For television viewers who found themselves beginning to float on the Oh-liv-yah! excitement at this morning’s Olivia Chow announcement in St. James Town, a moment of sobriety may have occurred near the end of the candidate’s speech. Her fervent declaration that “We are Toronto” to the roomful of mostly south-of-Bloor folks crowding the hall had a slightly worrisome quality. In a speech that was frankly heavy on hard-luck personal remarks, knee-deep in “compassion” for her core constituents and the motherhood issues of jobs and transit, do the centre-right voters of Toronto who live north of Bloor really know what they heard? We are Toronto isn’t as scary as Take Back Toronto. That was David Miller’s now sinister cry. But the supporters who followed Ms Chow on CP24 certainly sounded like the same old NDP people who find it very hard to save a dime in the library budget or in equity relations. Privatized garbage collection? Forget it. There were some great slogans — “It will take heavy slogging, not easy slogans,” said the impeccably-dressed Ms Chow. In the Q and A, her tendency to simplify was not impressive, “We need to figure out how to move people faster” and “Respect for Scarborough” fall flat. There was no mention of jets on the island. In fairness, Chow’s statements so far are no less enlightening than those of John Tory or Karen Stintz. The disgraced Rob Ford says he will privatize garbage collection east of Yonge Street. That includes South Bayview. Strange thing this democracy.South-of-Bloor supporters chant Oh-liv-yah!
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For television viewers who found themselves beginning to float on the Oh-liv-yah! excitement at this morning’s Olivia Chow announcement in St. James Town, a moment of sobriety may have occurred near the end of the candidate’s speech. Her fervent declaration that “We are Toronto” to the roomful of mostly south-of-Bloor folks crowding the hall had a slightly worrisome quality. In a speech that was frankly heavy on hard-luck personal remarks, knee-deep in “compassion” for her core constituents and the motherhood issues of jobs and transit, do the centre-right voters of Toronto who live north of Bloor really know what they heard? We are Toronto isn’t as scary as Take Back Toronto. That was David Miller’s now sinister cry. But the supporters who followed Ms Chow on CP24 certainly sounded like the same old NDP people who find it very hard to save a dime in the library budget or in equity relations. Privatized garbage collection? Forget it. There were some great slogans — “It will take heavy slogging, not easy slogans,” said the impeccably-dressed Ms Chow. In the Q and A, her tendency to simplify was not impressive, “We need to figure out how to move people faster” and “Respect for Scarborough” fall flat. There was no mention of jets on the island. In fairness, Chow’s statements so far are no less enlightening than those of John Tory or Karen Stintz. The disgraced Rob Ford says he will privatize garbage collection east of Yonge Street. That includes South Bayview. Strange thing this democracy.