Those who want to get immersed in what happened at the rowdy mayoral debate last night can sample the opinion of writers below. It was apparently a brutal affair in which Ford Nation attendees screamed at Olivia Chow to go back to China (Christie Blatchford) and in which Rob Ford and John Tory hurled a stunning series of insults at each other (Marcus Gee). Ford may have been most effective — although typically unpleasant — as he numbered off the council votes in which he and his brother had engineered lop-sided votes to accomplish their agenda. This in response to Tory’s claim that they could not achieve consensus. Olivia Chow ground away at her somewhat narrow and possibly accurate concern that Tory’s showpiece Smart Track plan will require tunnelling in the Weston area. Some say Tory was not ready for the ferocity of the debate. This is not a serious criticism if he can make voters believe that he will be an effective protector of their pocketbooks. That is the Ford cache to debunk. Tory’s dilemma is to make it clear he will be tough without frightening people. Google leads on debate
