Pantalone opposes privatization, pushes for vote for immigrants

A month after mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti unveiled a list of “outrageous” campaign promises at North York’s Montecassino Place, deputy mayor Joe Pantalone used the same venue for a more subtle official launch of his bid for Toronto’s top political job.


Where Mammoliti promised a waterfront casino, a five-per cent property tax cut and an 11 p.m. curfew on children under the age of 14, Pantalone said he opposes mayoral candidates looking to tear down what generations of residents have built.

“Tonight is an evening for friends to get together to support a positive vision of our city,” he told several hundred guests who paid $300 a plate for the event Wednesday March 24.
 “So, I’m not going to make you listen to a long policy speech or make any big announcements. Obviously, I’ll be putting more substance on my platform as the campaign develops. Let’s not forget we have something like seven months and a day (until the Oct. 25 municipal elections) to do that.”

Pantalone did outline some broad ideas he wants to focus on during the campaign, including “enthusiastic support” for the Transit City plan for light rail lines across the city.

“There are those who want to tear down the vision of fast trains crisscrossing the city north, south, east, west and for the first time connecting people living in Scarborough with Etobicoke and vise versa,” he said. 
“Why do those who know so little about how people travel now in the city think they know better than the people who live in Toronto in those neighbourhoods? Transit City is needed. Transit City is real. Transit (City) is already funded. Transit City must be built. If we delay the play, there will be more traffic congestion.”

Pantalone criticized opponents looking to privatize many city services, including TTC bus routes.
 The TTC is a system that has to serve every neighbourhood of Toronto, he said.

He accused one of his chief rivals, former provincial deputy minister George Smitherman, of failing to secure a 50 per cent operating subsidy for the TTC when he was at Queen’s Park.

“Privatization seems all the rage for those who know so little about our city. I want to keep these assets for the public good of all Torontonians, not to make money for the few financiers on Bay Street,” Pantalone added to applause.
 “Where does privatization start? First, garbage collection, then Toronto Hydro? Then where? Once you travel down privatization road, where does it end? That is the question we need to ask ourselves before we go there. You know that it does not make sense to sell your house just to rent it.”

The smarter answer is to partner with the private sector, said Pantalone, adding he led the negotiations that saw the private sector contribute to the BMO Soccer Field at Exhibition Place while keeping the site in the city’s hands.

“I want to protect these public assets because they were paid for by public funds and should be used in our public interest for the long term, not to be sold to the highest bidder at fire sale rates,” he said. 
“I will make sure that the city is run efficiently. We can always do better, by the way, but let’s be clear, the city is not a regular business. On the contrary, our business as a city is to provide efficient and much needed public services for Torontonians.”

Pantalone also said he would work to secure immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections.
Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks, who introduced Pantalone as a candidate who has invested three decades serving Toronto, took swipes at Pantalone’s main rivals, Smitherman and businessman Rocco Rossi, a former national director of the Liberal Party of Canada.

“Mr. Smitherman, I want to remind you that the City of Toronto is not a consolation prize. It is a calling,” he said, suggesting Smitherman is running for mayor because his hopes to become premier were thwarted. 
“Mr. Rossi, I want to tell you that being the mayor of Toronto is not an interesting career change. It is a calling.”

- Lisa Queen

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