November 11, 2003
Toronto was returned to the lap of the left on Election Night--by only 39 percent of the voters.
On Remembrance Day morning, New Democratic Party (NDP) Coun. David Miller--whose election spells certain death for the Toronto Island Airport--was the city’s new mayor.
In spite of long-running mainline media hype indicating that former Mayor Barbara Hall was all but guaranteed victory, Miller narrowly won with 43.58 percent of the vote, followed closely by right-of-centre candidate John Tory with 38.33 percent. With no apologies or explanations from the Toronto Star or Radio CFRB, who had said she was such a sure thing the formality of an election wouldn’t be necessary, Hall trailed with just 9.23 percent of the vote.
Given the apathy that plagues all municipal elections, 39 percent is considered a high turnout.
There are about 1,600,000 million eligible voters in the City of Toronto. If you subtract Miller’s 285,286 votes, he represents only 17 percent of voters.
Miller’s mettle was tested immediately after he was declared the winner. By the next morning, his activist friends, led by the radical Allan Sparrow, were already protesting at the parking lot of the Toronto Port Authority. Buoyed that their man was now mayor, the activists were at the rainy parking lot to keep any spades from going into the ground, holding at bay the beginning of construction of the controversial council-approved fixed link to the Toronto Island Airport. Millions of dollars in lawsuits could record the opening chapter of David Miller as mayor if he lives up to his campaign promise to kill the fixed link.
In the end, mayoral candidate John Nunziata, who threw an 11th hour charge of bribery with no foundation against Tory, was the main spoiler in returning Toronto to the left. Tory lost by 35,000 votes. Nunziata, with only 5 percent, drew 34,359 votes.
The election of Toronto’s socialist mayor completes a circle. The left-leaning Dalton McGuinty Provincial Liberal government defeated the Ernie Eves Progressive Conservatives earlier this month.
This coming weekend, Canadian Prime-Minister-in-Waiting Paul Martin, protégé of Canadian United Nations Poster Boy Maurice Strong will take over from outgoing Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Incredibly to many average Canadians, the high note of the downtown Toronto Liberal convention is the delivery of a speech by U2 rocker Bono.
Martin, who some say leans too heavily on Strong, is expected to take the nation further to the left.
All this comes at a time when Toronto needs it least.
The NDP have a track record for trying to solve problems by throwing money at them.
This city was already $2 billion in debt when the SARS scare hit last spring.
Meanwhile, the confusion of municipal elections and the loopholes apparent in the Ontario Municipal Elections Act were part of Nov. 10, 203.
Picture the ballot. The City of Toronto election was contested by 345 candidates--44 of them running for mayor.
Instead of a check mark or an x, the $5.8 million 2003 election, produced a ballot in which voters were asked to "join the arrow" leading to the name of the candidate of their choice.
Chicanery, inadvertent or otherwise included an election-voting card authorized by the Barbara Hall campaign. The card showing Hall as number 14 on the ballot advised voters to "Bring this card to the polling station."
According to the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, election materials are barred from being brought into the polling station.
Now that the left controls the province of Ontario, (until the right unite) the country and our city, how long will it be before word begins to spread that Toronto--the country’s largest city--is no longer open for business?
Over to you, Mr. Miller.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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