With barely enough room to tweet, reporters and camera crews packed into the second floor hallway of Scarborough’s Canadian Centre for Language and Cultural Studies with the promise of a hot endorsement.
Everyone already knew whose endorsement was coming. That cat was out of the bag last night.
The fact that David Miller was breaking his silence on who his pick for mayor would be was still a big deal – most notably for his deputy, Joe Pantalone – whose smile was as genuine as they come.
Here, with no minced words, Miller was passing on the torch of his legacy to one man.
Miller gave two reasons for jumping into the politics of the race today. “I’ve watched this mayoral race with incredible frustration and distress because I’ve seen candidates who want to tear this city down,” he said adding that he’s chosen to live here and so have all the people learning English in the centre where the announcement was being made.
“There’s only one candidate speaking to [transit investment in priority neighbourhoods and city’s people] challenges, speaking to the future with hope and knows how to make investments for this city to succeed. That candidate is Joe Pantalone,” added Miller.
The second reason Miller gave for his endorsement is that citizens have been telling him they want a leader to build a great 21st century city. Again he pointed to Joe.
“It’s a great day to be in Scarborough,” said Pantalone. He echoed the progressive message given by Miller, and brought up Transit City as a key plan. “For the first time we have a plan. We lost a generation where we did not have a plan and that’s why we’re stuck in traffic in this urban area.”
“I want to build on this foundation. Transit City needs to be delivered. We have to invest in and build Toronto. I feel priviledged to lead the progressive forces in Toronto,” added Pantalone.
When the question of whether councillor Joe Mihevc’s move of endorsing George Smitherman as a strategic voting move, Miller smiled and said, “seven years ago councillor Mihevc suggested to me that I drop out of the race.”
It’s clear Miller won’t be voting strategically. “I don’t distinguish between candidates who want to tear down Toronto. They’re running on the same platform,” said Miller, adding, “I voted yesterday and I voted for Joe Pantalone.”
