Duly Quoted: Doug Ford
The TTC Shows Off Its New Station Information Screen
Being Strategic and Voting
On a Tuesday evening early this April, an eclectic mix of progressive, civically engaged Torontonians gathered in a living room for an off-the-record Q-and-A with Joe Pantalone. The group included experienced activists, campaign veterans, and urban issues writers, all well-versed in the city's affairs and all concerned about its future. It was, more or less, a mutual audition—Pantalone sussing out potential support and everyone else sussing out Pantalone.
It was not an inspiring night.
The charge most often levied against Pantalone is that he blithely goes on as though everything at City Hall is fundamentally alright when it isn't. We understand the complaint and agree it has some merit, but our concern with him from the beginning has been a little different: not that Pantalone fails to see the problems that held Miller's administration back, but that he fails to see how its programme could be extended further.
Many of those championing Pantalone now—claiming he's the only real choice for those who care about social services, culture, the environment, and so on—are also glossing over some less progressive moments in his career: cheerleading for the Front Street Extension, implementing Mel Lastman's disastrous tax freeze, campaigning for old friends instead of progressive candidates, failing to show up for the billboard tax vote.
None of these are deal-breakers. None disqualify Pantalone from office, and none make us reject his candidacy outright. But neither is he a dream candidate who deserves our vote at all costs, consequences be damned.
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