This Race is a Dud

Though the candidates are well qualified, the current Toronto mayoral contest has been uninspiring, disappointing, and a little bit frightening.

I am not a political creature, and I have never been a member of a political party, unless you count when I was in university and signed up for party meetings that promised free beer.

I do, however, enjoy elections, and I consider voting an important part of the democratic process. Elections are fascinating because they combine elements of theatre, ideology, emotion, business, and political practicalities.

It’s always intriguing to see how campaigns unfold, and how candidates shift gears to react to hot issues and the electorate’s mood swings. Elections, regardless of the type, are engaging, exciting and inspiring, even if the party or candidate I support fails to win the day.

Unfortunately, watching the run-up to Toronto’s 2010 mayoral election has left me completely disappointed, uninspired, and disillusioned. Despite the presence of seemingly well-qualified candidates, this race has been a dud.

Not one of the hopefuls has proven to have a vision for Toronto’s future. The candidates talk about better public transportation and more efficient government, but there has been little or no dialogue about how Toronto is going to establish itself as one of the world’s leading cities. There is a dearth of big-picture thinking, thinking that goes beyond the city’s day-to-day operations,

Instead, Rob Ford has forged what appears to be an insurmountable lead with a simple yet effective message: cut spending. The problem with Ford’s approach is that the areas he has publicly targeted, such as councillors’ budgets, are just the tip of the iceberg.

The bigger and more contentious issue is whether Ford is willing to take on the unions to generate significant cost savings – an issue he is smart enough not to address, given that upsetting the unions is a good way to lose an election in Toronto.

Ford’s biggest rival, George Smitherman, should have been thriving by now, but instead he has wilted. Armed with an early lead, the man who perhaps most desperately wants to be Toronto’s next mayor decided to spend months saying nothing rather than presenting his ideas and plans. Instead of giving the electorate a well-articulated view of what he stood for, Smitherman thought his reputation as an Ontario cabinet minister would be sufficient to win him the public’s support.

By the time Smitherman realized Ford had stolen the spotlight by latching on to the hot issue of cost cutting, it was too late. Now, Smitherman is jumping all over the place, frantically trying to find a way to steal Ford’s thunder. But Smitherman is increasingly coming across as someone without a firm idea of who he is and what he stands for.

The other leading candidates – Sarah Thomson, Rocco Rossi, and Joe Pantalone – are fine, but none of them have a strong shot of becoming the next mayor, although if anyone has climbed above the crowd, it’s Thomson, who has shown no reluctance to talk about controversial issues such as introducing toll roads. Thompson’s Bike City proposal also seems promising. The problem with Thomson is her lack of political experience at a time when Toronto needs a strong, experienced leader.

Casting a vote in Toronto’s mayoral election next month is not going to be a simple exercise, because frankly, none of the candidates have captured my imagination. In an ideal world, someone will emerge over the next few weeks with ideas, energy, and vision that are worthy of an “X” on the ballot. But I’m not holding my breath.