Just a short note about the Adam Giambrone Toronto Mayoralty campaign. As anyone who has been reading my blogs here knows, I have attempted to focus on the positive and interesting aspects of politics. Unfortunately, there are occasions when politicians do not meet me half-way. The collapse of Mr. Giambrone’s mayoralty campaign is somewhat an example of this.

To be fair, I don’t believe that Adam expected to become mayor. I think this campaign was designed to raise publicity and enhance his profile which in turn would help a future mayoralty campaign. It should also be pointed out that Mr. Giambrone is a young person. There are perhaps a few thirty-somethings out there who are experienced and competent enough to run a large city and are also shrewd enough to avoid scandal. However, there are probably not a lot of them. He is also guilty of what a lot of politicians and other members of the establishment are certainly doing.
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TTC collector dozes on duty; infamous picture sets off debate (photo by Jason Wieler)

All things considered, it has been a less than stellar month for Canada’s largest pubic transportation system.

The veritable Toronto Transit Commission, the historic ‘Red Rocket’ has been stung recently by a series of what can only be considered public relations disasters.

It all began January 9, 2010 when a transit rider snapped a cell phone picture of a TTC fare collector in his booth, apparently sleeping on the job (Jason Wieler photo). This may have seemed like an innocuous action by a bemused patron, but it quickly set off a firestorm among TTC management and staff, not to mention an irate public.

After being covered by nearly every newspaper in the country, the story rapidly made the rounds of television networks and eventually onto the internet, in the form of multiple YouTube videos that have been viewed thousands of times, and prompted this response from transit union president Bob Kinnear:

“Whatever the outcome of the inquiry, it is very discouraging that the picture taker and, apparently, other customers, made no attempt to determine if there was anything wrong with this TTC employee. A simple knock on the glass might have determined if the Collector was, in fact, asleep, or whether he was unconscious as a result of some medical problem. The reports that passengers were laughing at him as they passed by the booth makes this even more disturbing. The union will comment further at an appropriate time.”
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Ontario MPP and Mayoral hopeful George Smitherman with Toronto Mayor David Miller.

When David Miller announced that he would not be seeking a third term for mayor, much speculation arose as to who would dare take the role of what is seemingly the worst political job in the country. Almost right away, Ontario Liberal MPP George Smitherman – who was Health minister of Ontario from 2003-2008 until he was shifted to Energy and Infrastructure – put his name in the proverbial hat, though no official candidacy will begin until the new year. Smitherman is MPP for the Toronto Central riding and does have experience in municipal politics, as he was top aide to former Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall. Considering his likely opponents may include John Tory, Smitherman must think he is a shoe-in for the job and has even resigned his portfolio (though not his membership) in anticipation of the race.

Smitherman will be switching political domains on the heels of the red hot eHealth scandal, which saw the resignation of Smitherman’s health portfolio successor David Caplan. Smitherman feels there should be no correlation between himself or the scandal, because eHealth was not created until after he was shuffled to the energy portfolio.
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Ross Rebagliati is preparing for a new kind of competition

Constituents in the British Columbia riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla may be in for a good old-fashioned Western showdown leading up to the next federal election.

That’s because on Monday snowboarding’s first Olympic gold medalist, British Columbia Sports Hall-of-Famer and Kelowna resident Ross Rebagliati, was officially nominated the new Liberal candidate for the riding.
His Conservative opponent? Veteran politician Stockwell Day, a former leader of the Official Opposition, current Minister of Foreign Trade, and a nine-year incumbent whose political popularity in the Okanagan speaks for itself.

And there ain’t enough room in this town for the both of ‘em.
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The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are Brewing Constroversy

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just about a year away, controversy plagues the city of Vancouver. The reason? Mismanagement of the Vancouver Olympic Village which has led to a “financial crisis” for the city.

To sum up in one sentence – Vancouver Olympic organizers screwed up, and the citizens of Vancouver are expected to pay for it. It seems like ordinary citizens paying for others’ failures via tax dollars is a recurring theme nowadays.

In a move that seemed reasonable at the time, and in line with what other past Olympic hosts have done in the past, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Organizing Committee decided to build an Olympic Village that would be later sold as apartments or condos. The project was to be built by Millennium Development Corporation and financed by Fortress Investment Group (FIG), a U.S. hedge fund. The project was budgeted at $750 million and construction was to be finished by November 2009.
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