Cynics Unlimited

By pure chance I happened to be in Toronto during the great “blizzard” of 1999. I had descended from cottage country to attend a concert and emerged from the show to see Queen Street resembling a country highway. Taxis were spinning their wheels helplessly while prissily dressed college girls strained every muscle in their anemic frames to remain upright on the icy sidewalks. By all accounts it was good snowfall – definitely worth a day off school in cottage country. However, Toronto mayor Mel Lastman –awash in his usual melodrama- called in 400 troops from CFP Petawawa (backed by armored vehicles) to rescue his city from 3 days of moderate snowfall and 26km/h winds. As Mayor Mel stopped just short of declaring a state of emergency, the rest of Canada had a good laugh at the mighty metropolis’ inability to withstand what is considered regular January weather throughout much of Canada.

Prior to the 2006 municipal election, I thought the 1999 “blizzard” would go down as the single most embarrassing moment in the city’s history. However, embattled mayor David Miller, whose prior unresponsiveness left him at odds with activists and community groups across the political spectrum, managed to easily fend off former councilor Jane Pitfield, former Liberal Party President Stephen LeDrew and dozens of other candidates. The final vote tally told the whole story –

• David Miller – 57%
• Jane Pitfield – 32.3%
• Stephen LeDrew – 1.4%

Not only did our left-leaning and action-averse mayor retain his position but did so by a very comfortable margin. The incumbent victory was declared by CityTV minutes into the election telecast.

To be sure, Miller didn’t exactly have formidable competition. Closest competitor Pitfield had good ideas about handling waste disposal and inner-city rot but ran an ineffective campaign that left some wondering what she stood for … besides opposing David Miller. The web plagiarism mini-scandal was followed up by a lackluster TV debate featuring some particularly silly exchanges with the mayor

Miller: “If I said it was Sunday, you’d say it was Monday. Then you’d call back and say it was Sunday. And then you’d phone up a week later and say it was Tuesday.”
Pitfield: “Maybe it is.”

If Pitfield can be assigned a single fault, it’s constantly making awkward/uninformed public exchanges like the aforementioned. Even as Miller’s victory was announced, Pitfield looked like a deer in headlights during her initial interview. (perhaps she wasn’t in the know about the alleged plagiarism on her website).

Of course, as Jane rightly claimed, she was at least providing some viable competition for Miller. Stephen LeDrew, by contrast, failed to even play the part of the spoiler. At best his presence would have split the anti-Miller protest vote, assuring Miller a re-election. LeDrew’s credibility was attacked almost as soon as he entered the race – the media pounced on the Liberal Party President’s failing law practice and personal bankruptcy filing. To boot, LeDrew also publicly billed himself as an alternative to Miller who would back Jane Pitfield if his candidacy didn’t go well (translation: “I’m here just to cause drama. Don’t take me seriously”). Incidentally, Stephen LeDrew captured barely over 1 in 100 electoral votes and finished less than 3000 votes ahead of the non-participatory 4th place finisher.

However, it is the Toronto voters who warrant the heaviest scrutiny. David Miller has stated time and time again that the voters should look at his record, and if anyone had bothered to do so they would have seen a distinct pattern of failure and inactivity –

Issue: Crime
Results: The year of the gun; The high profile murders of Jane Creba and Chantal Dunn; Miller ignores local community leaders who want to attack crime; Miller refuses to meet with the Guardian Angels

Issue: Transit
Results: The St Clair streetcar fight; The Island Airport;

Issue: Finance
Results: Miller begs; Toronto holds onto taxpayer money given back by federal government

Issue: Environment
Results: Waterfront redevelopment woes; Environmentally-friendly landfill solutions … NIMBY style

Despite this overwhelming evidence, Torontonians fell for a slick campaign and David Miller’s nice haircut. The standard Canadian “Best to go with the devil you know” ethic also played a role, since a large number of Torontonians polled before the election said that change was needed in the Mayor’s office. However, what incentive is there to change when Miller can violate his major election promises and still win by a 2:1 margin in a city full of “disaffected” voters?

Incidentally, Miller and his inner circle of incumbent winners did not even wait until the end of Election Day before falling back into their own habits. The incumbent mayor threatened to beg Ontario for more funding and to siphon 1% of the federal sales tax to shore up the city’s deficit (how he will accomplish this with the decidedly Toronto-unfriendly Stephen Harper remains unclear). Kyle Rae (Ward 27) rambled about the how environmentally conscious Torontonians rebuffed his “North York” competition and that we nasty humans are destroying the planet. Howard Moscoe (Ward 15) beamed openly about his upcoming pension after serving the upcoming term as councilor.

Mel Lastman must be smiling as well – his jackass-like behavior during the snowstorm no longer represents the silliest moment in Toronto history. City voters can now collectively share that dubious distinction.