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Duly Quoted: Frances Nunziata

By Hamutal Dotan

“I think there are people here who would like me to read the proclamation. If you do not agree, you have the right to leave.”
—Councillor Frances Nunziata (Ward 11, York South-Weston), finger-wagging schoolmarm of Toronto city council. Nunziata was speaking in place of the mayor at today’s Pride flag-raising at City Hall, and responding to the assembled crowd’s booing, an expression of anger at Ford’s failure to show up at this or any other Pride event. Let’s hear it for community spirit.

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  • 19someguy67

    I've seen her do her work as El Fordo's Speaker. She likes to tell people to shut up, especially if she does not.agree with them ideologically. Her abrasive manner makes her a poor choice to do this kind of outreach
    .

  • Keith Gawronski

    Hmmm… I wonder what life would be like if gay Liberal candidate, George Smitherman had been elected instead of Ford?  Oh wait, that would have required Joe Pantalone to have dropped out of the race, and a strong coalition of anti-Ford, progressive voters to have pushed George ahead where he needed it most.  Pride isn't the only place where George would have been very different from Ford… he wouldn't have dismantled Transit City or stomped out every bit of progress from the Miller years.  Thanks Pantalone and your “from-the-heart” supporters!  What a great legacy your campaign has left us.

  • http://twitter.com/buttonmachine Chris A

    Even if George, who already relied on a lot of strategic votes from Joe, had taken ALL of Joe's votes, he still would've lost.  George dropped the ball all on his own.

    Old news aside, Nunziata just has a BIG mouth.  The lady before her calmed the crowed rather effectively, and Nunziata still had to go and piss them off right away by being a loud mouth.  So unprofessional.

  • rich1299

    Actually if Smitherman had gotten all of Pantalone's votes Smitherman would have won since between them they had more votes than Ford did, however I agree compaletely with your assessment of Nunziata. the booing was particularly loud when she read the proclamation and started off with “I, Rob Ford…” seriouly it was a short event and would have taken so little for him to be there to just say a few nice words and it would have all been over with but nope he couldn;t manage even that. Barabara Hall got a rousing ovation when she was pointed out in the crowd. There was also a woman in Rob Ford drag with a sign saying “I'm not here” who was pretty funny as were the “alien” protesters.

  • Keith Gawronski

    If Pantalone had bowed out gracefully and thrown his full support behind the only real contender, it could have changed the game entirely.  Had he done that right after Sarah Thompson, there would have been plenty of time for a coalition of support to have been built.  It may be old news, but there are reminders every day what a different city we would be living in, if Smitherman were mayor.

  • http://twitter.com/buttonmachine Chris A

    My bad, he would've won by 1813 votes.  Provided he got ALL of Pantalone's votes.  A highly unlikely scenario if Pantalone dropped out, especially since Smitherman and Ford shared a lot of the same conservative ideals that voters like myself were opposed to.  My point still being that it is still pointless to blame this on Joey Pants.

  • http://twitter.com/buttonmachine Chris A

    PS Rob Ford drag woman sounds awesome haha

  • http://piorkowski.ca qviri

    Yes… imagine if only his campaign didn't suck!

  • http://twitter.com/buttonmachine Chris A

    Heh, he wasn't a real contender.  He was riding largely on strategic support and he still got blown out of the water.

  • butterfly99

    I was at the event. Did they not know that there is much resentment running through the community. Did they really expect all there to just shut up and smile.
    Ford messed up big time, this will resonate past the Gay community.
    I notice how big bro has been silent about the whole issue. Only Doug Holiday stepped in, too little too late.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Went/592855855 Michael Went

    Councillor Nunziata took lemonade and made lemons.  Councillor Wong-Tam had calmed the crowd down, got the audience thinking of the celebration that is Pride, and Councillor insulted everyone by implying that if we didn't agree with her that we should leave, thereby re-infuriating the crowd.  Left a sour taste on an otherwise wonderful start to Pride week.

  • http://twitter.com/gilmourtaylor Geoff Gilmour-Taylor

    To be fair, Doug Ford hasn't been totally silent. He did say he'd try to get his brother back into town for Pride. See trhe first paragraphs of this article in the Star. It's not much, but it's not nothing.

    I suspect Doug and Doug both realize at least the economic significance of Pride to Toronto.

  • rich1299

    Very well said! I had thought that he flag raising would be the one Pride event Ford might come to since it would require so little of him, all he would have had to do is read the proclamations, say a few nice words and he would've started mending fences with Toronto's LGBTQ population but nope that was too much for Ford to manage. Nunziata was a real piece of work and the only downside, besides Ford's absence, to a great start to Pride week.

    Btw congratulations on your award Michael! it was well deserved in my opinion even though I did have some issues with the CAP process and the resolution mechanism I still think you and the others who worked on the CAP made the best of a potentially very ugly situation. Congratulations!

  • butterfly99

    You are correct, I saw that and missed it at the same time. I did not intend to criticize Doug, I was thinking he does not want to get involved in little Bro's misstep.

  • tomwest

    Pride is about the economy??

  • http://twitter.com/gilmourtaylor Geoff Gilmour-Taylor

    It's a major public event that happens to bring in a lot of tourists and their money. That's not what Pride's about, of course, but you can't ignore it.

  • EDMUNDOCONNOR

    Doug and Doug? Is Doug Ford a gestalt entity?

  • EDMUNDOCONNOR

    It brings $138M to the local economy, according to the figures.

  • isyouhappy

    worth repeating: Councillor Nunziata took lemonade and made lemons.