The race for mayor slowed to a crawl Thursday but don’t fret – the drama returned in full swing by Thursday night.
The drama started when organizers of Friday night’s debate suddenly withdrew their invitation to mayoral candidate, Ari Goldkind, late this afternoon.
Here’s a quote from the email the organizers, Inner City Union, sent Goldkind:
“Due to intention of the ICU to have the leading Candidates attend, combined with various requests from their campaign offices we are attempting to meet those requests. We ask that you accept our apologies, we are willing to accommodate any questions that you may have, and /or read a statement on your behalf and also are willing to give you some time to address our audience.”
Goldkind questioned Ford’s actions on CP24 tonight. “If this is the way Doug acts without power what will he do as mayor … what’s he afraid of?”
A few minutes later John Tory pulled out of the debate. In a statement he said, “I was disappointed to learn this evening that due to the strong arm tactics of the Ford Campaign Ari Goldkind was disinvited from tomorrow’s debate.” Tory announced he will not attend the debate.
At risk of losing the debate all together, organizer Antonius Clarke invited Goldkind back to the table. Goldkind accepted but Doug Ford’s camp said he would not attend.
Clarke said he hopes all candidates will attend but “the ball is in the candidates’ courts” to get the debate back on track and “realize it’s not only about them … “
This debate in indeed important as it is taking place in one of Toronto’s high priority neighborhoods. In the coming hours we will find out if there is any room for compromise from each campaign to save the debate.
The musical chairs wasn’t the only headache for debate organizers on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Vice magazine came out with a one-on-one interview with Mohamed Farah, the man who tried to broker the sale of the now infamous Rob Ford crack cocaine video.
Farah said in the interview that he would be sitting on one of the youth panels at the debate, representing Rexdale.
When contacted by CP24, flustered organizers said Farah wouldn’t be there and that they wouldn’t allow anyone or anything take attention away from the important issues of the debate.
Aside from that, the day was rather ho-hum. With no debates or community meetings on the schedule the three candidates each had their morning photo ops and even those were predictable. John Tory does what he seems to do every morning. Today he stood beside Coun. Denzil Minnan Wong and accepted another endorsement from another sitting Toronto councillor.
Olivia Chow also got an endorsement. A group of prominent Toronto women gathered with Chow to support her candidacy for mayor. Doug Ford was at his campaign office this morning to repeat his pledge to build 32 kilometers of subways if he is elected mayor. Ford was asked if he will get any endorsements from any councillors. Ford answered that he doesn’t need endorsements adding he talks to councillors all the time. Ford said he talked to four councillors on Wednesday. I called the Ford campaign and asked who the four councillors were. Jeff Silverstein, Ford’s Communication Director, refused to give me the names and said, “Those were private meetings.”
Yesterday’s full on attack mode by Ford and Chow was replaced with the candidates sticking to their platform priorities.
So what’s going on out there? Calls to councillors across the city fighting to get re-elected revealed that Toronto voters are concerned about pocket book issues and transportation. In Ward 6, at the south end of Etobicoke Coun. Mark Grimes said transit and taxes are the key issues. Grimes said he “never endorses anyone for mayor.” People in this ward voted Rob Ford for mayor in 2010 but Grimes, who has represented the area since 2003, says he thinks it will be a bit tougher for Doug Ford to sweep Etobicoke the way his brother did. An internal poll done earlier this week in the next door ward, Etobicoke’s Ward 5 has Tory leading by a wide margin with 60 per cent support followed by Ford at 27 per cent and Chow at 11 per cent.
On the other side of the city, in Scarborough, Coun. Chin Lee already endorsed John Tory. Rob Ford won 60 per cent of Ward 41’s mayoral vote in 2010. Lee predicted Doug Ford will win the Ward again this time round but said it will be much closer. Lee said voters, “Some voter are disgusted with the Fords and won’t vote for Ford again.” But Lee was never a Ford backer. In 2010 he supported Ford rival George Smitherman.
Still in Scarborough Coun. Michael Thompson in Ward 37 said he’s detected a shift to Ford.
“I think two weeks ago Tory had a clear edge but now people are talking more about Ford,” he said.
Both Scarborough councillors said the subway issue is a big one in the area as well as keeping taxes down. Those are both solid Ford issues.
In North York’s Ward 8, Coun. Anthony Peruzza said a big issue is getting jobs into his ward and revitalizing the area. He said there is also concern about transit issues. This was another Rob Ford ward back in 2010 and Peruzza said, “Yea, I think Doug could win it again.” For the record, Peruzza said he will not be endorsing a candidate for mayor because he will “have to work with whoever gets elected.”
In Eglinton’s Ward 15, Coun. Josh Colle said he finds there is less Ford support since Rob Ford dropped out but he said, “Doug Ford is competitive. He could win (the ward) for sure.” Four years ago Rob Ford won the ward easily beating Smitherman by more than 4,000 votes. The situation is different in Ward 13 in downtown’s west end. Sarah Doucette said development issues dominate her time at the doorstep. It’s one of the 14 wards Rob Ford did not win in 2010 falling behind Smitherman by a couple thousand votes. Doucette said support in her ward seemed to be divided between Tory and Chow but added that she “sees a complete spectrum of support” for mayor in the ward.
For those of you who are experiencing candidate meeting withdrawal symptoms relax, there are two scheduled for Friday. Zoomer Radio is hosting Tory, Ford and Chow around the noon hour and then in the evening there is the Inner City Union debate.
