Another poll

[james_davis_nicoll]

[Poll #1770486]

Comments

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Was this one of the cases where people voted for him because he promised to do the exact opposite of what he's doing?

[agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com]

Who else will pay for it, then? The city? Ha. The feds? Ha.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, this is all part of the process of discovering an unforeseen downside to living up to one's campaign promise to saw off the branch one is standing on because the leaves on it offend one.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Wasn't the private sector supposed to open their wallets?

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I say "no", but only because I have a better idea.

Get BioWare to endorse the subway line, rename it the "Shepard" line, and promote the heck out of the upcoming Mass Effect 3 video game with it. Private enterprise at work, man.

-- Steve'll even point out that it's a Canadian company, so folks can wave tiny Canadian flags at the opening.

PS: I'd also want to rename one of the stops, "Wrex." I'd link to a video showing why, but the office abacus doesn't handle YouTube.

[nicosian.livejournal.com]

Yes. That was his fantastical idea. Like every other idea spilled from his head as of late, pure golden spun fantasy.

And we had a transit plan. A good serviceable plan. It wasn't flashy subways, but it was perfectly reasonable LRT that every last city I've been in everywhere is now using, and he flushed it.

So kinda, no, I don't want the gov to bail his ass out on this plan. I want transit expansion, but his plan was a ludicrous mess.

this is also the turdball who's thinking we can get by NOT replacing the streetcars with new euro-low floor ones, and I can't EVEN fathom the stupidity and cost that will come from that.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Context is for the weak? Or for the week?

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to put a contract out on the offending mayor?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It's one of those "if you're Canadian, you know what I am talking about and if you are not, it's not really that relevant to your life (except in a theoretical sense) in as much as it's not your nation's largest city currently hamstringing itself."

Toronto elected an idiot as mayor. Now it turns out unexpectedly that the idiot is an idiot. The mayor is threatening the provincial premier that if the province does not make quick with the moola, the mayor will unleash his legions of suburban voters on the side the suburban voters almost certainly going to vote anyway.

You know, given that the PC seem likely to win in the fall, I don't really see the upside for the (Liberal) Premier to spend money here. The 'burbs aren't going to vote for him out of gratitude. It may be strategically better to leave things be and let the effects really start biting after Hudak gets in.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Actually, my sister-in-law lives in that largest city . . .

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

Couldn't we not spend the money, watch everything turn to shit in TO, and then have McGuinty and friends point and yell very loudly "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ELECT IDIOT TORIES! DON'T DO THAT, YA MORONS! REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WITH MIKE HARRIS?!"? But I suspect that would be a little too much to hope for.

If there was a minimal intelligence requirement for public office, Idiot Face wouldn't even have been able to run. And given the reality of Idiot Face, Mike Harris and his high-school-dropout Education Minister, and the rest of the Usual Gang of CRAPs in Ottawa, my Inner Fascist thinks that enacting such a requirement has suddenly become a really good idea. Then again, I am the person who thinks that neoconservatives should be legally prohibited from holding elected office in Canada under Constitutional grounds, given that our Constitution guarantees "peace, order, and good government" and a bunch of ideologically warmongering, disaster-capitalist, "government is the problem, so let's drown it in the bathtub" anti-statists aren't going to be able to deliver on any of that, so grain of salt as required.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Core or the marches?

[nicosian.livejournal.com]

The other bit of it is, he doesn't actually seem to have a plan on paper, only a "seat of the pants" kind of "if we have money it'll happen" thing.

Which makes me question his role at Deco, it can't be in a critical capacity, he's a shite business man if he thinks any funder is going to generally cough up money on nothing at all.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

You know, given that the PC seem likely to win in the fall

Last poll I saw showed a statistical tie between the Libs and Cons, FYI.

-- Steve thinks that, with Ontario's notorious habit of electing governments from the federal opposition and Hudak's tone-deafness, that McGuinty may actually get the nod again.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

He's got a brother on City Council, too (who is even stupider than he is). And other supporters.

In other words, just removing him would not be sufficient.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Both. Since they chose not to have children, they have to make do with a city house and a country house.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

You know that "order" was inserted to replace "welfare"?

(I need to re-read A Fair Country to make sure of this...)

[dewline.livejournal.com]

No Orange Wave at the provincial level? Andrea Horwath is no Bob Rae, after all.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Please. Toronto did not elect our Honourable Wife-Beating Drunk-Driving Mayor. Scarbourough, Etobicoke and Mississauga did.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Horwath is polling a very, very distant 3rd right now. (The two leads are tied at roughly 30%, she's about 11%, 14% undecided, the remainder were "no answer" or independants. Margin of error was about 3 points IIRC.) I suspect that the one term they had will haunt the NDP for a looooong time here in the province.

-- Steve's kinda hoping for a Lib win; the local candidate mentioned one of the office's contracts as an election plank, so even if personal inclinations didn't lean that way simple self-interest would prompt a bias their way.

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

Yes. He a) promised not to go cap in hand to the province b) signed a memorandum of understanding this spring with the province saying he won't come cap-in-hand to beg money for his moronic plan because the private sector would love to do it for free.

Now, he's come cap-in-hand to the province.

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

You couldn't get more than $10 million doing that. A subway line costs $300 million per kilometre.

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

Link?

All the polls I've seen are depressing (and show an NDP bounce, not that I'd care for one since I really like McGuinty):
http://threehundredeight.blogspot.com/2011/08/liberals-up-three-seats-in-ontario.html

[catbear.livejournal.com]

If and only if it is an out-and-out purchase.
As in, they have to keep him, in exchange for the money.
What they do with him is of little concern.

I suggest a dunking tank, though.

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

So we get a thirty-three meter long subway line. Who needs any more?