David Miller Announces $100 Million in Additional Surplus
Things That Go Bump On Harbord Street
Hog-O-Vision
I Am Trying to Eat Your Sandwich
Duly Quoted: Kevin Sack
On Monday night most NDPers were pretty happy. The party got more seats, more votes and Olivia Chow was elected. One let down was Marilyn Churley's defeat in the Beaches to Liberal incumbent Maria Minna. Churley had given up her seat at Queens Park to run federally and now her political career is in doubt.
We expect Churley to be a little bit upset but threatening to run against the mayor as reported in this week's Now is one way to jeopardize what little is left of your political life.
Running against a popular incumbent mayor isn't what I would call fun, and Churley might actually split the left-wing vote if she runs a good campaign. Anyone remember what the last right-of-centre mayor was like? The mayoral election is also 10 months away which would put it somewhere half-way through the life of your average minority parliament. Which is when a future candidate should be building support, finding allies, raising money, etc. So what should Churley do? Take some time off, regroup and get ready for the next round. A federal election is just another confidence motion away and McGuinty's Liberals can only hang on to Queens' Park for so long. Marilyn, you'll be back and hopefully better than ever.
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hmmm. i think i'd support churley for mayor.
Poor Marilyn, if only she was sleeping with Jack, she might have gotten a bit more support. I dont blame her for being pissed. NDP resources were pretty thin in the Beaches riding. Jack was nowhere to been seen in Toronto-Danforth, unless you were invited on one of his fundraising events. Marilyn was left to fend for herself. Too bad. But you must wonder, now that Jack will 'get it' regular from Olivia, he won't have that hard edge that made him a thorn in Ottawa.
oh snap.
Boooo Olivia!
boooo olivia? more like booooono.
Churley has worked hard and done a lot of good things for this city, but the more I learn about her the less I like her. A while ago I heard her speak at an anniversary event for the agency where I was working. Her speech was ill-prepared, rambling, and only very tenuously connected to the work that the agency did.
And yesterday I stumbled across a rather purply-worded but nonetheless disturbing account of Churley's involvement in the smear campaign against Bob Hunter in a 2001 by-election.
I wouldn't vote for her.
In order for Miller to make ammends, he will probably appoint Churley to a task force or head-up some committee on city issues. Or if she was smart, she would run for city council and get a plush seat as Deputy Mayor when Miller is re-elected in Nov 2006. With the new City of Toronto Act coming into affect for the 2009 council (more power for the mayor and a strong partisan executive "cabinet"), it would make smart sense to run for council now -- then if Miller only wants two terms, Chruley is in a good position to take a run at it. Or maybe she'll have to armwrestle Adam Giambrone for the left-wing mayoral nomination for 2009.