cyborg cheek]

 

[seven]

Must be some non-voters here on TERB (maybe the majority!) who could enlighten us on their motives.

jwm

My excuse is ignorance Triple V.

 

[heavy_meat]

Hey, I voted Tory. So I get to rant and rave over the next 3 years and Miller and the Scum Sucking Socialists at city hall spend our money and give us less, but the unions more.

Damned straight!

Did anyone notice Syd Ryan (as I spit on the ground!) gleefully rubbing his hands when city-tv was interviewing at the Miller party Monday night?

He was already giving himself and CUPE credit for getting members to vote for Miller. You know that those pondscum goons are going to be calling in lots of favours.

Just wait until the unions run roughshod over what's left of the city. The city is already 300 million in the hole, it's going to hit 1 billion in 3 years -- mark my words.

Yes, I voted Tory as well. (I'll bet you could have never guessed that )

--HM

 

[james t kirk]

Damned straight!

Did anyone notice Syd Ryan (as I spit on the ground!) gleefully rubbing his hands when city-tv was interviewing at the Miller party Monday night?

He was already giving himself and CUPE credit for getting members to vote for Miller. You know that those pondscum goons are going to be calling in lots of favours.

Just wait until the unions run roughshod over what's left of the city. The city is already 300 million in the hole, it's going to hit 1 billion in 3 years -- mark my words.

Yeah, I did notice that.

I remember when Bob Rae got elected, Bob White of the CAW did exactly the same thing. Hmmm.

Watching Ryan did make me feel a little queezie, I must admit.

Personally, I think Miller has it all wrong on the garbage collection issue. All collection should be contracted out period. But the city should still run the transfer stations and take care of the disposal of the garbage. Why? Because i trust the private sector to pick up garbage, I DON'T TRUST THEM to dispose of it.

It would be interesting to see a city of Toronto Budget to see exactly where the money goes and see where some chopping could be done. I would start with the cops. They are REDICULOUSLY overpaid. Why are they such prima donnas that they are untouchable?

Where would you chop to save money?

Roads and bridges ?

TTC?

Education?

Fire and Ambulance??

Sanitation??

Water and Sewers??

Libraries??

Parks and Recreation??

Building Department.

All of these departments employ some very skilled workers. Engineers, lawyers, accountants, technicians, etc. They are paid ok, but trust me, they aint getting rich. And I work with many of them and for the most part, they work fairly hard and do a good job. Are you going to chop them? Lose that skilled work force??

Not a good strategy.

I would probably vote no on all of the above other than contracting out garbage collection.

Then you get into social services

Elderly??

Medical clinics??

Public Health

Welfare??

Social Housing?

Shelters?

Daycare?

Economic Developement.

Again, you have some very skilled individuals doing a lot of work. Doctors, nurses, accountants. What do you do?

The only place i could chop without a problem would be the special interest groups.

- Gay Pride Day parade - Pay for it yourself

- Carribana - Pay for it yourself

- All ethnic organisations - pay for it yourself

You tell me where you make the cuts??????

 

[james t kirk]

You make some good points at the end but you almost lost me because you obviously have some irrational prejudices against anyone who is either a businessman ( just because you have to travel does not necessarily make you a 'fat cat' ) or was born into a family with successful parents .

I travel all the time with my job. All over Canada, and parts of the USA. I go to Pearson every time. Cities should be for living in, working in, not to house an airport. Pearson is underutilized and has had serious dough spent on it. I see no reason for an island airport. It's a waste of money and it's duplication.

I'm not sure that you would enjoy Toronto very much if all the businessmen left , which will happen because of the traffic and taxes .

I am not too worried about that happening really.

I don't know if the cops are lazy or not but I can tell you that some of the public works employees are . I once watched 7 employees doing road repair outside my former downtown office . One backhoe operator , 2 guys with a shovel , one guy with a clipboard and 3 doing absolutely nothing . They arrived at 10 am and left at 4 pm . Their accomplishment for the day was to remove a section of pavement roughly 6 ft by 12 ft .

True enough, sometimes this happens. On the other hand, try it, try being on the end of a jackhammer for 8 hours and see how you feel. You see a guy carrying a bag of cement on his shoulder and you think whatever. Try it. Want real fun. Try carrying drywall sheets up several flights of stairs 2 at a time.

I have been to numerous meetings with fat cats making serious money each year. Trust me, they do even less than a guy leaning on a shovel in some instances.

 

[Muddy]

Gosh, what an interesting discussion!

Several points: I didn't vote because I'm a landed immigrant. However, I've been paying taxes for a long time, I've been a creative and active member of the Toronto community, and have voted in the past, illegally. This time, since I'm applying for citizenship, I didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize that.

So, though I didn't/couldn't vote, I DO most certainly have the right to comment, cheer, applaud, bitch, grumble, etc. I'd delighted that Miller was so handily elected, and I think he will represent us well.

The usual complement of right-wing loonies on this Board are on his case already, of course, stamping their little feet and slapping their poointed foreheads with references to "scum sucking socialistic commies" (!) - but I'm hoping that Miller takes some time, shakes up the local civil service, bounces the old Lastman cronies out the door, and gives the city and its employees some pride in what they do.

Finally, I have no problem with taxes, which I pay cheerfully. I just want my money spent effectively, wisely, efficiently and with compassion. I want my garbage picked up promptly, I want better education for our kids, I want my roads fixed, I want the arts supported, and I want less traffic congestions (and what the hell's wrong with tolls - they've worked well in London, and we already have a toll road, just north of here, which that oaf Harris sold at a fiveaway price to a buynch of Australians who are getting rich off it).

And I have much less trouble with unions (except the assholes who run the police "asociation") than I do with fat cat developers, weasels like Tom "Bagoshit" (great name, whoever it was that came up with that earlier!), secret deals, backroom lawyers and all the rest of those "capitalist scum" <g>

But let's hold our fire and see what happens!

Muddy Waters

(Returning to the subject at hand, may I say what a wonderful person Annalee is!)

 

[xarir]

2 days later ...

Well, 2 days after the election I have to say I like the way Mr. Miller is talking. He seems to have the right priorities and the gumption to pull it off.

But, I'm still waiting and seeing. Talk is cheap after all.