Flawed Politics: Toronto's Doomed Election

The more I make myself involved in municipal politics, the more I realize how, and why people voted for Rob Ford, and why people will vote for someone like Doug Ford, John Tory, or Olivia Chow - despite all of the above taking not much more power than the Mike Layton's, or Mary Fragedakis' on council - regular council members.

Can you spot the person with more power than the rest? Trick question - there is none!

Every time I have a conversation with someone about the election - people are polarized.

I don't trust John Tory.

Olivia Chow will spend all of our money.

I'm afraid of Doug Ford - he's slimy.

They always go back to the candidate platforms though - subways, child care, community housing repairs, road repairs - despite none of these candidates being able to further these goals without the support of a united council. Would I vote for Doug Ford if I thought he had the power to move ahead with his subway plan? Maybe - I like subways - my support for LRT's has more about their likelihood of being built, than their effectiveness when compared to underground trains.

Here's the problem - you (and most voters) don't really understand municipal politics. 

We are all used to voting for a party, and a leader of that party that will have the power to move forward with their agenda.

When Stephen Harper runs his campaign based on lowering the HST to 12% - he has the power, the money, and the control to do that. You'll likely see those types of promises come to fruition in the years of a term (or you'd hope). Same goes for provincial politics.

Then it breaks down - and it's not made clear enough to residents - a mayor is not a position of power, but rather a position of representation. A mayor doesn't move agendas, budgets, or even items forward in council - they are more of an 'honorary' council member - that has the benefit of making appearances, and pretty well being the ultimate ambassador of any city.

Put it this way - Rob Ford voted against the most recent Toronto budget - but it didn't matter - the budget went ahead with most others voting in favour. So - before you get too excited about Olivia Chow's "decision" to switch back to a Scarborough LRT, Doug Ford's subways, or John Tory's 'SmartTrack' - know that none of those projects are decisions that any of those three will make alone. They will need to plead their case to their fellow council - like any other member - in order to get items voted ahead.

This is what I'm basing my decision on - the ability to bring council together for a decision. Who is the most well-spoken, who is the least hated by their peers, and who will act in a way that will represent Toronto the way I see our city.

So - how do we fix this?

To be honest - I don't think Torontonians should vote for their mayor, or if we do - the rules need to be stricter. If we eliminate a public-voted mayor, we would focus more on the councillors in our wards - who could then come together and elect (as a council) a representative to take on mayoral duties. THIS would be a democracy.

No longer would we have to listen to promises that could in no way be promised - and no longer would uninformed voters influence an election that affects more than they care about.

So....what do you think?