The next mayor of Toronto will be…

David Miller. Only if he wants it of course and there are indications that he does. And only as long as he’s not caught in a scandal that, in order to prevent his reelection would pretty well have to involve a toddler. When the ballots are counted after the November 2010 municipal election and the mayor and his late broom are elected to a third term, it will come as absolutely no surprise.

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Torontonians are angry now in the wake of the 39 day civic workers strike. But after the strike was ended by the mayor predictably caving in to the union thugs who really run the city and the garbage that piled up was removed by happy CUPE workers’ collecting overtime, that anger is subsiding. In a few short weeks the strike will be all but forgotten. The mayor surprised a lot of people with his tough talk to the unions. But shortly into the strike it was obvious that it was just talk. David Miller was quick to show that his loyalty was with the workers and not the constituents who elected him when he failed to seek injunctions against the workers’ illegal actions in blocking people from dumping their garbage in temporary dump sites opened for that purpose. Miller not only refused to seek an injunction to assist Torontonians who were just trying to keep Toronto’s streets clean but he refused to say a bad word about his beloved union brothers and sisters. His actions were shameful and disgusting; but that was then and this was now. The reality is that many of the people who whined the loudest about garbage piling up in city parks and the loss of other city services were the downtown bicycle-riding socialist crowd that constitutes David Miller’s core support; the people have twice enabled him to win the mayoralty. Who else are these people going to support? Add this to the fact that with the strike part of Toronto’s history, most people will have little motivation to drag themselves to the polls 15 months from now. Short of the reincarnation of Karl Marx or Joe Stalin, Miller will be a shoe-in in the next election. Another reality is that there is no one else around to seriously challenge the union-loving, business-hating two time incumbent. There has been talk of John Tory possibly running although at this point he says he’s not considering it. Tory came a respectable second to Miller in 2003 but his weak performance as leader of the provincial PCs has drastically reduce his political credibility. Campaign speeches against John Tory could pretty well write themselves. Then there is the Responsible Government group; a group made up of right wing (it’s interesting how a lot of even the so-called conservative mainstream media uses that term while never referring to Miller as left wing) councillors who banded together on the theory that they could oppose the leftists on council. There are two certainties about the Responsible Government group; one is that they will hold a meeting and two, at that meeting they will decide to hold another meeting. Other than that, it is highly unlikely that this group will have much effect. They should take a page from Stephen Harper’s playbook (love him or hate him he is in power) and go after Miller right now; the time will never be better. Harper made a good move in going after Michael Ignatieff for spending too much time out of Canada even though the country was not in an election period. There are so many ways that Miller can be attacked but action must be taken right now. No doubt the Responsible Government people will wait until the official start of the campaign in January in the hopes that a white knight will appear and slay the mighty David. Up until a little over a week ago, Councillor Doug Holyday would have made the perfect mayoral candidate. He could have run on the platform of contracting out garbage collection like he did when he was mayor of the city of Etobicoke. Alas, the long time opponent of council’s left wing suddenly became too scared to vote against the contracts that the city agreed to with the unions and voted with Miller et al to ratify them. Apparently it would have cost too much money to go to arbitration and the strike would have continued. The only question is whether Holyday thought that up himself or was merely mimicking Miller. Then there’s Karen Stintz who has her eye on the mayor’s chair. If she’s anything she’s quick after she has shown that she can run to the trough as fast as any of the lefties can. Unfortunately, too many of these Responsible Group members are RINOs (Responsible in Name Only). If they were really able and determined to rid Toronto of the socialist hordes they would have moved by now. As far as the 2010 election goes, congratulations David; we know you can do it.

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