Greetings all:

Well it is over.  Good wishes to all who participated in the process.

The results are in and we look at what we learned.

I take responsibility for the number (868) of votes that came  in my direction.  And I will not resort to sour grapes - I did everything that I wanted to in this campaign.  Had the media, and others supported my initiative to their full measure, the results would have been quite different.   But the results are quite curious.

In overview only 41% of the people voted.  and the winner received 56% of these votes = this means the Mayor has less than 25% of the people supporting the Mayor in the City.   The Media reported this as a landslide victory - to justify their myopic coverage of the Campaign.

Other curious facts.  Why did the Media not focus more on why Jane Pitfield ran?  Why did she give up a comfortable seat around the table to compete?  Something is seriously wrong with our City Government and watch out.  With the new powers to tax there will be extreme pressure on people to survive in our economy.

Why were major issues not addressed?  The First nations issue?  a major issue of our day.   The Mayor is quick to talk about going  to the Federal Government for money - but not with the support of the First Nations.  Never discussed.  And when asked the question - answered ignorantly.

And what about Michael Alexander?  ever heard of him?  likely not - yet he received over 5000 votes.  Is this not curious?  I do not know what to make of it.  His idea was to have Toronto Succeed from Canada.  I only heard him talk once about this - in an unreported speech - and look at the result he achieved - rather amazing.  - no e-mail contact, or telephone or website.  So how did this happen?  the best I can assume is that he was the first one on the list.  But who knows?  a protest vote perhaps?.

And Shaun Bruce.  Great job.  Speaking for the Youth he got over 2000 votes.  I am not aware of any intellectual message or thought, but he came forward and spoke on behalf of the youth.  His team and him should be congratulated.

Joel Rubinovich came to many events and spoke to the issue of parking tags.  I do not know if he understands that a private company takes the revenue from parking - but maybe this will all change with the Cities new powers.  He got over 1500 votes on the single issue.

Another anomaly was Kevin Clarke.  Receiving over 2000 votes this wild cannon who speaks so well managed to get press by challenging the system.

My own challenges went unreported.  Questions unanswered.  Media - not even curious as to meaning behind questions.

 But we have 90 days to decide whether or not to have the Mayors Nomination form rejected.  This minor occurrence was due to the fact that the Mayor's nomination form was not complete.  (therefore ought to be rejected if the rules were followed.  He refused publicly to request staff to follow the rules.)

As for myself, I did not get what  I wanted.  Mainly a discussion of the important issues.  The stopping of Porter Airlines.  The development of the Peace Department in Toronto, the discussion of Corporate Social Responsibility and a vendor purchasing policy. 

Such is our plight in the City.  We will have more of the same in the future.  The losing of the 2015 event will be nothing to the other constructs that will be lost.  More money down the drain.  More mismanagement of the resources of our City.

And strangely enough - the person at the bottom of the list - Mark State.  A sensible, well meaning man - never heard.  One must ask why? 

Is this the best we can do in a democracy?  I hope not.  I trust that the next elections will be different - where we have healthy discussions of ideas - not political posturing in 30 and 60 second sound bites - but discussion of real issues - in forums that last a day or longer - where  people can be heard.  Where we can explore amongst ourselves who we support - and let the media watch us - rather than control us.  This process is not one that we might like to have emulated in other countries - so why do we accept it here?

A sad day for Toronto.  A sad day for democracy.  A victory for the mediocrity of the media. 

When will they ever learn?

Peace

Mitch Gold
Peacemaker /not Mayor