City of our dreams will remain just that
With less than a week to go, the civic election is turning out exactly the way Torontonians like — dull and eminently forgettable. Given Premier Doug Ford’s reckless decision to cut city council in half, that’s a bit of a surprise.
But then, Toronto voters have historically made no bones about their lack of interest in local politics. Though the reasons we should care are obvious, most don’t. Typically, less than half of voters show up for municipal elections.
For mayoral incumbent, John Tory, that’s good news. Indifference is his friend. His refusal to debate rival Jennifer Keesmaat one-on-one makes sense from his point of view, though it’s an obvious cop out, especially in a city that faces so many crises, from transit and affordable housing to road safety and rising rates of violence. But then, the same questions loomed large during the election four year ago and little has changed since.
As the front-runner, Tory has little to gain from engaging, whether that means debating other candidates or trumpeting the meagre accomplishments of his first term. In fact, he offers little but more of the same.
After four years, it’s hard to say exactly why Tory even wants to be mayor: he has no big idea for Toronto, no vision or guiding principles. When elected, his main concern was congestion. Fair enough, but even that’s grown worse. His much ballyhooed SmartTrack remains a phantom. Housing is less affordable than ever, pedestrians and cyclists are being injured and killed weekly and as for the TTC, well, let’s just say it’s a mess and leave it at that. Oh, yes, let’s not forget that there have been more than 300 shootings so far this year. When Tory became mayor in 2014, it was enough not to be a Ford. After his predecessor’s tumultuous term, Tory’s blandness appealed to Torontonians tired of daily outrage. Now of course that’s provided by Rob’s older brother, Doug, and U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite Tory’s dithering, poor instincts, lack of imagination and inability to express himself clearly and concisely, his first term, however unmemorable, was precisely what many Torontonians hoped for.
They prefer candidates they can elect and forget. The city lurches along regardless and most of us have better things to worry about. Besides, those who depend on transit, who can’t afford housing, who experience violence, who struggle to survive tend not to vote or do so in lesser numbers. Tory is a mayor for those who don’t have to face the overcrowded buses and subways, who have a (nice) place to live and for whom Toronto remains a livable city.
Jennifer Keesmaat, on the other hand, overflows with good ideas. The former chief planner knows all the arguments and has read up on the latest international projects in the planning journals. But the glibness of her politics can be unnerving. She has learned from television and is always ready with a quick fact or figure. She makes Tory look old and stodgy. Yet her five-year stint at the city planning department was same old, same old.
When she told the Star editorial board that, like Tory, she would keep property-tax increases below the rate of inflation, she played right into his hands. Keesmaat’s habit of practising old politics while espousing the values of the new has made it clear she’s a more conventional political operator than expected.
It’s clear, though, none of this really matters. The most exciting and articulate mayoral candidate, Saron Gebresellassi, a human rights/personal injury lawyer, activist and polyglot, runs circles around the front-runners. While Tory and Keesmaat address themselves to the middle class, Gebresellassi is more focused on the struggles of working class, immigrants and racialized communities still largely unrepresented at city hall. Yet polls put her under 2 per cent.
Considering that the mayors of post-amalgamation Toronto include the likes of Mel Lastman, Rob Ford and John Tory, one can’t help but be struck by what an unimpressive lot they are. In addition to their conservatism, what they have in common is a commitment to keeping property taxes low. Though ours are the among the lowest in the GTA, they can never be low enough.
You get what you pay for, of course, and in Toronto that translates, among other things, into $33 billion worth of unfunded capital projects. This represents the city we dream of building, but won’t. None of the candidates is talking about that.