All Entries Tagged With: "John Lorinc"
Lorinc: The Mayhem Scenario Of Mayor Ford
In Spacing, John Lorinc considers the possibility of a “hung council”, where Rob Ford wins yet Toronto voters elect a centre left council: “Let’s return to the hung council scenario: if Ford takes office and the giant clam is overtaken by hard-core political gridlock (i.e., an anti-Ford coalition emerges that can consistently defeat the mayor’s [...]
Lorinc: On Grinding Axes And Alternative Futures
In his weekly Spacing column, John Lorinc thinks David Miller’s endorsement of Joe Pantalone was in part a settling of old scores: “Surely, after seven years in power, it’s time for Miller to bury the axe. Absent reconciliation, the mayor should have kept his nose out of this election, as most self-respecting retiring leaders do [...]
Lorinc: Toronto Election History Repeating
Over at Spacing Votes, John Lorincsees a number of parallels between the current contest and elections past: “George Smitherman’s ill-fated candidacy is the most obvious point of comparison, because in so many ways he’s re-enacting all the mistakes of Barbara Hall’s campaign – no surprise, as he was the author of her attempted come-back.” Read [...]
Lorinc: There Goes The Middle
Over at Spacing, John Lorinc thinks the important middle on the political spectrum may be up for grabs: “As a point of historical comparison, this is precisely what happened to Barbara Hall in 2003. Early in the fall, she unconvincingly tacked right with her fiscal policies, and her support rapidly collapsed. Smitherman’s fate could well [...]
Lorinc: John Tory Exits Stage Left
In Spacing, John Lorinc speculates on a Tory mayoral bid and like most pundits these days, wonders what might have been: “With Tory — I’m speculating, of course — because his indecision has been much more political than legislative. Perhaps he’d have run council with an iron fist in a sheepskin glove, driving hard at [...]
Lorinc: Greenwashing By Any Other Name
In his Spacing column, John Lorinc takes the Toronto Environmental Alliance to task for their report card – specifically their handling of candidates Joe Pantalone and George Smitherman: And what about Smitherman? “George,” TEA sniffs, “likes to talk about the environment, but his enthusiasm doesn’t match his work to date” [emphasis added]. Excuse me? Is [...]
Lorinc: Furious George Takes The Subway
John Lorinc asks a number of questions in his review of mayoral candidate George Smitherman’s ‘Transit Delivered’ plan, which was revealed on Friday: “The bulk of what Smitherman revealed on Friday (e.g., “Transit Trust,” the reliance on “triple-P” project management) had to do with bookkeeping, and thus doesn’t address basic questions: Where does he find [...]
Lorinc: Smitherman Begins To Unveil George 2.0
John Lorinc is pretty sure mayoral candidate George Smitherman’s recent attacks on rival candidates is a well-worn tactic to distract from focusing attention on his own campaign: “The gambit [of highlighting Ford's 2006 comments on AIDS funding] succeeded in shifting the recent media narrative about Ford’s chances, and I’m guessing this won’t be the last [...]
Lorinc: The Game Ford Will Never Win
“At Spacing, John Lornic examines Rob Ford’s pledge to reduce the membership of Council by half: “The $10 million in savings is equivalent to a little more than one one thousandth of the gross budget, and could be wiped out by a slight spike in diesel fuel costs. Nor does Ford account for the fact [...]
Lorinc: Here Come The Transit Saviours?
In his weekly column, John Lorinc observes that transit funding is being discussed by more than just the usual crowd – conservatives like PC Leader Tim Hudak, Councillor Karen Stintz and radio host John Tory are offering support: “Stintz, since bowing out of the mayor’s race, has been busily reinventing herself, presumably with an eye [...]
Lorinc: Interrupting This Announcement
Over at Spacing, John Lorinc suggests Mayor David Miller isn’t giving Joe Pantalone much room to maneuver in the Transit City debate: “For some reason, however, the incumbent is refusing to give the sole pro-Transit City candidate the space to run with the ball. Instead, the funding fight is all about David Miller. It’s his [...]
Lorinc: Subway Sarah’s Tunnel Vision
John Lorinc uses his weekly Spacing column to dissect the numbers on Sarah Thomson’s policy platform to expand the subway system: “Point is, Thomson can spin her subway visions until she’s blue in the face, and the think tanks can keep cranking out those headline-grabbing gridlock/smog studies. But in the end, only one number really [...]
Lorinc: Help Wanted
Spacing contributor John Lorinc takes a look at the candidacy of Joe Pantalone and surmises that he may need more than just a split on the right: “Torontonians also seem to be in a fairly punitive frame of mind this year, but Pantalone doesn’t automatically emerge on the sunny side of that dynamic just because [...]
Lorinc: The Other Election Campaign
Spacing’s John Lorinc opines that the real candidate George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi are running against this October is Mayor David Miller: “No, he hasn’t registered, and no, he won’t be on the ballot. But Miller last week unambiguously inserted himself into the 2010 mayoral campaign (not to mention the work of the next council), [...]
Lorinc: Jarvis Bike Lanes An Election Wedge Issue?
In his weekly online column for Spacing Magazine, John Lorinc discusses the Jarvis Street bike lane issue and its place in the mayoral race – specifically the Rocco Rossi bid: “Rossi is apparently trying to make Jarvis Street into the island airport of the 2010 campaign. He’s magnifying a local planning decision into a symbol [...]
Lorinc: The Token Stops Here
John Lorinc thinks that Mayor David Miller should view TTC Chair Adam Giambrone more like a floundering cabinet minister and remove him from his current responsibilities: “Miller — who’s been in Ottawa and wasn’t commenting on yesterday’s events — should make an appointment with the City Hall press corps before the end of the week [...]
Lorinc: Conservative Yearnings
In this week’s installment of his weekly Spacing column, John Lorinc writes that he’s somewhat confused by all the calls for a candidate of the conservative ilk to jump into the mayoral ring: “Exhibit A: Marcus Gee’s plea in Saturday’s Globe and Mail for Rob Ford to jump into this “lefty” campaign. As a journalist, [...]
