It's pretty much a done deal. Rob Ford's vision for subways (one I agree with), is dead. I think years down the road Torontonians will see the error in their ways, when the maintenance costs of LRT far outstrip any savings accrued from aborting the subway plan. Now if I were Rob Ford, rather than continue to deny the subway vision as being dead, I would embrace it.
Now I realize that will be a hard pill for the mayor to swallow, but this loss could lead the way to many wins in the future on his plans and visions for the city. My thinking is this. The usual anti-Ford, David Miller apostles, including The Toronto Star, Adam Vaughan, Karen Stintz, have spent a great deal of political capital in steamrolling the mayors plans for subways. Matter of fact, all of the lefty anti-Fordites have all chosen to toe the same partisan line, that it was a democratic vote by council that led the way for the now future of Toronto transportation, LRT's.
One of those who has repeated that line about how we have to respect democracy and the vote by council is a guy by the name of Dalton McGuinty. Perhaps you've heard of him. In their zest to beatdown the mayor, they in fact have handed him a bag of hammers, in which he is now free to play whack-a-mole with their heads.
You see, whenever Ford puts something to council, something like fiscal or social cuts for example, and he gets enough support on council to pass, he only has to quote the usual suspects about how democracy works, and throw in a few factual quotes regarding the subway.
After all, if the subway proposal defeated by council must be respected due to democracy, neither McGuinty nor anybody else using that mantra had better make a peep about anything voted in favor of by council as being unacceptable.
1 comment:
Thanks for using toe the line in the correct way.
I've seen people tow the line too many times.
Just like I've seen too many people loose it when they should lose it.
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