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Mayoral candidates who matter

There are some inspiring ideas in this mayoral election, despite popular opinion to the contrary. The good stuff is just buried under all the ranting and raving about taxes, immigration and gay marriage. A large chunk of attention is placed on some very small opinions.

So, in an effort to shift the focus off the inane and onto the inspiring, the worst parts of Tuesday night’s CP24 mayoral debate – and this election – have deliberately been cut from this article. It’s by no means a complete picture of the race, but, readers will agree, this is really for the best.

(This was the fourth of the six planned debates before the October elections. Here’s a round up of debate three, debate two, and debate one.)

George Smitherman, for a good part of the debate, was put on trial over his involvement with the eHealth blunder of 2009. He made the mistake of saying throwing a billion dollars into the electronic health program as a provincial minister wasn’t his “finest hour” – which was thrown back in his face a couple of times, and will be thrown at him at least a couple more times before this election is over. Also like privatizing the cleaning of the TTC.

Best moment: Smithers was asked by an audience member what he’s going to do to promote DJ and dance culture, as if he would stand on the corner of Richmond and John handing out flyers for a deep house DJ night. He smartly yammered on about the bar and restaurant industry in reply.

Rocco Rossi was throwing out slogans left and right, seeing which would stick. The clunky “I create results!” was the best he could do. He also mentioned several times he reads the Sun, so no wonder he’s no Bill Shakespeare when it comes to inspiring lines. He also harped on privatizing Toronto Hydro.

Best moment: Rossi’s best move was to point out single-sourcing contracts, especially ones under $20, is but a red herring here – a smoke screen to fool the voters by anti-tax candidates.

Sarah Thomson is sounding more assured with every debate. She stays away from the sloganeering that plagues Rossi and others, but might have an issue with self-promotion. She articulates her website address and I-love-subways pledge, but that was it.

Best moment: Mentioning her Thomson Key, a brooch in the shape of a key she wears on her lapel, into her remarks. The key represents the key to the city, which belongs to every Torontonian. She’s taking cues from David Miller’s broom, obviously.

Joe Pantalone came out swinging on the privatization issue. He’s the only candidate who thinks it hasn’t and won’t work, and did his best to distinguish himself on that issue. He’s still fighting for air in the room, so being aggressive helps. But if anyone could benefit from being more vocal about his vision for the city, it’s Pants.

Best moment: “With all due respect, we are human beings here,” said Joe in response to someone’s idea to kill the city’s fair wage policy. Damn!

And that’s it for the candidates!

In the end, John Tory, the CFRB guy and second failed mayoral candidate in the room (Stephen LeDrew was interrupting moderating), really nailed it in his post-show assessment: no candidate has explicitly said what Toronto will look like under their watch. That’s what’s really been missing so far. What will Toronto look like in five years?

There’s two debates and 10 weeks left to answer that question.

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