What we didn't talk about The conventional wisdom about the 2006 municipal election is that it was a fizz-free affair, lacking in the drama and civic engagement that characterized the five-way 2003 race. The more I think about it, though, the less convinced I become. In 2003, David Miller wanted to be the "mayor for transit." But in 2006, we moved beyond sloganeering and had a full-throated transit debate, with the result that more voters have expressed and absorbed opinions about subways and rights-of-way and costs and service. In the same vein, bike issues got far more air ...

The mud-slingers One of the least savory moments of the increasingly mythologized 2003 mayoral race occurred in early November, when Barbara Hall dispatched a campaign worker to disrupt a David Miller event, outside the Toronto Reference Library, with a cocked up accusation about how his "Looks like a mayor" posters were racist and sexist and probably hairist if such a category exists. It was a sleazy move, but also a clumsy admission of pending defeat on Hall's part. We've definitely moved into that phase of the 2006 race, with Jane Pitfield's anti-Miller attack ad, plus reports ...

A better way for the ROW? John Sewell and his merry band of planning reformers popped up in construction-addled Yorkville yesterday morning to promote their agenda for making the city's development approvals process more consultative and flexible and urban minded and heritage oriented and family centred, etc., etc. I couldn't resist the opportunity to poll the six on their views of the St. Clair right-of-way, which Sewell has made the centre-piece of his bid to win a seat on the mega council. To the question, "would you support a motion to halt the project west of Vaughan?" Amarjeet Chhabra ...

The money shot If you think about it, the 2006 election shouldn't have been about anything but the city's chronic financial crisis. Yet we've endured a campaign dominated by uninspiring boosterism and content-free fear-mongering, while the candidates' debates over money have taken on a kind of house-of-mirrors quality. Jane Pitfield promises to spend billions the city will simply never have, while David Miller bends over backwards to prove he can deliver civic redemption at bargain basement prices. Though there's zero chance of persauding Miller to change his tune, it's time to re-visit his fateful 2003 aside ...

When city council first began mulling over the possibility of bidding for the 2015 World's Fair, back in July, 2004, TTC chair Howard Moscoe tried his best to dissuade his colleagues from pursuing yet another big circus after previously failing to secure the 1996 and 2008 Olympics, and the 2000 Expo. "I'm tried of being a world-class loser," he said at the time. Council pressed ahead in spite of his warnings, and Moscoe's fears turned out to be prophetic, although sooner than he himself had expected. Yesterday's news, that the city failed to make the application deadline ...

The (unexpected) political consensus on Expo 2015 Here's an 11th hour plum for David Miller: Jane Pitfield and Stephen LeDrew have both told Spacing that they're prepared to set aside the partisanship of the mayoralty campaign and jointly call on the federal and provincial governments to support Toronto's 2015 Expo bid, the application for which is due by the end of the week. "If there's a willingness on the part of the other two candidates to speak to the federal and provincial governments, I would participate in that," Pitfield said in an interview. LeDrew also said he'd join with his ...

Sewell's ROW flip-flop A certain brand of politics thrives on short memories. That's what Jane Pitfield was counting on when she declared her opposition to the St. Clair right-of-way after voting in favour of all the substantial motions approving the project in 2004. John Sewell, who is running an anti-ROW campaign in Ward 21, has a similarly meandering track record. This election, he's made his opposition to the ROW a key pillar of his campaign, vowing to halt construction west of Vaughan. But in the 2003 election, he supported Alejandra Bravo, then running in Davenport against Cesar ...

Notes from the Leaside mayoral debate Campaign Image Making (I). Any self-respecting candidate makes sure that he/she has supporters in an audience to clap and cheer and ask planted questions when the opportunity arises. But at last night's mayoral debate, sponsored by the Leaside Property Owners Association, David Miller's organizers -- sensing their guy was deep behind enemy lines -- pulled out all the stops. Spotted in the crowd were several members of the mayor's office staff, including the receptionist, his driver, his secretary and a community liason official. Miller's staffers are legendarily loyal, and he's said to ...

Re-thinking casinos I used to be dead set against allowing a casino to be built in Toronto, but I’ve long since lost sight of the reason why. Ostensibly, the popular opposition to casinos was based on a moralistic argument about the corrupting influences of gambling. But let’s face it: Toronto’s not Toronto The Good anymore, and we can all be grateful for that. Anyone with an internet connection -- including all the patrons of the Toronto Public Library, with its gazillions of terminals -- can access every imaginable variety of porn and online poker. We shop on Sundays. We shop ...

The Sun, the Moon and the Crumbs Has anyone noticed the strangely inverse dynamic about this mayoral race? As David Miller’s platform grows ever more miniscule in its scope and ambition, Jane Pitfield’s becomes increasingly preposterous and over-reaching. It’s as if he’s assuring us that the sun may rise tomorrow or (at worst) the next day, while she’s claiming that she’ll deliver a second one if the current model burns out. Case in point: yesterday, the mayor revealed a less-than-sweeping plan to spend $100,000 per year per ward on beautification projects. But Toronto, as he knows, has enormous wards ...