Mayoral candidates debate at Parkview Heights
admin | Monday, June 14th, 2010 | No Comments »About 200 residents filled the basement of Presteign-Woodbine United Church to hear from Sarah Thompson, George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, Rob Ford, and Giorgio Mammoliti in a debate moderated by John Tory.Questions from residents ranged from how the candidates would alleviate commute times to how they felt about the land transfer tax to if they would privatize garbage collection with amalgamation, the Gardiner Expressway and the police budget thrown into the mix.
A panel of journalists, including Mirror columnist Joe Cooper, asked the questions submitted by residents and then they posed a question of their own to each candidate.
Pantalone was asked about the current city hall regime’s perceived “war on the car” and if he would bring in road tolls as mayor.
“I don’t support road tolls. I think they’re a punishment on those who don’t have a choice but to use their car – people who don’t live near a subway line like people in Scarborough,” he said, adding he’d also like to see the Toronto-specific vehicle registration tax phased out.
On the issue of growing commute times, most candidates would address the issue by building subways – though their method of funding such an expenditure does differ.
“Transit is a key part of the solution. I’ve put together a plan that doesn’t involve taxing you more, but transit takes a long time so we have to think about traffic as well,” Rossi said, adding he would use computers to synchronize traffic lights to improve traffic flow, as well as limiting left turns where there isn’t a separate lane.
His funding plan includes selling off city assets, including Toronto Hydro, to pay off the city’s debt.
Smitherman believes it is important for Toronto to invest in transit infrastructure for a variety of reasons, including easing congestion, but believes the current plan of LRTs would work in many areas that don’t have the densities to support a subway.
Pantalone wants to save the Transit City project as envisioned by the city.
Cooper asked Smitherman about his plans for how he would better connect the mayor’s office with communities across the city.
“Even in my time at the provincial level I sought at all times to divert money to community projects,” he said. “I love the city and all parts of it…I would try and address this sense of alienation (there is) the further you get from city hall.”
Candidates also spoke about connections to city hall and the mayor in the context of the question about whether amalgamation was working.
“I was against amalgamation. I think the old metro and local councils worked quite well,” Pantalone said, adding he sees problems in the current community council structure. “I would reinforce local communities, for example the East York Civic Centre, making it more of a community hub.”
He made a point to let people know under Ford’s plan to cut the size of council in half, East York would be left with less representation at city hall.
Ford wants to have the number of councillors mirror Toronto’s federal and provincial representation, which is 22 instead of the current 44 councillors, to save money. He would also eliminate the land transfer tax (only he and Thompson would repeal the controversial tax) and look at privatizing some city services to save residents money.
“Absolutely, I’d like to look at contracting out many of our city services,” Ford said when asked about privatizing garbage, adding it’s not an anti-union stance, but rather it’s about giving residents the best value for their dollar. He cited many areas where he sees millions of taxpayers dollars wasted including free TTC metro passes and redeveloping Nathan Phillips Square.
Mammoliti would eliminate property taxes for seniors with a combined income of less than $65,000, he would “very aggressively” ask the province to takeover the TTC, and make cuts at city hall.
“You won’t see me laying off anyone making $30,000 or $35,000, you’ll see me laying off people making $200,000 a year,” he said.
Thompson reiterated her stance of using subways to move people, spur economic growth and to connect communities, as well as going over spending in all city departments to find efficiencies and save money.
Election day is Monday, Oct. 25.
- Danielle Milley
