Emotion seems to be having a field-day in the run-up to the mid-term elections in the U.S. In Canada, we like to believe we are a little more grounded than our American cousins.
But from time to time we also go on a political-emotional binge, especially when it concerns Quebec. And take the current campaign for mayor of Canada's biggest city, for example. The front runner, Rob Ford, like Sarah Palin in the U.S., is creating a firestorm of emotion in both the people and the media. Torontonians are so disgusted with the waste of their tax dollars, by the very people who were supposed to look after their interests, that they are ready to settle for someone like Ford who means it when he says he'll make his colleagues account for all their future expenses.
While being a penny-pincher is not all that's required to be an effective mayor of a big city like Toronto, and that seems to be all Ford has to offer, the citizens have had their fill of so-called brainy politicians like David Miller, who raised taxes and gave themselves raises while their constituents were either being laid-off or taking pay cuts. The profligate gang at Toronto City Hall have only themselves to blame for creating the anger that's fuelling the upcoming election. And unless we can get our political-house, whether federal, provincial or municipal, in order, we are going to see a lot more emotionally-driven elections in the future.
William Bedford
