Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Mayor Rob Ford getting bad advice, ally says

An ally of Mayor Rob Ford says the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, and his advisers share blame in Ford’s loss of control of the TTC.

Peter Milczyn, who was re-elected to the TTC board Monday, told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that Ford’s transit message has been “very muddled.”

“I think he’s received bad advice from his advisers, about how the subway could be delivered — I think, bad strategic advice from his advisers,” Milczyn said.

“And I have to say that Councillor Ford has had a tendency to continually add fuel to the fire when others of us have been trying to douse the flames.”

Both Fords, and most of their council allies, chose Milczyn over Stintz on Monday’s vote for TTC chair. Rob Ford’s prime adviser on transit has been his policy chief Mark Towhey, while his chief of staff, Amir Remtulla, has overseen the political persuasion.

A week ago, Stintz and Mayor Ford seemed to have struck a compromise that would put six councillors and five citizens on the new TTC board, rather than the five citizens and four councillors first recommended by staff.

But later in the week, Councillor Ford spoke aggressively about the mayor defending his transit vision, seeming to criticize Stintz. He also speculated about paying for his promised Sheppard subway extension through a casino, a lottery, or an extra toll lane on the Gardiner Expressway.

Asked if Mayor Ford will now take a less confrontational tack, Milczyn said: “I think from the mayor, yes, the mayor did reach out to Karen Stintz last week. I think that was going well but I think unfortunately Councillor Ford made some statements that made a lot of councillors nervous, and I think that contributed to what happened (Monday).

Original Article
Source: Star
Author: David Rider

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