Transit key issue for candidates

Judging by the jeers, cheers and jabs at Monday evening’s mayoral debate, the two front-runners to be Toronto’s next mayor appear to be Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman.

In the nearly three-hour event at Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough Monday, March 29, night, former Ontario deputy premier George Smitherman and former non-profit executive Rocco Rossi exchanged barbs in between answering questions about a plethora of topics ranging from the police budget to bike lanes to the Sheppard LRT.

At one point Smitherman likened comments made by Rossi about selling Toronto Hydro to those made by former Ontario Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris about selling Hwy. 407, while Rossi took a jab at Smitherman’s political track record by bringing up the eHealth scandal that took place during Smitherman’s time as provincial health minister.

This was followed by chants of “eHealth” from the crowd as many candidates had brought large numbers of supporters to the event billed as a local one by organizers, the Silver Springs Community Association.
 More than 500 people came out to hear the front-runners at the first gathering of mayoral candidates, which also included Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rob Ford and Sarah Thomson.
Pantalone, a member of Mayor David Miller’s inner circle, took some hits for his association with the current regime, but he also said he would continue to advocate for the policies – namely Transit City – started under Miller.

“I will continue to fight for Transit City. I won’t leave the residents of Scarborough standing in the street for another generation,” he said, adding Scarborough was the “biggest loser” in last week’s provincial budget in which the Liberals announced that $4 billion of $9 billion in funding for Transit City LRT lines would be delayed.

“This is a severe blow to Scarborough that needs to be fixed… We’ll go knocking on Dalton McGuinty’s door to make sure of that,” Pantalone said.
 Smitherman used the opportunity to talk about transit.

“We will not fix this by tinkering alone,” he said. “A top to bottom overhaul is necessary to bring back the better way.”

Acknowledging some of the local opposition to the Sheppard LRT, he said he supported technology over subways and added he didn’t believe those pushing for a subway would want the higher density it comes with.

“Of course there’s concern, but the challenge of leadership is to rise above that and build something we can believe in,” he said.
 Recognizing the event was held in northern Scarborough, Rossi said as mayor he would bring fairness to the city.

“The reality is we know the further you get from downtown the poorer services are generally,” he said, adding he would put 50 per cent of development charges into a fund to be used in priority neighbourhoods.
 Ford, a fiscally conservative councillor from Etobicoke, said the answer to many of the city’s problems could be fixed by running the city like a business and by attracting more investment by cleaning it up, literally.

“It’s filthy dirty. We need to take the Rudy Giuliani (former New York City mayor) approach,” he said. “We must get them (homeless) off the streets and into shelters or rehab… it’s very important we help people who are laying on the street.”

For Mammoliti, the answers seem to lie with public-private partnerships, which he called “a must.” 
He believes they can be used to take down the Gardiner Expressway and get rid of new taxes that have been introduced in recent years. As mayor he would exempt seniors from paying property taxes, attempt to upload social service costs back to the province and look at cutting municipal jobs.

“We have to tell everyone their job is not safe,” he said.
 Magazine publisher Thomson pushed her platform of subways as a way to solve gridlock, spur development and growth and help connect the suburbs to the downtown. As mayor she said she would pay for subways through the introduction of rush hour road tolls.

“I believe Scarborough needs a subway system,” she said. “We need to extend the subway system along Eglinton and up Sheppard… It ties Scarborough into Toronto.”

There are currently 26 candidates running for mayor. The municipal election takes place Monday, Oct. 25.
At one point, Monday’s meeting was briefly interupted by fringe candidate Kevin Clarke who entered the auditorium shouting and dressed in white Arab robes and tried to take the stage. He was quickly led away by Toronto police.

Posted in News