I think Silva is trying to keep a lid on the Phd because he knows he's done nothing for the riding and the doctorate is more important to him. It looks bad too. Unfortunately it's an all too common case of a politician looking after himself and not representing the constituents. Just what has he done for Davenport since 2004? In fact what has any Liberal, provincial or federal, done for the riding in the past 40 years?
I just updated Mario Silva's Wikipedia entry to include his educational background. Most of the details are from his official biography at mariosilva.ca so he shouldn't have any problem with that.
However, I also added that he's a current Ph.D. student at National University of Ireland and gave his thesis title. I expect that to disappear pretty quickly because it certainly seems he's keen to hide this.
It's a shame, because doctoral studies are something to be proud of. Silva's educational background is pretty impressive. I'm somewhat concerned that Andrew Cash doesn't seem to have much in the way of formal education (and I wonder if a woman with his background would be taken as seriously), but I want a full-time MP who's present in Parliament, not an MP who's basically phoning it in. I don't care if Silva's "never been to Ireland"... sounds like he's rarely been to Parliament, where we pay him handsomely to represent us.
Jeff, I didn't reply to this earlier not because I didn't read it, but because it seemed to me to reflect more on a personal bias than on anything else. We've had lots of discussions here where personal feelings come to dominate "political" discussions in an unhelpful way. (Does the term "disgraced former councilor" ring a bell.)
Believe it or not Andrew got pretty cold when I asked him about something from his flier that I found dubious.
Luckily for him I just don't think that "oozing arrogance" is an issue -- nice turn of phrase though.
The post above shows Silva representing himself on an issue. All the chatter of the the introduction - ignoring the content of the post is ridiculous.
Attendance is a legitimate concern. I agree with you that MPs should show up for the votes. I don't feel the topic should be a particularly dominant one.
Showing up at a rally is not remotely relevant. Political protests are held precisely to get the attention of politicians. I didn't expect MPs when I joined in the defense of a Morgentaler clinic, I never expected politicians to join anti racist rallies, I didn't expect politicians at the Davenport neighbors for peace where yes I did see Andrew, I didn't expect politicians to defend our civil rights in the wake of the G20 violence, I was shocked when an old friend of mine organized a war resisters event and Mario, Ana, and Andrew were there. Sadly the myopia that leads one to expect the issues most important to YOU should be universally shared is likely very common. Your logic is likely to resonate with many people, but not with me. We are all different.
Do you really think is will be helpful to give each other reading assignments? Let me turn the question around. Did YOU read the blog post linked above? If so did you really think the most notable think was the flippant remark made in the introduction?
Warren I think you misunderstand and nobody is saying that attaining higher skills is a bad thing, or being a lawyer for that matter. Regardless of who is in the race against Silva (A true red herring) the issue is Silva's and his alone. The question is: are we getting as good as representation as we should from a full time MP.
In the last session Silva was ranked 34 out of 298 for attendance (with Ignatief the worst as number 1) missing 47 votes. Some times there were more than one vote on a single day but that cut both ways. It is worth noting too that of the top 50 MPs missing votes 35 were Liberals. The people in High Park cant be happy either that Kennedy was ranked # 6 missing 88 votes. I agree that that vote records ebb and flow from session to session but there is a pattern here.
When an MP is rarely seen around the ward, is the only area politician (except for Ruprecht) to miss a major Clean Train Rally and not even send a representative to speak saying that he didn't know about it (despite press for 2 months in advance and an invite directly from the organizers), it is fair to wonder whether all his attention is on the job he is being paid to do.
I have seen Andrew involved in community issues since we were in highschool. His first band sponsored a child in Latin America before most people were even aware of what was going on down there and he was the person who got the situation in South Africa onto my radar as a 17 year old. Since then he has been involved in countless community activities and benefits, even ones supporting JT. He may not have a doctorate but suggesting that he has a lot to learn is disrespectful to someone who a long pedigree of caring for others and trying to do something about it.
I spoke with staff at Councillor Bailão's office yesterday to try and get a status update on the Lansdowne north of Bloor bike lanes.
Here's what I've been able to determine so far:
1. Bailão's office initiated a meeting with City staff back in February 2011 to re-examine the issue of the Lansdowne bike lanes. Although the bike lanes were already approved, there now seems to be a "re-examination" underway to determine what impact the missing parking spaces will have.
2. Bailão's office is waiting for another update 3 months from now by city staff on how the bike lane will be implemented.
3. When I asked why there has been no discussion surrounding this issue in any of the quarterly newsletters, I was told that it was because they are waiting for updates from City staff.
4. I was told that 3 months from now the Councillor's office will begin querying the Ward, community and city about opinions/issues with the bike lanes.
I am very concerned about what efforts are being made to possibly overturn the already approved bike lanes. Whether or not these efforts are legitimate is one issue, but the lack of discussion and community involvement surrounding it I find alarming.
I am going to try and ramp up my efforts to raise awareness within our ward and City on the Lansdowne bike lanes. If anyone would like to lend a hand please post in this thread. I would like to get a web page going where we can post status updates and generally keep people informed of what's going on.
Contrary to popular belief many people elected as MPs are not lawyers. Since they are responsible for writing Canada's laws, it is a very good idea for them to study law. Human Rights law seems to be a perfectly good choice to me.
I know a few people who have started Doctorates. I even know a couple who completed the process. The process is famous for being drawn out over decades precisely because many people are not able to commit the time necessary to complete the process quickly. That said, if it is going to take you a long time to complete, there is no reason to talk about it.
I would expect that Cash would have a lot to learn. I don't hold this against him, it just seems foolish for his supporters to suggest that studying law would be a bad thing.
To me, this discussion makes Cash look weak. It suggests his campaign is running short of legitimate points.
Just had to share this witty slogan I saw on Twitter:
Trade in your Silva for Cash
I had thought "Cash for Toronto" was a neat slogan (on his signs) but this new one is gold.... but I can't get Russell Oliver, "The Cashman", out of my head.
I really, really, really want to know why Davenport keeps re-electing duds like Ruprecht and Silva time after time. ???
(and I used to be a young liberal in the Trudeau years)
I emailed with Prof. William A. Schabas OC MRIA, Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights who is the scholar in charge of Mario Silva's doctorate and the person who coined the "spare time" comment.
They meet in Toronto at Silva's office according to Schabas and no, Silva has never been to Ireland.
I personally still have some questions about whether Silva is able to devote all his time to being an MP, like missing the Clean Train Rally, and I dont understand why he has seemingly tried to play down his doctorate pursuit because in theory one would be proud of it. I still think that he needs to answer how he is able to do both but for our purposes his claims about Ireland are true, his pursuit of a doctorate are true.
As a concerned community member, I was curious to know where these issues are at today. Obviously a lot of bad things have been said by both sides (Vivian not acting very 'spokesperson-ly' and others attacking her or DBGC in general). But where do things stand as of today? Is the JT not getting a clubhouse still, is the DBGC being investigated (as seems to be insinuated by the last posts in late February), what are they being investigated for, etc.
I'd really like to know. Thanks for replying in advance.
"One of our doctoral students is Mario Silva. In his spare time, when he is not working on his thesis, he is a member of the Canadian Parliament."
Encouraging our MPs to get smarter is a good thing but I have to wonder how much time Silva spends on our issues and how much studying. A doctorate is a fairly heavy workload and after reading the program requirements I wonder how one does it without going to Galway (a great city by the way): http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/Programmes/phd.html
It is possible that there is some kind of electronic way of doing it but the requirements would still make it tough. I am also interested in why the bio of Silva at the university makes no mention of any of his political activities and uses the email of another student as a contact email.
I would love to know how somebody can become a doctorate student without ever setting foot in the country where the university is. There could be lots of plausible explanations but with Silva (and Ruprecht) getting the facts can prove to be a test. I emailed the dean of the University and asked him to clarify what one has to do in terms of atendance and time to be part of the doctoral program.
Mario Silva came to my door and said that he has never been in Ireland. I asked him if he is doing his PhD while still an MP, and he said again "i've never been to Ireland. They say i am in a university in Ireland, but i've never been there." Well, I went online and found these little nuggets. Not only is he a 'current' student at the National University of Ireland at Galway, but the director of his program was talking about how "when he is not working on his thesis, he is a member of the Canadian Parliament". Huh?! Does he really think we are so stupid that we don't understand these things can be done by distance?! insulting. http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/current/mariosilva.html http://humanrightsdoctorate.blogspot.com/2011/03/lbya.html
Wrong, he lives in the ward. He has certainly been more around than Silva over the past 2 years at things like the Clean Train Rally. He has lived in the ward and in Parkdale and the east end over the years.
It should be pointed out that Ms. Rodrigues is not the only candidate whose neighbourhood ties contain some loose ends. I understand that NDP candidate Andrew Cash lives in the East end around Danforth and Pape.
I attended the DigIn meeting on Tuesday April 12. I won’t recount the whole evening here but I do think it’s important to make some observations about the behaviour of the current incumbent, Liberal MP Mario Silva. I feel it is necessary to single him out for a couple of reasons. One, he is our representative in Ottawa who currently makes $170,000 per year and I can find little evidence in the riding of how he’s earning it. Two, I was very disappointed by his behaviour and I feel he oozed the arrogance and entitlement of past Liberal governments, not to mention the current Conservative one.
Mr. Silva arrived about 20 minutes late and he used his own introduction to take a few shots at the NDP party and their candidate Andrew Cash. The first questioner from the audience asked Mr. Silva if he could please put his Blackberry away (he was reading and writing text messages while in the front of the room) and give the audience and the other candidates his full attention. Silva’s response was unapologetic. He put the device away but said he was capable of multitasking and that he was listening to what was going on. So much for respect.
My question was why, if he supports the electrification of the rail corridor that runs through the riding, was he not at the Human Train rally organized by the Clean Train Coalition. He talked for a while about meetings and so on but he didn’t answer the question. When pressed to answer, the best he could do was admit he didn’t know why he wasn’t at the rally. In a phone conversation with him last year Mr. Silva told me he didn’t know about the rally! There were only about a thousand people there who came together around the single most important issue in this riding. Gerard Kennedy was there, as was Peggy Nash, Cheri DiNovo and many other political players. What does this say of Mr. Silva’s concern for his own riding of Davenport?
When asked about his attendance and voting record in the House of Commons (67 absences I believe) Mr. Silva did not really account for the lapse but instead declared he had a very good record as it fell within the top 20% of MP’s voting records. He then went on to attack another riding’s NDP member (and by association Mr. Cash) whose record was worse than his own. As this progressed Mr. Silva got more agitated and started yelling at Mr. Cash and the woman who asked the question. It was a poor display of overblown indignation and underneath it all he revealed a “how dare you question me” attitude. This is pretty bold coming from a politician who, time and again, is pretty much invisible in the riding until an election is called. Perhaps he is too busy getting his Phd from a University in Ireland. My understanding is his thesis is about failed states. I guess he would know. How unfortunate for Davenport. But how fortunate that we have the chance to make a change.
I think Silva is trying to keep a lid on the Phd because he knows he's done nothing for the riding and the doctorate is more important to him. It looks bad too. Unfortunately it's an all too common case of a politician looking after himself and not representing the constituents. Just what has he done for Davenport since 2004? In fact what has any Liberal, provincial or federal, done for the riding in the past 40 years?
I just updated Mario Silva's Wikipedia entry to include his educational background. Most of the details are from his official biography at mariosilva.ca so he shouldn't have any problem with that.
However, I also added that he's a current Ph.D. student at National University of Ireland and gave his thesis title. I expect that to disappear pretty quickly because it certainly seems he's keen to hide this.
It's a shame, because doctoral studies are something to be proud of. Silva's educational background is pretty impressive. I'm somewhat concerned that Andrew Cash doesn't seem to have much in the way of formal education (and I wonder if a woman with his background would be taken as seriously), but I want a full-time MP who's present in Parliament, not an MP who's basically phoning it in. I don't care if Silva's "never been to Ireland"... sounds like he's rarely been to Parliament, where we pay him handsomely to represent us.
I cycle north on Lansdowne to work every day and would feel much safer if there was a bike lane - let me know how I can help!
Jeff, I didn't reply to this earlier not because I didn't read it, but because it seemed to me to reflect more on a personal bias than on anything else. We've had lots of discussions here where personal feelings come to dominate "political" discussions in an unhelpful way. (Does the term "disgraced former councilor" ring a bell.)
Believe it or not Andrew got pretty cold when I asked him about something from his flier that I found dubious.
Luckily for him I just don't think that "oozing arrogance" is an issue -- nice turn of phrase though.
The post above shows Silva representing himself on an issue. All the chatter of the the introduction - ignoring the content of the post is ridiculous.
Attendance is a legitimate concern. I agree with you that MPs should show up for the votes. I don't feel the topic should be a particularly dominant one.
Showing up at a rally is not remotely relevant. Political protests are held precisely to get the attention of politicians. I didn't expect MPs when I joined in the defense of a Morgentaler clinic, I never expected politicians to join anti racist rallies, I didn't expect politicians at the Davenport neighbors for peace where yes I did see Andrew, I didn't expect politicians to defend our civil rights in the wake of the G20 violence, I was shocked when an old friend of mine organized a war resisters event and Mario, Ana, and Andrew were there. Sadly the myopia that leads one to expect the issues most important to YOU should be universally shared is likely very common. Your logic is likely to resonate with many people, but not with me. We are all different.
Do you really think is will be helpful to give each other reading assignments? Let me turn the question around. Did YOU read the blog post linked above? If so did you really think the most notable think was the flippant remark made in the introduction?
Clever, I like you slogan. I'd like to add why is Palacio always re-elected?
Warren I think you misunderstand and nobody is saying that attaining higher skills is a bad thing, or being a lawyer for that matter. Regardless of who is in the race against Silva (A true red herring) the issue is Silva's and his alone. The question is: are we getting as good as representation as we should from a full time MP.
In the last session Silva was ranked 34 out of 298 for attendance (with Ignatief the worst as number 1) missing 47 votes. Some times there were more than one vote on a single day but that cut both ways. It is worth noting too that of the top 50 MPs missing votes 35 were Liberals. The people in High Park cant be happy either that Kennedy was ranked # 6 missing 88 votes. I agree that that vote records ebb and flow from session to session but there is a pattern here.
http://howdtheyvote.ca/member-stats.php?o=aw_dd&s=13
When an MP is rarely seen around the ward, is the only area politician (except for Ruprecht) to miss a major Clean Train Rally and not even send a representative to speak saying that he didn't know about it (despite press for 2 months in advance and an invite directly from the organizers), it is fair to wonder whether all his attention is on the job he is being paid to do.
I have seen Andrew involved in community issues since we were in highschool. His first band sponsored a child in Latin America before most people were even aware of what was going on down there and he was the person who got the situation in South Africa onto my radar as a 17 year old. Since then he has been involved in countless community activities and benefits, even ones supporting JT. He may not have a doctorate but suggesting that he has a lot to learn is disrespectful to someone who a long pedigree of caring for others and trying to do something about it.
Sure does look nice when it is all tidied up!
Thanks for all the followup.
Cheers,
Vic
I spoke with staff at Councillor Bailão's office yesterday to try and get a status update on the Lansdowne north of Bloor bike lanes.
Here's what I've been able to determine so far:
1. Bailão's office initiated a meeting with City staff back in February 2011 to re-examine the issue of the Lansdowne bike lanes. Although the bike lanes were already approved, there now seems to be a "re-examination" underway to determine what impact the missing parking spaces will have.
2. Bailão's office is waiting for another update 3 months from now by city staff on how the bike lane will be implemented.
3. When I asked why there has been no discussion surrounding this issue in any of the quarterly newsletters, I was told that it was because they are waiting for updates from City staff.
4. I was told that 3 months from now the Councillor's office will begin querying the Ward, community and city about opinions/issues with the bike lanes.
I am very concerned about what efforts are being made to possibly overturn the already approved bike lanes. Whether or not these efforts are legitimate is one issue, but the lack of discussion and community involvement surrounding it I find alarming.
I am going to try and ramp up my efforts to raise awareness within our ward and City on the Lansdowne bike lanes. If anyone would like to lend a hand please post in this thread. I would like to get a web page going where we can post status updates and generally keep people informed of what's going on.
No one said studying law was a bad thing. The points being made are about commitment and workload. Why won't Silva be up front about it?
Contrary to popular belief many people elected as MPs are not lawyers. Since they are responsible for writing Canada's laws, it is a very good idea for them to study law. Human Rights law seems to be a perfectly good choice to me.
I know a few people who have started Doctorates. I even know a couple who completed the process. The process is famous for being drawn out over decades precisely because many people are not able to commit the time necessary to complete the process quickly. That said, if it is going to take you a long time to complete, there is no reason to talk about it.
I would expect that Cash would have a lot to learn. I don't hold this against him, it just seems foolish for his supporters to suggest that studying law would be a bad thing.
To me, this discussion makes Cash look weak. It suggests his campaign is running short of legitimate points.
Just had to share this witty slogan I saw on Twitter:
Trade in your Silva for Cash
I had thought "Cash for Toronto" was a neat slogan (on his signs) but this new one is gold.... but I can't get Russell Oliver, "The Cashman", out of my head.
I really, really, really want to know why Davenport keeps re-electing duds like Ruprecht and Silva time after time. ???
(and I used to be a young liberal in the Trudeau years)
I emailed with Prof. William A. Schabas OC MRIA, Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights who is the scholar in charge of Mario Silva's doctorate and the person who coined the "spare time" comment.
They meet in Toronto at Silva's office according to Schabas and no, Silva has never been to Ireland.
I personally still have some questions about whether Silva is able to devote all his time to being an MP, like missing the Clean Train Rally, and I dont understand why he has seemingly tried to play down his doctorate pursuit because in theory one would be proud of it. I still think that he needs to answer how he is able to do both but for our purposes his claims about Ireland are true, his pursuit of a doctorate are true.
As a concerned community member, I was curious to know where these issues are at today. Obviously a lot of bad things have been said by both sides (Vivian not acting very 'spokesperson-ly' and others attacking her or DBGC in general). But where do things stand as of today? Is the JT not getting a clubhouse still, is the DBGC being investigated (as seems to be insinuated by the last posts in late February), what are they being investigated for, etc.
I'd really like to know. Thanks for replying in advance.
The actual quote is:
"One of our doctoral students is Mario Silva. In his spare time, when he is not working on his thesis, he is a member of the Canadian Parliament."
Encouraging our MPs to get smarter is a good thing but I have to wonder how much time Silva spends on our issues and how much studying. A doctorate is a fairly heavy workload and after reading the program requirements I wonder how one does it without going to Galway (a great city by the way): http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/Programmes/phd.html
It is possible that there is some kind of electronic way of doing it but the requirements would still make it tough. I am also interested in why the bio of Silva at the university makes no mention of any of his political activities and uses the email of another student as a contact email.
I would love to know how somebody can become a doctorate student without ever setting foot in the country where the university is. There could be lots of plausible explanations but with Silva (and Ruprecht) getting the facts can prove to be a test. I emailed the dean of the University and asked him to clarify what one has to do in terms of atendance and time to be part of the doctoral program.
Mario Silva came to my door and said that he has never been in Ireland. I asked him if he is doing his PhD while still an MP, and he said again "i've never been to Ireland. They say i am in a university in Ireland, but i've never been there." Well, I went online and found these little nuggets. Not only is he a 'current' student at the National University of Ireland at Galway, but the director of his program was talking about how "when he is not working on his thesis, he is a member of the Canadian Parliament". Huh?! Does he really think we are so stupid that we don't understand these things can be done by distance?! insulting.
http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/current/mariosilva.html
http://humanrightsdoctorate.blogspot.com/2011/03/lbya.html
Wrong, he lives in the ward. He has certainly been more around than Silva over the past 2 years at things like the Clean Train Rally. He has lived in the ward and in Parkdale and the east end over the years.
His campaign literature says he lives in the riding, on St. Anne's Rd. I believe he may have moved there recently.
It should be pointed out that Ms. Rodrigues is not the only candidate whose neighbourhood ties contain some loose ends. I understand that NDP candidate Andrew Cash lives in the East end around Danforth and Pape.
Hi,this is Julia , can I visit your club someday?
Andrew Cash, NDP candidate, explains in Now Magazine why he feels Liberals have not delivered for Toronto over the years. I tend to agree.
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=180164
The Villager / inside Toronto has posted an interview with four of the candidates:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/993162--davenport-candid...
I attended the DigIn meeting on Tuesday April 12. I won’t recount the whole evening here but I do think it’s important to make some observations about the behaviour of the current incumbent, Liberal MP Mario Silva. I feel it is necessary to single him out for a couple of reasons. One, he is our representative in Ottawa who currently makes $170,000 per year and I can find little evidence in the riding of how he’s earning it. Two, I was very disappointed by his behaviour and I feel he oozed the arrogance and entitlement of past Liberal governments, not to mention the current Conservative one.
Mr. Silva arrived about 20 minutes late and he used his own introduction to take a few shots at the NDP party and their candidate Andrew Cash. The first questioner from the audience asked Mr. Silva if he could please put his Blackberry away (he was reading and writing text messages while in the front of the room) and give the audience and the other candidates his full attention. Silva’s response was unapologetic. He put the device away but said he was capable of multitasking and that he was listening to what was going on. So much for respect.
My question was why, if he supports the electrification of the rail corridor that runs through the riding, was he not at the Human Train rally organized by the Clean Train Coalition. He talked for a while about meetings and so on but he didn’t answer the question. When pressed to answer, the best he could do was admit he didn’t know why he wasn’t at the rally. In a phone conversation with him last year Mr. Silva told me he didn’t know about the rally! There were only about a thousand people there who came together around the single most important issue in this riding. Gerard Kennedy was there, as was Peggy Nash, Cheri DiNovo and many other political players. What does this say of Mr. Silva’s concern for his own riding of Davenport?
When asked about his attendance and voting record in the House of Commons (67 absences I believe) Mr. Silva did not really account for the lapse but instead declared he had a very good record as it fell within the top 20% of MP’s voting records. He then went on to attack another riding’s NDP member (and by association Mr. Cash) whose record was worse than his own. As this progressed Mr. Silva got more agitated and started yelling at Mr. Cash and the woman who asked the question. It was a poor display of overblown indignation and underneath it all he revealed a “how dare you question me” attitude. This is pretty bold coming from a politician who, time and again, is pretty much invisible in the riding until an election is called. Perhaps he is too busy getting his Phd from a University in Ireland. My understanding is his thesis is about failed states. I guess he would know. How unfortunate for Davenport. But how fortunate that we have the chance to make a change.