Junction Triangle

Let's see what he says in these attack ads.

Regarding Kevin Beaulieu: "City Hall insider who spent the last seven years as part of the problem not part of the solution". Total attack, but extremely vague. Plus, there are many people who actually like Kevin Beaulieu's work for the councillor's office, who support the current councillor, and appreciate Mayor David Miller.

Regarding Ana Bailao: "Former City Hall staffer backed by special interests and the political party machine." Being a former City Hall staffer shouldn't be a strike against anyone, in fact, it's a good sign of experience and knowledge with how things work (see also Kevin Beaulieu). The Liberal machine is definitely strong in this campaign though... But then again, Davenport has been Liberal at the fed and prov levels for a while now, so maybe that's actually somewhat representative of what people want.

Regarding Hema Vyas: "Doesn't even live in our community and won't give straight answers to honest questions." Out of all the candidates for council, Hema Vyas probably lives closest to me, and I actually bump into her once in a while, and not just at election events. She's very much a part of our community, even though she lives just outside the Ward 18 boundary. My own "community" doesn't end at the railway tracks. She doesn't have the most polished answers sometimes, but I think she answers people honestly.

Joe MacDonald jumps right into attack mode at every opportunity, just to launch into petty, simplistic jabs against the other candidates before even talking about his own platform. He's just striking out at those who appear to be the top three contenders in this election. Not very impressive at all to me.

Also...I find it funny that right after criticizing Kevin and Ana for being "city hall insiders" and "city hall staffers", he brags about being being an advisor to two Ontario cabinet ministers. If that's not being an "insider" or part of a "machine", I'm not sure what is.

Anyway, not sure why I bother reacting so much to him....

The fact is people spend more time doing comparison shopping when buying a soft drink than they do when voting. Nothing I said in my phone message is untrue, although people may not like to hear it, and it isn't the cornerstone of my campaign. Visit joemacw18.ca and you'll learn more. In fact, the comparisons stand up pretty well.

I received a phone call last night telling me I should go to the SJT website and see the posting of S Godfrey.

First of all S. Godrey, Ana is not all that fresh as you claim she is. Ana was at City Hall as the EA under the absent MP Mario Silva, when he was the City Councillor for w18, oh yah, he did attend the Bloor festival.

Picking and choosing which Mayor she might want to work with, might not be an opition, first of all with Smitherman's record, when he can't manage the Min of Health office, we all seen 1 billion dollars going out the window under his watch. How in god's green earth willl he manage Toronto. Plus by the looks of it, Ford is leading the votes and polls, so who ever is the next councillor might have to work with him.

The other thing we don't know which of the 12 Councillors might win, to early to tell. There is still many strong candidates out there like Kirk Russell who is coming up very strong in popularity. Joe Mcdonald another smart person. You just never know, Frank is also very popular in w18. Ken Wood he said himself he might not win, but at least he is keeping the other 11 candidates on their toes and giving them a good fight. J

http://davenportdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-arts-stupid.html

In a lot of ways politics is about the friends you keep. It helps guide others in understanding where you are coming from and what your vision is. There are some serious questions about who exactly Ana Bailão wants to represent.

It is clear that in 2003 almost her entire campaign was funded by the construction industry or those within it without almost any donors actually listing addresses from Ward 18. In 2003 Ana Bailão raised almost TWICE the amount of the next candidate (Bailão 70024.54 Giambrone 42,00.70) Who exactly is paying for the Ana Bailão campaign this time?

Based on publicly available donor information from her 2003 campaign, there are serious questions unanswered about Ana Bailão and the company she keeps; questions that relate to issues going on right on my very street, issues that will impact what kind of community we will live in for the rest of our lives. Ana Bailão has done nothing wrong; but as a citizen of Ward 18 I have to question the company, or rather the companies she keeps.

Ana Bailão is quoted on page 6 and 7 of this summers edition of “New Voices” magazine: “Bailão also notes the difficulty of launching a campaign for candidates who lack a strong network of wealthy and influential contacts.” That may be true for some but she can’t possibly be referring to herself.

The Issue

Was Ana Bailão really running to serve the community in 2003? Her 2003 donor list (108 0f 112 Donors that could be identified) shows:

- Only 7 donors out of 108 had addresses listed within the ward accounting for a very very small % of her donations.

- The vast majority of donors listed addresses well outside the riding and at commercial construction businesses.

- The overwhelming majority of these commercial addresses were companies in the construction industry, especially concrete (such as Lee Rocca Concrete Forming in Oakville) even including St. Lawrence Concrete in Montreal Quebec! (St. Lawrence Cement is now called Holcim (Canada) Inc. and is a 1.3 billion dollar construction company). A large company outside of your province is donating to a Toronto councillor campaign?

- Many of the “individuals” names were actually the owners or presidents of the construction business (such as Pat Dipaolo , President of UCC Construction Group) listed at those addresses. Why not just just call it a business donation and list it as such? And if not a business donation then why not list a home address?

- Some of these individuals list addresses that are the HQ’s for very powerful construction industry lobby groups where they work or are involved (such as Michael O’Conner on Brundel Road Mississauga which is where he works at the Ontario Hot Mix (paving ) Association or what about Tony Carreira and John Meportin who both use the address of the Labourors union LiUNA local 183, or Scott Marus who lists the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association(IAFF Local 3888) at 39 Commissioners Road, or Manuel Valenti who is the director of Masonary Contractors Association of Toronto.) From contractor, to developer, to lobbyist---they are all in Ana Bailão’s donor list. All good people but shouldn’t some of these donations have been listed under unions, lobbyists, and company categories like the other candidates did so we have a better sense who whom is backing a candidate?

- Many of these companies including developers (Somerset Homes) who have or will at some time do work in our Ward and with the City. There is nothing wrong with that but shouldn’t citizens know this before they vote so people know who is bankrolling your campaign?

- The pattern of donations is so overwhelmingly consistent that you can only come to one conclusion. Ana Bailão was the 2003 construction/developer industry candidate in Ward 18 by a mile. How might that effect her votes at Council? Shouldn’t voters have known? If you did not take the time to actually look up the addresses you wouldn’t have.

Googlemap of 2003 Ana Bailão Donors

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=229+Perth+Ave,+Toronto,+Toronto+Division,+Ontario+M6P+3X7,+Canada&msa=0&msid=103158910526987248582.00048e5b09258e7a9f5f4&ll=44.47796,-76.760489&spn=3.053216,7.36084&z=8

Lets Put Everything In The Open

One has to ask, is Ana Bailão running to represent the citizens of Ward 18 or running to represent the development and construction industry? In 2003 she had almost zero financial support from Ward 18 business and residents and could not have run a campaign without the backing of the construction industry.

How would her winning then or now effect the development, rezoning, and future land use in our area? One of her donors, Somerset Homes told me yesterday that they are sitting on the property a block from my house until council changes the “employment lands” zoning now in effect on that property. When that vote comes up at Council who will be more important to Ana Bailão: the West End residents who want to protect Railpath that runs along the property and have developments that fit in with the existing community, or the construction/development industry who doesn’t have to live here and gets to leave when the money is made?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being the construction industry candidate, if Ana Bailão wants to be that. The construction industry helped build this great city and have provided lots of good jobs over the years. But the reality is that all industry has motives and agendas that will favour themselves first and there can be no mistake about that. That’s the way it works. But the theory behind local politics is that resident seek a representative that will honour and forward THEIR agenda; to level the playing field between Junction Triangle and the Holcim (Canada) Inc. Conglomerate, UCC Group with revenues of 50 million, or even SC Construction of Woodbridge with 5 million in revenues: all Bailão donors in 2003.

As a resident of Ward 18 I want to know that votes on zoning and development will be based on what is best for the Ward and not what is best for one industry special interest group.

Where Does This Information Come From?

From Ana Bailão herself. Everything I am concerned about stems from Ana Bailão 2003 “Financial Statement and Auditors Report” signed by Ana Bailão on June 30 2004 and available from:
Toronto Elections office website ( http://www.toronto.ca/elections/contribution-info.htm)
Vote Toronto website ( http://www.votetoronto.ca/financial/wards/2003T/Ward18_2003T.htm)

or in person as I got copies quite a few years ago. Every single name, address, person, company, or detail is publicly available to anyone who wishes to look it up.

Some of the companies and donors have changed addresses since that campaign and I tried to call each and every one of them to confirm. I corrected some mistakes of addresses that were innocent and I probably have made an honest error in an address or two myself but the pattern is unmistakable.

Ana Bailão has NOT done anything illegal nor has anybody who donated to her campaign. That is NOT what concerns me so lets not disrespect people. Every single person on her donor list is a verifiable and reputable person as far as I am concerned and by donating to her campaign has performed a valuable public service. I come from from a union construction family where hard work was respected as was making your voice heard at election time and getting to the bottom of things.

I have been following city council for at least a decade now, even watching city council and committee meetings in person or via rogers. Yes a hard core of councillors are there for every meeting and are active in their wards, but the majority are frequently missing in action, skipping regular meetings or ducking out on key votes. Often committee meetings miss members or don't get quorum or are just postponed to next regular meetings.

scottd says: " Salaries of elected officials are always an easy target for populist grand standers but if they were in the private sector they would be paid twice as much for the hours they put in."

This is always the argument incumbents use to say they need to attract the best skills and is a fallacious argument on many grounds:

1. If they were in the private sector, they are subject to much more tangible penalties and rewards. Don't perform and you are fired - immediately. Exceed goals and you get bonuses. Neither of those systems are in the public sector for politicians. Apples and oranges comparison.
2. Politicians have no on site 'boss' per se. They use their time however they see fit, whether that be attending baseball games, dinner parties or meeting constituents. They are not held to accountr during their term of office except to themselves.
3. Salaries for elected politicians are often benchmarked to other levels of government and other geographies and positions. Different places, different times, different budgets. Still a lot of apples and oranges comparisons.
4. An argument made is often that elected politicians can suddenly find themselves out of a job come election time (happens infrequently if you look at history). Even if they do lose in an election, they are not out on the street like in a normal job. They have built up name recognition and networks and insider information that gives them fallback positions to run in other elections or to be on boards of corprations or be lobbyists.

Don't be taken in by the politician who claims 'it's hard' and I could do better in private industry. If money is what you want go there. If you want to serve the public - that's what voters should look for.

Yes, I too wish that the provincial and federal governments would do more about this.

The reality is that governments of all political stripes have been able to ignore or deflect concerns about poverty, hunger and homelessness for many decades, both in good or bad economic times. Yet it is at the local, city level that most of the progress has been made, perhaps because cities are face to face with the situation, often charged at least with the administration of programs in this regard.

In my opinion, it is important that all candidates for political office be asked their stance on these issues