LILLEY: Out of ideas and out of gas, Chow's campaign runs on fear
· Toronto Sun
Olivia Chow’s record, when looked at objectively, isn’t one to run for re-election on, so she’s running on fear.
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At debate after debate, in pronouncement after pronouncement, Chow is trying to scare voters into believing that her opponent, Brad Bradford, is a monster who will destroy the city.
Since the last election for mayor and council, spending has gone up by nearly $4 billion and property taxes have gone up 28%, with most of that attributable to Olivia Chow, but no one can say services have improved. We are spending more, 26% more to be exact, and we are getting less.
And yet, Chow, not wanting to run on that record, is trying to scare voters about Bradford.
“Councillor Bradford’s plan is to cut library services, transit, affordable housing to pay for all those promises that he just made,” Chow said during the United Way debate earlier this week.
Bradford calling for a line-by-line audit
Bradford has called for a line-by-line audit of city spending, something that hasn’t happened in 15 years.
“We do that and our households do that every month. We go through the credit card bill. We do that in small businesses. And City Hall should do that with your taxpayer money as well,” Bradford said.
Most people can understand that you need to review your spending on a regular basis. We all do it at home. Just because we used to spend money in one area at home doesn’t mean we always need to spend there.
It’s the same at City Hall.
Fear campaign, not a plan
Not to Olivia Chow, though. She calls this slash-and-burn politics. She also claims the city does a line-by-line audit every year, which isn’t true.
Staff go through each item, the people who have a vested interest in keeping spending, and jobs, as high as City Hall. A proper spending review needs to be done by elected officials, the people we send to City Hall to watch over spending.
Chow further fear-mongered by saying that conducting that review would lead to libraries and even the Toronto Zoo being closed. There was a consultant’s report 15 years ago that outlined what closing libraries and the zoo would save taxpayers, but no politician pushed for that.
Chow’s next scare tactic was to claim Bradford’s plan to modernize water and sewer infrastructure would somehow put lives at risk.
“This is our drinking water. And now Mr. Bradford wants to hand it over to someone else … That’s a recipe for disaster,” Chow said.
The facts don’t match the rhetoric
What Bradford’s plan actually calls for is the establishment of a Toronto Municipal Services Corporation to manage water and sewer infrastructure. The plan would operate much like Toronto Hydro, its own services corporation but owned by the city, and is already a system in use in places like Innisfil, Kingston and Mapleton, and is soon to be rolled out across Peel Region.
This isn’t privatization, and it’s not putting our drinking water at risk.
“What I’ve heard over the past number of weeks here is a mayor who has run out of ideas. A mayor who doesn’t have a vision, who doesn’t have anything left in the tank, and is just trying to engage in scare tactics and fear-mongering,” Bradford said during Wednesday night’s debate.
Out of ideas and out of gas sums up Chow.
Billions more, little to show for it
It was remarkable to watch a woman who was first elected in 1985, more than 40 years ago, need to read prepared answers in a debate. Her scripted responses weren’t about bolstering her record. She just attacked Bradford and her made-up claims of what he would do as mayor.
Toronto is struggling and it shows to anyone who leaves their home, well, in anything other than the chauffeur-driven car the mayor travels in.
Since the last full municipal election, spending has gone from $14.99 billion to $18.86 billion. Property taxes have gone up 28% and your services are not 28% better.
Leadership starts at the top and Olivia Chow is a leader found wanting.
When your record can’t sell itself, fear becomes the campaign. That’s where Olivia Chow finds herself today.
Brad Bradford for change.