George Smitherman says that a vote for Joe Pantalone is a vote for Rob Ford.
Let’s leave aside that this is self-serving and ignore how disappointing Smitherman’s campaign is if he has to rely on not being Rob Ford to get your vote.
While Smitherman and a legion of pundits want the strategic voting argument to be the most important factor in this campaign, the fact is, it isn’t.
Here’s the truth: a vote for Ford is a vote for an attack on public services a vote for Smitherman is also a vote for an attack on public services a vote for Pantalone is the only vote for sustained and improved public services.
The two most telling election promises Smitherman has made are to freeze taxes next year and to shed public service jobs by only hiring two new people for every three who retire.
We all know Ford’s “gravy train” doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. There simply aren’t enough pennies to be pinched to support his sweeping tax cuts.
What gets less attention is the sleight of hand Smitherman uses to “balance” his budget plan. His tax freeze principally rests on blowing surpluses generated by Mayor David Miller and finding $157 million in “smarter procurement.”
Does smarter procurement mean he’s going to move the price of diesel fuel for TTC buses down by thinking hard? Or has he made a shrewd guess about the 2011 price of asphalt for road repairs? I doubt it. Less money coming in will mean fewer services – Smitherman won’t tell us which ones.
On top of that implied cut, he wants to further shrink the public service by not hiring workers for some of the vacancies created by retirements. This is very revealing. He’s already acknowledged that emergency services can’t be touched.
Nor can he touch other staff-driven services: two drivers can’t manage three TTC buses. Over 1,000 jobs will vanish in such municipal services as libraries, community centres, parks, land use planning and bylaw enforcement. Fewer people delivering these services means you and I get less.
Toronto works because neighbourhood parks, libraries, community centres and beautification projects enrich our lives and bring us together. Neither Smitherman nor Ford understand this simple truth.
There is nothing strategic about choosing one brand of wrong-headedness over another. Besides, city building is never accomplished by tactical considerations in an electoral season. It’s accomplished by investing in the city and in each other.
Joe Pantalone is the only person running on that platform. If you want to vote for a smaller, meaner city, I leave it to you to pick your own poison.
Gord Perks is councillor for Ward 14.
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