Mayoral race: Where they stand
With two months down and eight to go, Toronto’s leading mayoral candidates have begun carving out their
positions on emerging election issues, including transit, bike lanes and particularly the city’s financial
troubles. Here’s a look at where the five leading candidates — Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi,
George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson — stand on the issues. BY ROBYN DOOLITTLE
Giorgio Mammoliti
GETTING Mammoliti is the outspoken
ACQUAINTED and sometimes controversial
councillor for Ward 7, York
West. His considerable
municipal experience,
including his participation in
the mayor’s executive
committee, is offset by his
sometimes outlandish
suggestions — such as
seriously considering having
the army take on the city’s
gang problem.
POLITICAL Right of centre
COLOURS
CITY Public-private partnerships
FINANCES would play a major role.
Mammoliti has also said he
would immediately create a
Public-Private Partnership
Standing Committee, which
would be “vital in the city’s
decision-making process.”
A BETTER Mammoliti has come out
WAY FOR strongly on pushing the
THE TTC province to contribute
operating funds to the transit
system, which absorbs 16 per
cent — roughly $1.4 billion —
of the city’s operating
budget.
BIKES VS. As long as cyclists aren’t
CARS slowing down traffic,
Mammoliti has no issue with
bike lanes. He is against
lanes on routes that “put the
cyclists in harm’s way.”
WHAT SETS Mammoliti is the wild card in
THEM APART the race. He’s already made
some amazing — and
probably impossible —
campaign promises, such as
scrapping property taxes for
seniors, building a casino and
creating a red-light district.
His sense of humour and
larger-than-life personality
will add spice to the race.
Joe Pantalone
Toronto’s pint-sized and
charming deputy mayor has
the most local experience of
all the candidates. He is vice
chair of the mayor’s
executive committee, chair
of the Exhibition Place board,
councillor for Ward 19,
Trinity-Spadina, and an
environmentalist.
Left
Pantalone said the city’s cash
issue is twofold: Senior
governments have
downloaded major expenses
while ending stable funding
to transit, housing and other
programs. A line-by-line
review of the budget,
downsizing by attrition and
turning up the heat on senior
governments are places to
begin, he said.
Just as premiers Bill Davis,
David Peterson and Bob Rae
did in the past, Pantalone
says the province needs to
be pressured to step up with
operating funds for transit.
“Farebox funding is not
enough,” he says.
Pantalone is the biggest
bike-lane supporter among
the candidates. He says all
users should share the road
and expect some give and
take. He has called Rossi
irresponsible for suggesting
that putting bike lanes on
Jarvis St. is undemocratic.
Pantalone has solid name
recognition and on-the-job
experience. With Adam
Giambrone out of the race,
he will be courting the left
and left-centre crowd, while
simultaneously trying to
distance himself from Mayor
David Miller’s reputation for
spending.
Rocco Rossi
Rossi, as he frequently notes,
is not a “career politician,”
though he has some inside
knowledge. Best known as a
Liberal fundraiser, he has
actually spent most of his
career as a businessman
with companies such as
Labatt, Boston Consulting
Group and Torstar. He led
the Heart and Stroke
Foundation for five years.
Centre
Rossi has called for managed
competition, a hiring freeze,
selling of assets and
increased use of
contracting-out work to
balance the city’s books.
Toronto, he said, has “put off
making any hard choices.”
Rossi said he would sit down
with the province and
negotiate a range of issues,
including secured,
sustainable funding. He
would then install a board of
private-sector experts who
will “live and breathe transit”
and answer to city hall.
Rossi has been an outspoken
critic of plans to put bike
lanes on major city arteries
such as Jarvis St., because of
traffic concerns. He said he
supports bike lanes on side
streets, such as Sherbourne
St., which runs parallel to
Jarvis.
Rossi is a Liberal courting the
right — who so far have no
real champion. His lack of
background in elected office
will serve as both an asset
and liability in the coming
months.
George Smitherman
As deputy premier, “Furious
George” was Dalton
McGuinty’s right-hand man.
He is a former health
minister, minister of energy
and infrastructure, and MPP
in Toronto Centre-Rosedale.
Smitherman is also Ontario’s
first openly gay MPP. He
married his partner in 2007.
He’s a Liberal, but other than
that, locally it’s not clear.
Smitherman says he’ll take a
bulldog approach to city
departments struggling to
trim the bottom line and has
called rival Rossi’s call for
selling off city assets
“short-sighted.” He has also
opened the door to road
tolls.
Private-sector experts, not
politicians, should make up
the majority of the TTC
board, he said.
Smitherman is in support of
bike lanes — and not just on
side streets — but has
avoided taking a hard stance
on the controversial issue of
bike lanes on major routes.
Policy-wise, Smitherman has
yet to lay out a solid
platform. But even at this
early stage, it appears to be
Smitherman’s race to lose.
He is running on his
personality; an infamous
temper and take-no-guff
approach to leadership might
be exactly what Toronto
needs — or so he hopes the
voters believe.
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Sarah Thomson
Thomson, the only woman
in the race, is a successful
entrepreneur who believes a
businesslike approach to
governing will fix Toronto’s
many woes. She founded,
and is now publisher, of the
Women’s Post, attended
McMaster University as a
mature student, and is a
married mother of two
young sons.
Fiscally conservative,
socially liberal
Thomson is calling for a
hiring and spending freeze
until a citizen advisory panel
from each department can
do a full, line-by-line
spending and best-practices
review.
Thomson wants to open the
TTC to competition from
business, which can infuse
the system with innovative
ideas and save money. She
has denounced threats of
layoffs and is against
declaring the TTC an
essential service.
“Complete streets” will
accommodate all modes of
transportation, says
Thomson. As for
controversial bike lanes on
major routes, Thomson said
there is a safety concern
and her team is looking
into it.
Thomson may be unknown
to most Torontonians, but
her experience, ability to
connect with audiences and
passion are formidable. She
has yet to reveal a
comprehensive platform,
but she favours scrapping
plans for a light-rail system
in favour of more subway
lines, using private partners.
TORONTO STAR GRAPHIC