Freddie P's Blog

Latte futures plummet as Toronto contemplates Ford Mayoralty.

Category: Politics

Rob Ford - the peoples choice in spite of themselves.

Category: Politics

Category: Politics

Yes, I know, I live in Brampton / Peterborough and the city of Toronto really shouldn't be my concern, but it is.

In Brampton the mayoral race is a three dog race that with the incumbent Susan Fennell getting the nod. I can live with that. Brampton's OK, it's been wildly over developed, but it can't be hung on Fennell, it started long before she came along and I don't see her challengers offering anything better.

In Peterborough, where I don't have a vote, there it's a two-man race with the incumbent Paul Ayotte ready to be toppled by a new guy Daryl Bennett, who's got a very successful business back-ground.

Bingo. Business.

That's exactly why I want to talk about Toronto, my native city. The place where I grew up and the place that should be the pulse of the country let alone the province.

It's been destroyed over the past several years with a weird attitude that refuses to look beyond political stripes and make sensible decisions.

We saw it federally, where Toronto prevented a much needed Conservative majority, we saw it provincially where Toronto ensure another four years of the worst premier in the history of Ontario, and we might be about to see it again with the election of George Smitherman as mayor of the city.

Some of you are probably getting tired of hearing this, but it's true. I'm convinced if the roles were reversed and it was Rob Ford responsible for e-health and it was George Smitherman who ran a successful business, this would not be a race. Smitherman would be so far ahead in the poles it would be a joke.

How is it that a man responsible for one of the biggest political fuck-ups the world has known, and a man who refuses to reveal where his political donations have come from, is still in the race? How can this happen? How can it be?

Well really, the answer is simple. Because it's Toronto and Toronto doesn't vote with its head, Toronto votes with a grudge. Toronto votes an agenda, an agenda of that rejects conservatism.

Meanwhile, the city suffers. The city goes broke. The city crumbles.

You'd think the voters of Toronto would have learned through the Miller years and the snub it's received from Dalton McGuinty. But no, Toronto hasn't learned and that's why almost half the city is seriously considering electing a man who literally burned a billion dollars of tax payers money through e-health.

Are you kidding me? John Tory flirts with full funding for faith based schools and he's kicked in the ass by Toronto, but George Smitherman wastes your money and creates a cloud of secrecy around his campaign and he's taken seriously.

That's all you need to know.

Rob Ford may be over-weight, and he may have been caught swearing at a hockey game one night, and he may be brash and a little too street, but he possesses all the qualities the city needs right now.

Fiscal responsibility, and end to the gravy train at city hall and the business background that running a city needs. And that's a big one because like no other level of government, a city needs to be run like a business.

Needless to say, the final chapter hasn't been written yet, I'm hoping that come late Monday night the people of Toronto will finally wake up and do what's right, but I'm not counting on it.

Recent history is not on the side of common sense.

Category: Politics

It took seven years, but it looks like Ontarians have finally come around to realize what a disaster the Dalton McGuinty regime has been for this province.

The latest Toronto Star / Angus Reid poll reveals three out of four Ontarians have had enough of the guy.

If you've been reading this blog since its inception four and a half years ago, you know where I've stood.

Dalton McGuinty is the worst politician I've experienced since I cast my first ballot in 1978. Of course you have to watch how you position this, because what bothers me about McGuinty, is what some might argue makes a good politician.

He's a disgusting liar. With no shame.

It's amazing how this province has been duped into giving this man the long run he's had. He's been nothing but an enemy of the people with the moves he's made, calculated around his mandate.

Like the HST. After rejecting the concept prior to the last election, he waits till mid-term to bring it in, hoping the electorate, in typical Ontario fashion, will forgive and forget by the time the next election rolls around.

He's a manipulator. He's conniving and he's untrustworthy. And you voted for him.

Twice.

It all gets back to the same thing that plagues Ontario. Blind hatred for the Conservatives makes people go into a voting booth and mark Liberal, just because it's Liberal, and just because it's not Conservative.

Well look where it's gotten us. Three quarters of Ontarians now admit they feel poorer now than they did two years ago and it's tied directly to the HST which we now pay on virtually everything.

McGuinty will look you in the eye and claim the HST will eventually filter through business and force prices down, but that, like most things McGuinty says is a lie, and if not a lie, a dream.

And hold on all you anti-cons. Yes, the HST was promoted by the Conservatives, but in the end it was McGuinty's call. His decision. His thirst for cash because he's totally mismanaged the province.

Funny how he blames everything that goes wrong on the federal government, but all of a sudden, when it means taking more money out of your pocket, he buys into a federal scheme.

McGuinty's legacy is something to be ashamed of. From the back-door health tax he introduced during his first man-date, to the botched eco tax he pretends will actually help the environment.

It was nothing but another tax grab.

I laugh when people look back on the Harris government like it was some kind of disease. At least Harris told the truth. You might not have liked what he did, but he did what he said he was going to do.

I'll take a tough love leader long before I'll accept a back door liar.

When are the people of this province going to wake-up and got over this Liberal obsession?

The height of pathetic was the last election when John Tory was punished by the people of Ontario for being fair. Full funding might have seemed distasteful, but as long as the Separate School board exists, full funding should be an option for everyone.

How ironic that John Tory introduces a fair and equal plan while being honest, only to be toppled by one of the most horrific liars in the history of Canadian politics.

I'm encouraged by the latest polls, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself because I've seen this play before. I don't trust the electorate of this province. It's amazing how many people, who appear to be smart, become dummies when they walk into a polling station.

And believe me people, my position is nothing to do with party politics. I've voted for all three parties over my lifetime.

This is all about truth and honour and integrity..... and McGuinty has none of it.

Category: Politics

"The bottom line is, we can't even take care of our 2.5 million people. People are complaining there's 60,000 people waiting to get into housing. There's congestion on our streets. It's right now, we can't even deal with the 2.5 million people in the city. I think it's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more. There's going to be a million people, a million more people, according to the official plan, which I did not support, over the next 10 years coming into the city." - Rob Ford

It's absolutely hilarious to watch all the dust eaters go after Rob Ford as he increases his lead in Toronto's mayoral race.

During a debate on CP24 last night, Ford made the above statement when asked this question.

"A lot of the immigrants and refugees that arrive in Canada actually end up settling in the GTA. So how do you think these refugees have contributed to Toronto in the past and how do you think these refugees will contribute to Toronto in the future?"

Ford gave an honest and sensible answer. He's right, Toronto can't deal with its existing population so why would anyone be interested in attracting any more... of any persuasion.

Ford's scrambling opponents have now tried to turn this into a slam against refugees but that's a stretch. It's politics at its worst, but not surprising from the cast of characters running for Mayor.

It's pretty sad when a rational response to an obvious problem is turned into a needless shit storm.

Ford nailed it when he said : "I think it's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more."

How could this be a slam against refugees when many of the "people we have now" are refugees?

Toronto is busting at the seams and its not the place to be directing newcomers, especailly when other parts of the province and country need and want population.

For any straight thinking person, Rob Ford just got better lookin'.

Category: Politics

Is it the guy who has a huge lead in Toronto's Mayoral race because he connects with the average hard working Joe, or is it the guy who thought he just had to show up to win.

It's pretty sad when the likes of George Smiterman have to resort to this kind of poltics.

No longer is it about what Georgie Boy can do for Toronto in the future, it's all about what Rob Ford has said in the past.

Pathetic. If anything, I think Smitherman's tactic will only help Ford.

Rob Ford may be a little rough around the edges, but he's exactly what Toronto needs after seven years of David Miller.

Category: Politics

With the G-20 Summit just over a week away, there's no use talking about the pros and cons of holding it because there's no turning back now.

From my perspective it's a huge waste of money and we should have never committed to it because I'm sure very little, if not nothing will be accomplished by it.

Having said that, there's also no use protesting it, because again, it's going to happen and nothing is going to change that and nothing will stop the next one from being scheduled somewhere else in the world.

Believe me; I have no problem with peaceful protests. It's every citizen's right to protest. Peaceful protest is actually an admiral form of response even thought like the summit itself, peaceful protest rarely accomplishes anything.

This posting is directed at those imbeciles who plan on taking it to the next level by protesting with force during the summit. You know the lowlife creeps who can be classed as professional shit disturbers who have nothing better to do so they go out of their way to push against the establishment.

Often they don't even know what they're protesting against, it's simply a way of disguising their jealousy. They're jealous of achievers and earners and those who accomplish, so they find disgust in anything that might be connected to those things.

Basically, they're losers.

They'll show up at the G-20 looking for a fight. They'll bait police, scream obscenities, and throw things and burn objects usually while wearing cowardly masks over their faces.

They won't be protesting against any particular issue, because they don't really understand the issues, they'll be there for the thrill of it.

Deep down it's a response to their own personal shortcomings.

And just to clarify what might be perceived as a contradiction in this posting, let me explain what I mean when I say peaceful protest rarely accomplishes anything. It doesn't.

But violent protest accomplishes even less, and here's how.

Say I'm watching a news clip of the summit and I'm thinking about what a ridiculous waste of time and money it is and then I see a masked hoodlum throw and molotov cocktail into a group of innocent people.

All of a sudden the Prime Minister isn't such an asshole.... the protester is.

Category: Politics | Stuff

It's brilliant. At least I hope it is.

As recently as last week John Tory said he would not enter the race for Mayor of Toronto, but I have a feeling he's got something up sleeve.

Something like a radio show.

The Toronto Star released a poll this weekend that shows if Tory was in the race he'd wipe the floor with everybody and this gets a guy to thinkin' that maybe Johnny boy is using his CFRB talk show to position himself for a late entry.

As long as he's out of the race Tory can continue to do his talk show, but once he declares the law says he's got to pull himself off the air.

But what he's doing is brilliant. He doesn't commit now, he stays on the air while quietly promoting himself, then at the last minute he enters the race and wins in a landslide.

The results of this weekend's Star poll have to have Tory thinking. He loves doing the radio thing, but he loves politics even more and he'd be a great Mayor.

As it sits, without the Tory factor, George Smitherman and Rob Ford are neck and neck in the polls, but even though Ford would make a much better Mayor than Smitherman, Tory would be that much better than Ford.

In some ways the entire thing is a tragedy. Back in 2003 the left wing imbeciles in Toronto chose the hopelessly pathetic David Miller over Tory and the city has been paying for it ever since.

During the seven years that David Miller has damaged the city, Tory could have been building it into what it should be.

But it's never too late. Hopefully John Tory will feed off this weekend's poll and sit in the bushes until the precisely the right moment before declaring his candidacy.

Toronto needs John Tory, Toronto deserves John Tory.

Category: Politics

Our Prime Minister has lost me on this one. One billion dollars for security? That's what it's going to cost to secure Huntsville and Toronto for three stinkin' days in June? That's the price of host the G8 and G20 summits?

I feel like an idiot. For years I've been spouting off on this page supporting Stephen Harper by calling him the rational man and then along comes this debacle.

Hosting these useless summits may not be the sole decision of the Prime Minister, but ultimately the buck stops at his door and somewhere along the line he should have looked at the costs and said thanks but no thanks.

And I'm not going to position this like the Toronto Star or the Liberals and NDP are, by listing all the others things that money could buy, because to me its just straight-up economics. There are good purchases and bad ones, and this one is really bad.

What possibly will be accomplished by gathering world leaders in this province for three measly days in late June? What reasonable return can we expect on an investment that starts at one billion dollars and increases from there?

The answer is none.

Of course the spin doctors and the political weasels will tell you otherwise, but this will boil down to nothing more than three days of lavish posturing by a bunch of guys who are already pre-positioned on most issues.

And man oh man does in send a bad message. In these so called tough economic times, with several economies teetering on the brink of disaster, how does this do anything but tell the world the men in charge don't really give a damn.

It actually makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. Toronto will be turned upside down for a couple of days while it resembles a prison camp, the economy will take a big hit, and we're supposed to think there's an upside to this?

Tell me how in the space of 72 hours, 20 men gathering over fine food and wine, will accomplish anything that will come even close to justifying the expense?

Any thing of any substance needs more time than that.

This was the perfect opportunity for our Prime Minister step out and underline that he's "the rational man", but he blew it. He got us sucked into a billion dollar party.

With today's technology, and given the fragile world economy, why couldn't this G8 and this G20 have been done by video conferencing?

We're continuously told by government to pull back, spend wisely, don't waste and think of the future, so why doesn't it apply to them?

Harper could have taken the lead and recommended these summits take place through the new media and then released numbers on the savings, not the other way around.

And if the other guys had balked, he could have told them to hold their futile meeting somewhere else.

Make no mistake about it, nothing; absolutely nothing will come of either summit. We'll get the usual bullshit while they try to justify it, but don't be fooled; this is a pathetic billion dollar road to nowhere.

A bad idea, a bad investment and horrifically bad timing.

Sorry Steve, but you lost me on this one.

Category: Politics