THERE SHOULD BE term limits at city hall. With the four-year term, two terms, for a total of eight years is enough. The greatest gift David Miller could give the city is not to seek re-election. Toronto needs a big change, and it has to start with the mayor.
Mayor Miller seems determined to run for a third term, but there’s been a lot of speculation about who might challenge him in 2010.
First of all, it needs to be said that there is no perfect candidate for mayor. All potential challengers have made some mistakes or shown some poor judgment in their political careers, and these will be replayed in a campaign and will become identified with them.
The candidate from the left who is being groomed to replace David Miller is Coun. Adam Giambrone. He chairs the TTC and has had leadership roles in the federal NDP party. He’s young and idealistic, but he isn’t what the amalgamated city needs to promote change at City Hall.
With the recent polls indicating Miller is declining in popularity, many potential Liberal and Conservative candidates are lining up, indicating interest in running. Some are currently on city council and others are from outside City Hall.
It has been said that “a person from outside cannot win,” and for more than 50 years the winning candidate has been a sitting city councillor. The councillors who would like to run are Rob Ford, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Karen Stintz and Michael Thompson. If John Tory enters the race, Rob Ford and Denzil Minnan-Wong would not run.
Karen Stintz is ambitious and intelligent. She has ideas but may need more time to develop them. She is building support from the business community, has been invited to speak to audiences about her vision for the city and she would be well supported by Conservatives. But Stintz has been criticized for using her office budget inappropriately. Her future actions need to reflect a heart for the city so that her platform is more to the centre.
Michael Thompson has been planning a run for mayor from the beginning of his time on council. He’s shown leadership with crime, and he’s been a champion of Scarborough. It is rumoured that George Smitherman would support him. But Thompson needs to show more courage and not sit on the fence. At times he criticizes the mayor and then appears to be defending him. This sends confusing messages.
The poor performance of the present council just might mean that an outside person has a better chance to win in 2010. George Smitherman has vehemently denied interest in running, but recent community cleanups send another message. There’s no doubt that he’s a champion of Toronto and has experience from when he worked at City Hall with Barbara Hall. He would have a good relationship with Dalton McGuinty and could certainly work with the federal government. But he needs to cut back on showmanship and make it less about him and more about how he wants to serve.
There is no better person for understanding the needs of Toronto than John Tory. He’s been with United Way and he sees the social issues. He has a good understanding of the needs of the business community. He can work with everyone and would not alienate anyone on council. But Tory needs to show that he can drop it when it doesn’t make sense. He needs to be careful who he surrounds himself with. It cannot be just young, inexperienced Conservatives.
Finally, David Miller owes his election and re-election to the unionized employees and their families. Their reliability with voter turnout currently determines who becomes the mayor. If these employees can realize that, then in order to have long-term success for the city and their jobs, they will have to support another candidate who has that long-term vision.
Post City Magazines’ political columnist, Jane Pitfield, was a Toronto city councillor for eight years. She is now involved in several volunteer projects.
