{"id":14820,"date":"2010-10-12T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=14820"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:12:10","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:12:10","slug":"lorinc-on-grinding-axes-and-alternative-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/12\/lorinc-on-grinding-axes-and-alternative-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: On grinding axes and alternative futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here\u2019s an alternative plot line for the fall of our civic discontent. Imagine if Kathleen Wynne was running for mayor instead of George Smitherman. Keep the rest of the mayoral slate the same. What would happen?<\/p>\n

The parallels between the two are impossible to ignore. They\u2019ve both been inner-sanctum cabinet ministers in Dalton McGuinty\u2019s government. They each started their political careers as relentless critics of Mike Harris. Both have substantial local experience (Smitherman as Barbara Hall\u2019s executive assistant; Wynne as a school trustee). They pursued controversial reforms within their portfolios (Smitherman with the Green Energy Act as minister of the evnironment; Wynne with class size caps as education minister). And they\u2019re both openly gay.<\/p>\n

Wynne, of course, is a cooler, more cerebral presence than the combative former deputy premier, although she\u2019s no less fierce a partisan.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s an interesting question to ponder: Would progressives attack Wynne with the same zeal as they\u2019ve assailed Smitherman, particularly on the broad question of their roles within the highly centralized McGuinty government? Sure, Wynne could duck the e-health accusations to a degree, although opponents would surely attempt to tar her with the same broad brush, given her role as a sitting cabinet minister. (Wynne, in turn, would probably be smart enough not to duck responsibility by blaming e-health on a former cabinet colleague.)<\/p>\n

But on more current points of intergovernmental friction \u2013 e.g., the slow-down in the Transit City funding, Presto, pace of uploading, the premier\u2019s steadfast refusal to split the TTC\u2019s operating deficit \u2013 Wynne would be singing from precisely the same hymn book: “it\u2019s the deficit”, “it\u2019s not a cancellation but a delay,” etc., etc.<\/p>\n

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Point is, in many respects, she\u2019d be a very similar candidate, ideologically speaking. Whether she would have tried so hard to woo suburban conservatives, as Smitherman has done with his tax freeze pledge, is debatable. But there\u2019s no question that a Liberal with her pedigree would be talking tough choices, too.<\/p>\n

This is all moot of course, but I raise the idea because it puts David Miller\u2019s endorsement of Joe Pantalone in a somewhat different, and less savory, light.<\/p>\n

On the face of it, Miller came out in favour of his trusty lieutenant because Pantalone\u2019s program is most obviously a continuation of Miller\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

But, of course, there\u2019s more Miller\u2019s vote of confidence than just policy, isn\u2019t there? The animosity between Miller and Smitherman goes back to Barbara Hall\u2019s desperate bid to elbow him out of the 2003 election. (Smitherman, as most of us have forgotten, publicly backed Miller\u2019s bid to block the bridge to the island airport, but Hall\u2019s team enlisted top-level NDP emissaries to pressure Miller to withdraw.)<\/p>\n

That bitterness never disappeared (just ask Joe Mihevc), as Miller made plain when, during his endorsement press conference last week, he said, pointedly, \u201cI think people want to vote for something and you don’t vote for somebody because you think they’re awful, just because they’re slightly less awful than somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is speculative, but I don\u2019t think Miller would have taken cheap shots at Wynne, even if she had run an opportunistic campaign aimed at exploiting local frustration with City Hall. Why? There\u2019s no history, as with Smitherman.<\/p>\n

Surely, after seven years in power, it\u2019s time for Miller to bury the axe. Absent reconciliation, the mayor should have kept his nose out of this election, as most self-respecting retiring leaders do upon leaving office. Rather, his subtext-laden endorsement \u2014 reminded me of how the festering Jean Chretien\/Paul Martin feud injected a very damaging sort of poison into the veins of Liberal party.<\/p>\n

Obviously, that kind of split has been a boon to Rob Ford. But the sniping can\u2019t go on. Regardless of who wins the election, the city\u2019s broad centre-left needs to figure out how to extinguish those old antagonisms and get back to the constructive relationship that existed three or four years ago, when local progressives and provincial Liberals actually knew how to do business with one another.<\/p>\n

SPIN WATCH<\/h3>\n

When Rob Ford released his financial plan last week, he made an intriguing promise that could suggest a shifting dynamic in the polls. With the $1.67 billion surplus he promises to pull out of a hat after four years, Ford says he\u2019d put more funding into daycare, affordable housing and other such services. All evidence to the contrary, Ford has often described himself as social \u201cbleeding heart,\u201d the guy who claims to be a kind of guardian angel for families living in social housing.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another interpretation of that curious pledge: perhaps Ford\u2019s internal polling is showing that his growth trajectory has crested, as experienced Toronto political analysts have long predicted. With less than two weeks to go and Rocco Rossi still driving hard to win over the suburban right, maybe Super Ford has finally realized he\u2019s got to grow beyond his base if he wants to win. Just asking\u2026.<\/p>\n

photo by Gabriel Li<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s an alternative plot line for the fall of our civic discontent. Imagine if Kathleen Wynne was running for mayor instead of George Smitherman. Keep the rest of the mayoral slate the same. What would happen? The parallels between the two are impossible to ignore. They\u2019ve both been inner-sanctum cabinet ministers in Dalton McGuinty\u2019s government.Continue reading “LORINC: On grinding axes and alternative futures”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94,3216,16248,425,13027,14032,10301,3917,16247,6245,12521,552,1103,8856,1767,426,4127,1529,1604,1439,22085,2306,227,10726,3705,16245,19,16246,391],"class_list":["post-14820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2010-election","tag-dalton-mcguinty","tag-dalton-mcguintys-government","tag-david-miller","tag-deputy-premier","tag-e-health","tag-education-minister","tag-executive-assistant","tag-gabriel-li","tag-george-smitherman","tag-jean-chretien","tag-joe-mihevc","tag-joe-pantalone","tag-kathleen-wynne","tag-liberal-party","tag-mayor","tag-mcguinty-government","tag-mike-harris","tag-minister","tag-paul-martin","tag-politics","tag-premier","tag-rob-ford","tag-rocco-rossi","tag-school-trustee","tag-sitting-cabinet-minister","tag-toronto","tag-trusty-lieutenant","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: On grinding axes and alternative futures - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/12\/lorinc-on-grinding-axes-and-alternative-futures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: On grinding axes and alternative futures - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s an alternative plot line for the fall of our civic discontent. 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