Posts Tagged ‘Toronto Centre’
Toronto Star: “Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP for Toronto Centre.” Huh?
I am going to start by saying I don’t dislike Glen Murray. I heard him speak for the first time in 2003 about infrastructure and municipal governance in Canada and he made a lot of genuinely good points and appeared to ‘get it’. When he ran for the Federal Liberals in Winnipeg in 2004, I was hopeful he would win, because he seemed like the kind of guy you’d want in the House of Commons.
When he was feeling out a bid for Mayor – I was at least interested to see what kind of issues he would take on, and the approach he would offer.
But my piece isn’t really about Glen Murray, just how his candidacy is being developed and covered by the media.
The headline announcing he is running for the Ontario Liberals reads ‘Ex-Winnipeg mayor a cabinet shoo-in?’
In the same article there is a photo of Glen Murray with the following caption ‘Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray, smiles alongside Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion in this January 2004 file photo. Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP for Toronto Centre.‘
The timeline for this is long and drawn out a bit. George Smitherman isn’t going to resign until February or March 2010 when he will officially announce his candidacy for Mayor. Once Smitherman resigns, the Premier has quite a bit of leeway in determining when exactly a by-election would happen. The earliest would be April or May 2010 – but could be June, July or August.
The ‘Cabinet shoo-in’ bit bothers me because it’s essentially saying to Toronto Centre voters – elect this guy to get closer to the action. The ‘Murray will succeed George Smitherman as the MPP’ bit is beyond presumptuous and again unfairly tries to influence voters in Toronto Centre to just accept the outcome being suggested.
Perhaps the most abhorrent part of this whole thing is the following ‘While he is not officially being handed the nomination on a silver platter, sources said at least one potential candidate was “being strong-armed and getting lots of pressure not to run.” Classy.
If a candidate is being set up as a Cabinet Minister in the making, a guy who has already won, and someone who can’t be challenged for the nomination – at what point are Toronto Centre voters involved in this process at all? So far, I count two Toronto Centre voters opinions being heard – Glen Murray’s and George Smitherman’s.
Rigourous nominations, hard fought elections and MPPs serving their local communities are all good things, and should be the focus of any provincial local election campaign. Nominations bring communities into the process and create an active, local organization of neighbours working to elect a candidate that was democratically chosen to represent their party on the ballot. Hard fought elections drive voter turnout, engage the public and require MPPs to work hard to stay elected. Engaged constituents expect results.
The Ontario Liberals and the Toronto Star should let the process play out in Toronto Centre and stop trying to influence unfairly.
6 Comments »O Lady Toronto, though green ye be, Scarborough is greener far to see
This post is dedicated to Joyce Mclean and Jack Simpson of Toronto Hydro. Their unique mix of ignorance, incompetance and dishonesty has inspired me to write over 60 000 words about their illegal application, gutter level eithics and has seen a community unite in common purpose to chase them out.
The reference in the title is, of course, the famous response that saw Snow White chased into the forest by a Queen as shallow about appearing ‘fair’ as Toronto Hydro and the city is about appearing ‘green’.
Just as the Queen in Snow White was not as ‘fair’ as her intended victim - the eco bullies behind the plan to distrupt, damage and distroy some of the most lasting and beautiful nature that can be found in Toronto – are not nearly as green as those who stand and fight on the side of environmental conservation.
Scarborough as fought to preserve more green space and parkland than any other former municipality in both real and per capita terms.
Scarborough diverts more garbage from landfill per capita than any other former municipality. In fact a former Scarborough landfill saw hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours put to work remediating the site and capturing the landfill gases which are now used to generate 26,600,000 kWh or enough power for 2300 homes annually. This happened long before green was the ‘in’ thing and back in the days long before Joyce McLean sold out and when she was an NDP staffer at Queen’s Park.
Now even while eco bullies were slamming residents who opposed Toronto Hydro’s plans to hurt the environment while trying to build a meritless $700 million project that meets literally no international standards for proper development, and fails to even meet Ontario’s barebones environmental protection – Toronto Hydro came up with the ‘Count me in’ program:
‘Created by Toronto Hydro, the Count Me In Toronto challenge offers Torontonians an innovative and unique way to encourage energy conservation in the City of Toronto. The program will see Toronto’s wards competing against one another in a friendly challenge to determine which ward is the greenest!’ - Count Me In Toronto
Which former municipalities house the top five wards?
1) Scarborough
2) Scarborough
3) Scarborough
4) North York
5) Etobicoke
The best part – George Smitherman’s Toronto Centre ranks 43rd and 44th of 44. Clearly his constituents haven’t gotten the memo he attacks Scarborough for apparently not getting.
As I’ve said before – Scarborough is by far the greenest former municipality by any measure. Unlike the eco bullies and moneyed interests who stand to make serious dough through their environmental distruction in Scarborough – we do care about the environment, we do our part and we will continue to do so by opposing the illegal application Toronto Hydro Energy Services has put forward.
My advice for those who seek to tear down my friends and I who oppose this project – walk the walk. Look to your own ways first. Change your light bulbs, turn down the AC, walk, take the TTC, recycle, compost, plant a tree – and stand up and fight for the environment. I know the good people of Scarborough will continue too, and just as we’ve shown time and time again that we are more in tune and in touch with environmental issues – we will once again prove by defeating this bizarre and illegal experiment of Joyce McLean and Jack Simpson’s, that we do have a deeper attachment and a stronger concern about the environment than the double speaking, paid lobbyists who fund those who attack us, and the politicians who’ve sold us down the creek.
While organizations, professionals and politicians may sell their principles, ethics and values for a pay cheque – residents of Scarborough see a higher purpose and will continue to reach for it over the cynicism that sees others peddle faulty logic to defend illegal and otherwise inappropriate applications for projects without merit.
Finally – I would like to thank Toronto Hydro for recognizing how truly green Scarborough is, and I would like to encourage them to do their part by dismantling Joyce McLean and Jack Simpson’s illegal application before they do any real damage to Scarborough’s environment in their attempt to chase a pay cheque.
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