Random Things...

I haven't posted in a while, though the time since my last entry has gone by swiftly (briefly: conference in Mexico, an OSCE, population health project, and final exam for the year). I've been following a few issues lately with a fair degree of attention, though. Starting off, there's the matter of the 2010 Toronto mayoral race:

Outspoken councillor Rob Ford leads a new poll that evinces a splintered electoral race with two clear front-runners and an indecisive electorate.

A new Globeandmail/CTV/CP24/Nanos poll puts Mr. Ford in first place – but just barely, and well within the margin of error.

The poll shows that 17.8 per cent of 1,000 Torontonians said they would vote for Mr. Ford if the election was held immediately, giving him a tiny lead over former deputy premier and energy and infrastructure minister George Smitherman, with 15.9 per cent.

Almost 40 per cent of those would-be voters are still undecided – but this poll cements a two-horse race between Mr. Ford and Mr. Smitherman, a long-time front-runner after he left his provincial post to run.

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone garnered a 10.1 per cent result; 9 per cent of those polled said they’d vote for Rocco Rossi if the vote were held immediately. Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti got 2.5 per cent; Women’s Post publisher Sarah Thomson earned 5.8 per cent of votes.

I'm going to say right off that I hope to hell that Rob Ford doesn't win. I don't think he will, of course, as this poll probably represents the ceiling not the floor of his support. Other than riding a wave of discontent over the usual "waste and overspending" talking points, he doesn't seem to have any particular plans or vision for the city, at least, none that I can find on his laughably amateurish website. He apparently wants to scrap Transit City in favour of subways, i.e. replace a less costly more comprehensive plan with one that is an order of magnitude more expensive and much slower to construct. How he expects that to be paid for is anyone's guess.

The rest of the field is not altogether inspiring - Smitherman seems okay, but his plans are a bit fuzzy - and since I don't live in TO, it doesn't really impact me directly, but the success of our largest city ought to matter to Canadians. Halifax's transit issues, for example, are a microcosm of what faces Toronto. Traffic is ever worsening and most of the plans to remedy it are not sufficiently ambitious. It's too early to predict the outcome of the mayoral election; it remains to be seen where the large number of undecided voters ends up.