NDP leader’s son makes foray into politics

Though Jack Layton is firmly entrenched in federal politics, the Layton family is planning a return to City Hall.

Mike Layton, Jack’s son, unveiled his plans to run in this fall’s municipal election on Friday, March 5 amid a throng of supporters at Bar Italia.

He decided to run in Trinity-Spadina when the current longtime councillor, deputy mayor Joe Pantalone, decided to run for mayor.

Layton spoke of a platform focusing on ensuring local residents have safe places to live, strong neighbourhoods, successful local businesses and a green economy.

“I want to make sure Toronto is a place people want to live, and not just in their homes,” he said. “We need good roads that work for transit, bikes and people and we want the environmental side of things to continue to work.”

Though his family is well-versed in politics – Jack Layton was first elected to city council in 1982 and has served as leader of the federal NDP since 2003, while his stepmother Olivia Chow was a councillor from 1991 to 2005 and currently serves as MP for Trinity-Spadina – Mike Layton said his decision to run came about after some fairly intense thought.

“I did a lot of soul-searching and talked to as many community leaders and advocates as I could,” he said. “After that, it just felt like the right time.”

Though this is the 31-year-old Layton’s first foray into politics, his resume is not short on impressive credentials. He was one of the key people in setting up the Green Energy Act Alliance and serves as deputy director of Environmental Defence, both of which work toward green solutions for a healthier society.

Despite never having run for politics, he also has experience working on campaigns, most notably those of his well-known father. He said that pedigree will help, but added he hopes to be elected on his own merits, not on his family name.

“The people who are actually going to vote are the people of Trinity-Spadina,” he said. “I’ve been out there, and I’ll continue to go out there, talking to the various groups and people to try to understand the issues as well as I can.”

Layton said that, if elected, he will listen to voters first and foremost in helping to steer the direction of the city. With parts of the community undergoing fairly sweeping changes, he said he wants to preserve the elements that truly make it a ward worth living in.

“I want to make sure there’s a sense of community in the newer areas while keeping that sense of community in the more established neighbourhoods,” he said.

With Pantalone opting to run for mayor, the race in Ward 19 is wide open. Other declared candidates in the ward include community activist Himy Syed, cycling advocate Derek Chadbourne, Karen Sun of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Joshua Shang and Jim Likourezos.

– Justin Skinner

“What’s necessary is for everyone to take a time out here,” said Smitherman in an exclusive interview. “Obviously we have a lot of people on tenterhooks around these issues overall. It’s appropriate to have a mature conversation about it.”

Smitherman, widely considered a front-runner in the 2010 mayor’s race, maintained that he is supportive of continuing to create bike lanes on city roads – and unlike candidate Rocco Rossi, he’s fine with putting bike lanes on major arterial roads.

“In terms of suggesting bicycles should be relegated to crescents and cul-de-sacs, this is akin to saying you’re not in favour of the City of Toronto being a modern city,” said Smitherman. “I don’t think it’s leadership to take the language of the war on the car and flip it on its head and say, ‘the war on the car has had its go at city hall, I’m going to advance the war on the bike.’”

Smitherman maintained that Toronto’s Bike Plan, which was first approved by Toronto Council, has not been adequately communicated to Toronto residents – and it might be better applied in the context of a broader transportation plan.

He offered no timetable for how long it would take to devise such a plan.

“I’m not sure what the appropriate length of time is,” he said. “But we have a good skill set among the people who are able to help do this stuff. This is a moratorium, but it’s not a moratorium as a strategy for death – it’s to stop, have an appropriate conversation and make sure the plans are integrated. When you surprise people the first instinct of a surprised community is to dig its heels in.”

Smitherman said he’d put what money there was for the creation of bike lanes in 2011 into road repairs along existing bike lanes – particularly Sherbourne, which he called “practically a corduroy road.”

Smitherman has earlier in the campaign questioned other bike lane projects, notably the controversial plan to put bike lanes on a reconstructed Jarvis Street.

The current Bike Plan aims to build 500 kilometres of on-road bike lanes across the city. Cycling advocates have been pushing hard to have the creation of new bike lanes accelerated.

This year, the city will paint bike lanes on Jarvis Street as it’s being reconstructed, and there are plans in the works to put bike lanes on University Avenue. 
Yvonne Banbrick of the Toronto Cyclist’s Union said there’s no reason to slow down the plan now.

“I think (a time out) would be a huge mistake – we have waited too long,” said Banbrick. 
“The bike plan was approved by city council in 2001 and we have had snails-pace progress on implementation. The idea of waiting some more is irresponsible on the part of any government. That’s no way to accommodate massive growth in commuter cycling in our city.”

Banbrick said she understood that the argument about the “war on cars” has created tensions.

“The rhetoric around the war on cars is a waste of everybody’s energy and it’s causing unnecessary friction,” she said. “There’s never been a war. We’re talking about how we move people in our city, and more and more taxpaying Torontonians are choosing cycling as their main mode of transportation.”

– David Nickle

Board of Trade luncheon billed as a fiscal event

The mayor’s race heated up Wednesday, March 3 as candidate Rocco Rossi accused opponent George Smitherman of being an absentee candidate, and flip-flopping on the issue of selling off city assets.

“The last sighting of George Smitherman was in December here in this game of Where’s Waldo,” Rossi told a packed luncheon at the Toronto Board of Trade Wednesday afternoon.

Rossi’s speech was billed as the unveiling of his fiscal plan; but he took shots at Smitherman, who in the polls is the current front-runner, not only for his low profile but also for what he characterized as a change in position on the possibility of selling off city assets. Rossi has been on the record as wanting to sell off Toronto Hydro in order to pay down Toronto’s debt.

In an interview in the Toronto Star, Smitherman said he too might consider selling off assets, after extensive consultation and study.

“Today he got religion,” Rossi said to raucous applause.

Smitherman wasn’t at the event at the Sheraton Centre hotel across from City Hall.

But Toronto Community News caught up with him at Nathan Phillips Square on his way to a meeting inside City Hall.

He said his position has remained consistent and said Rossi was “a bad listener.”

“He sat at a table during my speech in December when I said that I was going to draw on my experience provincially,” Smitherman said. “I think in that speech I talked about the necessity to look at outsourcing as a possibility and to look at asset sales as opportunity. The distinction I had is if you do not establish a first service principle, very often the citizen is going to end up getting less.”

As to his absence: Smitherman said he’s been preoccupied with his newly-adopted child.

“My absence is reflective of two things: one that he and I aren’t in the same room very often and two that he doesn’t seem to know I just brought a 14-month baby home.”

Rossi’s comments came as he delivered a five-point fiscal plan to the Toronto Board of Trade.

The plan appeared gathered from previously-announced planks to his platform.
Rossie said he would move the city’s budget to multi-year operational planning, so Toronto could take better control of its finances.

He said he would order an immediate hiring freeze for everyone but essential services personnel – in police, fire and emergency medical services.

He would allow the private sector and not-for-profit services to bid against unionized workers to perform city work. He said he would reduce city debt by selling assets like Toronto Hydro.

And he said he would open negotiations with the provincial government over the governance of the TTC, in which “everything is on the table.”

Future expansion such as Transit City would be put on hold until those negotiations were complete, he said.

“Perhaps these talks will involve a different governance model for the TTC, one that brings it into some sort of new partnership with Metrolinx. Perhaps they will involve committing the city to using alternative service delivery and financing models in future stages of a balanced transit expansion – one that includes subways, LRTs and bus rapid transit. I believe somewhere in between the extremes of just give us money and go away, and take this whole mess off our hands, is a solution that will both serve the province’s interests and solve our problems.”

Rossi said he would also confront city unions and renegotiate contracts that prevent the city from looking outside the civil service for providing city services.

He said doing so would be a long game.

“Over time contracting out will become a much bigger piece – in the early years it doesn’t,” he said. “The language around the contracts is very tight but through attrition and through subsequent rounds of collective bargaining, there’ll be some – even through a first term – if I can win it.”

Rossi said his plan would make Toronto’s budget crisis of 2010 the city’s last budget crisis.

The latest contender, Kristyn Wong-Tam, joined the fray on Monday, March 1 and is expected to be one of the leading contenders in the race.

Wong-Tam has gone from being a homeless teen – she was kicked out of her family home when she came out of the closet – to a dual career as a real estate broker and owner of the Xexe Gallery.
While she is an impressive candidate, the rest of the slate contains plenty of other strong options for voters.

Ken Chan, a former Peel Region police officer and aide to Toronto Centre MPP and mayoral hopeful George Smitherman, has earned the endorsement of the outgoing councillor. 
Chan currently serves as a police advisor in London, Ontario, the city he currently calls home.

The ballot also includes well-known local transgender activist and celebrity Enza Anderson, former federal Green Party candidate Chris Tindal and seven others.

York West councillor says he proud to ‘think outside the box’

York West Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti has unveiled a grocery list of “outrageous” promises he will put in place if Toronto voters elect him mayor in October.


At the official launch of his campaign at Montecassino Place near Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street Feb. 25, he promised, among other things, a waterfront casino, a five per cent cut in residential property taxes in his first year, pink slips handed out to an unidentified number of city employees, cutting back city salaries and benefits to 2004 levels, no property taxes for seniors with a household income of $65,000 or less, an 11 p.m. curfew on children under the age of 14, turning Yonge Street between Queen Street and Gerard Street into a pedestrian mall, sidewalk plowing across the city and an annual allowance of $10,000 to families who care for elderly relatives in their homes.


Mammoliti did not provide specifics on some aspects of his platform.
For example, he said he would “give the Toronto police force the ability to do what needs to be done to take back our streets, without political interference” without specifying what new powers police would receive.


He said he would allow community groups to operate social, cultural or recreational services if they prove they can do a better job than the city but did not outline how that proof would be measured or what would happen if groups failed to meet standards or chose to end their participation.


Although Mammoliti said he would lobby Queen’s Park and Ottawa for more funds and bankroll some city initiatives through public-private partnerships, he didn’t provide financial estimates.


He earned his largest applause for promises that would give tax breaks and services to seniors, cut back on government waste and overspending and get tough on crime.


“We want better communities. We want better services and smarter spending. We want safe streets. And we want a city that serves our aging population — the same population that fought for the rights and privileges that we now enjoy.

Today, we have a city bureaucracy that spends nearly twice as much as it did when the megacity was formed with few new services to show for it,” said Mammoliti, whose campaign motto is Rethink, Rebuild and Return.
“How many people need to be injured or die before other politicians and bureaucrats get the message? How many more kids with bright futures do we need to see in body bags before we realize that plastic grocery bags aren’t the biggest problem in this city?”


He clearly revelled in his persona as an unconventional politician.


“In my 30 years of public service, I’ve been called ‘bold’ and even ‘outrageous’,” said the controversial Mammoliti, repeatedly saying he is actually a politician who “thinks outside the box.”


“I’ve fought against bad ideas, policies and institutions where needed. I’ve worked with the system, without being absorbed by it, bringing necessary change to our city. Is that so outrageous? I think that’s good leadership, it’s what people should expect from their elected representatives.”


Mammoliti entered the banquet room, jam-packed with 1,000 guests who paid $250 a plate, as the Black Eyed Peas’s lyrics “I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night” blasted over the sound system.


One of the first things he did when he reached the stage after spending several minutes walking through a crush of supporters who hugged him, slapped him on the back and shook his hand was address rumours that he will drop out of the mayor’s race to run for re-election in York West.


“I’m in this thing and I’m going to be mayor of Toronto,” he said.
Meanwhile, Toronto Catholic District School Board Ward 3 Trustee, Sal Piccininni, who attended Mammoliti’s mayoral launch, said he is considering running to replace Mammoliti as councillor. 


“There’s a possibility. More than 50 per cent,” he said.
Piccininni, who said he will decide by the end of March, said he and Mammoliti haven’t discussed whether Mammoliti would endorse his bid if he runs.


There are now seven council candidates registered — Scott Aitchison, Nick Di Nizio, Abdirazak Elmi, Sergio Gizzo, Sharon Joseph, Victor Lucero and Larry Perlman.

– Lisa Queen

His mayoralty campaign finally ended in a confused news conference in which the 32-year-old Giambrone seemed constitutionally unable to read aloud the necessary words: “My mayoralty campaign ends today.”

Only later did we learn the second page of his prepared speech was still in the printer in his City Hall councillor’s office. He came to the end of the first page, and running out of words, ran off. The unpleasant business of quitting the mayor’s race, he left to his stalwart assistant Kevin Beaulieu (who really should get Assistant of the Year Award for standing up as he did).

Giambrone left a good deal of other business in the hands of others.

First, there is the matter of the mayor’s race. Giambrone’s departure is as damaging to the left on council and in the city as John Tory’s 11th-hour decision not to run was to the right.

The experts on getting a left-of-centre mayor elected were all with Giambrone: John Laschinger, Patrick Gossage, Robin Sears. Will they find another candidate? Will they gather around Joe Pantalone, Mayor David Miller’s deputy and probably the best bet to continue the left-of-centre elements of Miller’s agenda? Or will they convince budget chief Shelley Carroll to mount a campaign?

It’s conceivable they won’t gather anywhere to convince anyone; the scandal may have sufficiently tarnished the already scuffed mantle of Miller progressivism that it’s to the benefit of no one’s career to wear it.

That, of course, is the business of only a portion of Toronto politicos.

The matter of the Toronto Transit Commission is a worry to everyone, from one end of the political spectrum to the other.

There’s a growing chorus of voices urging Giambrone to step down as chair of the TTC. But Giambrone indicated he intends to continue, and Miller agrees.

Miller’s thinking is a straightforward calculus. Giambrone is the steward of much of Miller’s legacy when it comes to transit: that being the massive expansion of Transit City, the new streetcars and subway cars, the technological tweaks and upgrades that together will take the antiquated system a few steps closer to the 21st century.

Compare that to Giambrone’s sins: he’s betrayed his longtime partner through liaisons with an indeterminate number of women. He’s sent caddish text messages. And he’s lied about it all when confronted.

As a councillor and TTC chair, the worst he’s alleged to have done is engaged in pillow-talk about a widely anticipated fare increase, and engaged in consensual sex on his City Hall office couch.

Those are reasons not to vote for a candidate, and in some organizations they might be reason to fire an employee. But Giambrone’s not running for anything right now. And Toronto’s integrity commissioner – who may yet be investigating this – has reported on far worse behaviour by councillors. Those councillors’ colleagues have without exception excused it.

And yet…

The TTC is in crisis right now. Riders are fed up enough with lousy service to start shooting video of snoozing ticket takers and incontinent operators; operators and collectors are fed up enough with irritable riders to threaten to photograph them right back. TTC management is scrambling to fix it all.

When Giambrone was running for mayor, he was an asset to those hoping to improve the TTC. He had every reason to push for fast improvement in customer service – and the commission had every reason to respond – because there was so much at stake. The campaign and the transit system were poised to feed off one another, ultimately, one might have hoped, for the betterment of public transit.

Now, we have the spectacle of a damaged transit system led by a damaged chair, and nobody with the will to change that course. If the commission itself decides to enter a non-confidence vote next week, as some members might wish to, that will affect change, but oh, it will be ugly.

And that ugliness will only further destabilize the TTC’s leadership, at a time when the system needs it most.

The best thing would be for councillor Giambrone himself to prepare another speech next week, in which he clears the field. It need not be long, to say the right thing.

– David Nickle

‘Inappropriate relationship’ with university student fuels decision not to proceed

“His mayoralty campaign ends today.”

With those words – read to a room full of cameras and reporters by his longtime aide Kevin Beaulieu – embattled city councillor, TTC chair and mayoralty candidate Adam Giambrone withdrew from the mayor’s race.

The words came just minutes after a shaken Giambrone had fled the Wednesday morning news conference. He had stood in front of reporters to apologize to the public, his partner and his supporters for lying about a year-long affair with a 19-year-old university student and an undisclosed number of other women.

He stopped reading from his prepared notes just short of announcing that he’d be withdrawing from the race that he’d officially joined just a week and a half earlier. Flanked by his campaign team, Giambrone hurried down a stairwell to the basement of city hall, where city councillors have secure parking spots.

Minutes later, Beaulieu returned to read the final two paragraphs of the speech.

“He will spend the next few days in private,” read Beaulieu, paraphrasing the words on the page. “His mayoralty campaign ends today. Beginning next week he will return to his normal duties as a city councillor. He will focus with renewed energy on the transformation of the TTC and on building Transit City for the people of Toronto. Adam would like to thank his friends and supporters who have helped him through these painful days.”

Giambrone had made his apologies before leaving, reading with head bowed from the first part of his statement.

“There are weeks in politics that change your life, and this one certainly has changed mine,” said Giambrone. “This has taught me that a public career of integrity cannot survive deceit in your private life. My mistakes have caused hurt to my partner Sarah, my family, my friends and my supporters. To them, who I have treated disrespectfully, in front of you, I humbly apologize.”

He went on to apologize to his colleagues on Toronto Council, “for the negative attention I brought them and this chamber. I want to apologize to the communities across this city. And I want to apologize to the young people. It is my sincere hope that they can continue to believe in themselves and their abilities to make positive change.”

Giambrone was able to read out an apology to his partner, Sarah McQuarrie, before he cut his portion of the announcement short.

“I deeply apologize to my partner Sarah,” he said. “The pain she has had to endure for my mistakes is deeply unfair to her. She has shown a lot of strength in all of this, which has only deepened my respect for her.”

Giambrone’s swift departure left his fellow councillors stunned. On Tuesday, his campaign manager John Laschinger, who formerly ran David Miller’s successful mayoralty campaigns, said the revelation of the affair with now-20-year-old Kirsten Lucas wouldn’t dissuade Giambrone from running. At that point, Giambrone had denied allegations from the university student that the two had consummated a sexual relationship, frequently having relations on the couch in his office.

He only admitted to an “inappropriate relationship” in which they exchanged text messages and met in public.

In one of those text messages, he claimed his partner Sarah McQuarrie was only on his arm in public for political reasons having to do with his mayoral bid.

But on Tuesday night, Giambrone admitted to the Toronto Star that he has had several affairs in recent years.

Councillors who spoke on the record said Giambrone had done the right thing by stepping away from the campaign.

“Politics is a tough business – it truly is a bloodsport,” said Howard Moscoe, a former TTC Chair himself. Moscoe said Giambrone need not step down as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission because of the scandal.

“I don’t think it will hurt or help the TTC if he steps down,” he said. “The TTC will continue. Most people consider it to be important and Giambrone’s done a relatively good job.”

Scarborough Southwest Councillor Brian Ashton had earlier been calling for Giambrone to step down as chair of the TTC. But in light of his decision not to run for mayor, Ashton said it was possible for him to continue.

“If he feels he can devote his time to this issue and has the complete confidence of the mayor, that’s up to him,” said Ashton.

He said Giambrone’s abrupt departure was understandable.

“This individual, as a human being, has been through an enormous amount of pressure,” said Ashton. “He’s a very young man. It’s difficult to contain his emotions and he’s trying to come to terms with the myriad of things that have happened. It’s dashed his hopes to become mayor, he’s got serious problems at home, and it’s just overwhelming. I feel for him that way – I really do.”

Mayor David Miller offered a brief written statement regarding the resignation.

“Councillor Giambrone’s decision to leave the mayoralty race is regrettable. His voice and the vision he could have brought to this important campaign will be missed but his decision to focus on his private life and his current duties is understandable,” he said.

– David Nickle

Despite revelations of an ‘inappropriate’ relationship, councillor retains supporters

Adam Giambrone will stay in the mayor’s race, according to his campaign manager, despite having admitted to an “inappropriate” relationship with a 19-year-old university student.

“We’ve had a story on a candidate and as the public expects the candidate has stepped forward,” said campaign manager John Laschinger in an interview. “People want their politicians to be accountable, straightforward and acknowledge when they make a mistake. I’m proud of what he did. It’s painful, but now you move on.”

Giambrone, who represents Ward 18 Davenport on Toronto Council and chairs the Toronto Transit Commission, was incommunicado Tuesday, Feb. 9, after a Toronto Star story published his statement – and the story of Kristen Lucas, the now 20-year-old university student claiming the 32-year-old councillor carried on an affair with her.

According to the Star article, Lucas produced text messages from the affair, which she said began in late 2008.

Lucas said the two had sex on the couch in his office during the affair, and he tipped her off to the pending TTC fare hike before it became public.

In a Dec. 27 text message, the newspaper reports Giambrone told her his live-in partner Sarah McQuarrie was at his side to help him politically.

“You know I will be announcing I have a partner,” he wrote. “It is someone named Sarah, who I’ve been involved with in the past. It is important for the campaign.”

In a statement released to the Star, Giambrone admitted to an “inappropriate relationship with a young woman.”

He called it “a serious lapse in judgement.” And he offered “my deepest apology to my partner, Sarah, my family and friends for the pain and embarrassment my indiscretion will cause them.”

He did not admit to having sex with Lucas and according to the article he claimed she had sent a threatening email to him, saying she’d track down his girlfriend and tell her about the affair.

In the article, Lucas said she hadn’t sent the email and pointed out her name was spelled incorrectly.

Giambrone’s seat was empty Tuesday morning at the monthly meeting of Toronto and East York Community Council.

Laschinger said he spent the day at home, calling friends, family and supporters to “understand their feelings, input and reactions.”

He said Giambrone has been receiving significant support.

“I’ve sent an email to our entire list of people, supporters,” said Laschinger. “I’m now getting emails back. They’re saying ‘we’re with Adam. This is not going to stop me from supporting Adam.’ He’s getting emails from friends and colleagues… he’s getting a lot of encouragement.”

At community council Tuesday, many of his colleagues were reluctant to speak about the matter.

“I have no comment on the matter because we do not know what is to be known, so how could anybody comment?” said Joe Pantalone, who is also running for mayor in the 2010 race. “For anybody to jump to conclusions would be a terrible mistake.”

Adam Vaughan, Janet Davis and Joe Mihevc all refused to speak outright, as did Mayor David Miller when approached by reporters outside City Hall.

Others, however, could not resist.

When asked about the revelation, Toronto Centre-Rosedale Councillor Kyle Rae quipped: “I don’t have a couch.”

Toronto Danforth councillor Paula Fletcher was more circumspect.

“I think everybody makes mistakes. Some mistakes are much bigger than others,” she said. “Public trust is a very important thing.”

Beaches-East York Councillor Sandra Bussin came to Giambrone’s defence and said the story was “junk.”

“It’s junk, you can’t even call it journalism,” she said. “I really feel very badly for his girlfriend and I think that this has nothing to do with running for mayor. Shame on that tabloid… I was appalled that that would hit the front page.”

Giambrone launched his mayoralty campaign just a week before the story broke, at a packed nightclub on College Street, becoming the fifth major mayoralty candidate to announce, after Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman, Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone and Sarah Thomson.

– David Nickle

– Cynthia Reason

Buoyed by drums, cheers and his wife Sarah McQuarrie, TTC chair Adam Giambrone stepped into the mayor’s race Monday night.

“My name is Adam Giambrone and I’m running for mayor!” Giambrone told the crowd of supporters at the Revival club on College Street. “As most of you have heard and read this last week – I’m also very ready!”

Giambrone was referring to a YouTube video that went live last week, showing the 32-year-old councillor for Ward 18 training for the mayor’s race before telling the camera, “I’m ready.”

The extent of Giambrone’s readiness coalesced over the weekend. He told his 1,164 friends on Facebook he was running for mayor on Friday; on the weekend, he made it clear in a newspaper interview.

And Monday morning, he walked into City Hall’s election office and paid the $200 fee to file his nomination papers.
Monday night, he addressed a room packed with supporters – many of whom have previously backed his longtime ally Mayor David Miller.

Media Profile chairman Patrick Gossage closed the evening urging supporters to fan out and collect small donations and his campaign manager, former Miller campaign head John Laschinger, watched quietly from the sidelines.

The party was also dogged by detractors – notably, about 20 protesters from his Ward 18 home turf, who waved signs outside and accused him of being out of touch with his own constituents.

After a rousing musical introduction from the percussionist group Samba Squad, Giambrone came on stage and laid out his vision.

“My reasons for running for mayor are clear,” he said. “One, I’m a city builder. I want to build a city where people, neighbourhoods and businesses feel connected to each other. Two, I want all Torontonians to feel more engaged with this great city and more passionate about its future. And three, I want to create opportunities for everyone.”

Giambrone spoke about his love for the city – he related an anecdote about he and his wife’s recent visit to the Humber College Lake Shore campus, one of the many places he said they like to explore using the TTC.

And he addressed transit – his own preoccupation over the last three years, and an area his opponents in the mayor’s race are already treating as a soft spot.

Earlier in the day, mayoral candidate George Smitherman had called on Giambrone to resign as chair of the TTC based on the commission’s performance over the past year.
Giambrone saw things differently.

“In the last four years we’ve done some amazing things,” said Giambrone. “Ridership reached an all-time high. We broke ground on Transit City – the largest-ever expansion of public transit in Toronto’s history… The studies have been done, the plans are drawn, the money is there and the shovels are in the ground.”

He made it clear the Transit City light rail lines will proceed as planned.
“I will not let Transit City be compromised. I will not let Transit City be squandered away,” he said.

He also wants to see the municipal vote extended to permanent residents who do not yet have their Canadian citizenship.

“Newcomers are our colleagues and our employers,” he said. “They pay property taxes, build our communities and make us stronger. It’s time to let them vote for people who set their tax rates and make decisions on their behalf. Extending the municipal vote to permanent residents is both the right thing to do, and it’s the smart thing to do.”

Giambrone also said he’d like to see Internet voting brought into play, noting, “Toronto is the most connected population in the world.”

He attempted to differentiate himself from other candidates such as Smitherman and Rocco Rossi, who have come out sharply critical of the direction the city has taken under David Miller.

“This election should be about hope for the future, not fear of the past,” he said. “Some candidates will tell you we have to give up on building a great city. They will say we have to stop what we’re doing and walk away from ideas like Transit City. I am not that candidate. I believe in the people of this city and our talent for creative city building. I believe in going forward, not backward.”

– David Nickle