It soon became obvious that Doug Ford lacks Mayor Rob Ford's charm. Both Fords use basic political rules : never admit to a mistake until you've stepped into it, repeat anything in short sentences no matter how outrageous and wrong and do it repeatedly. Doug Ford insists he is a common man, a man of the people who worked his way up the ladder yet he only worked in father's company, worth ten million dollars which he now heads up. Doug Ford said his wife is of Jewish background yet she, her mother and her grandmother have not practiced Judaism.
Olivia Chow is the scrappy Hong Kong born widow of Saint Jack Layton the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) who took them to official opposition but died of an untold illness. She has made a profession of nitpicking John Tory's (front runner) Smart Track transit plan which uses existing GO train and Metrolinx rail lines, about how many houses will be eliminated in order to make the 53 kilometer system work (not that many). Chow's transit plan is adding more buses.
John Tory has run ahead of the pack all the way and has been taking shots from both second place Ford and third place Chow. The fact that he has been a four time loser (I count three but what do I know) has been an albatross around his neck. Finally all three major Toronto newspapers have endorsed Tory which is unusual because hardly ever has the Toronto Star and the Sun agreed on anything. Tory has received endorsements from both Liberals as well as Progressive Conservatives (no NDP'ers, they went lockstep behind Chow). Everybody is holding their breath now that nothing will upset the applecart and destroy the six percent lead.
Over to Mississauga, Mayor Hazel McCallion finally came out of the (I'm not endorsing anyone) closet and endorsed Bonnie Crombie and then went off to China. Kathy Mahoney, Steve Mahoney's wife who has just resigned (and passed the torch to son at their ward) was incensed, having been a loyal McCallion'ite all her political career. The Mahoneys were not at McCallion's goodbye foofarah when she returned from China. We shall see how Crombie will do with Saint McCallion's blessing and how Mahoney will do without.
Next Monday (Oct 27) will be the telling tale. I will be at the victory party for Ward 15 school board trustee candidate Maria Saras-Votsinas and Ward 30 Council candidate Liz West and take the riding for Peter Worthington.
Adu Raudkivi
