Category: In The News

Much has been written about the Liberal Government’s refusal to allow the City of Toronto to impose road tolls.

After signalling support, Premier Kathleen Wynne put herself and her party’s electoral future ahead of the needs of Canada’s largest city.

It remains one of the most brutal, politically-calculated moves in recent memory.

But in the process of slamming the door on tolls, have the Liberals opened a window for Patrick Brown to become maybe not the champion, but the saviour of Toronto?

The City of Toronto’s budget is the fourth largest in the country. Toronto represents 10% of Canada’s GDP.

Despite paying lip service to the unique needs of Canada’s biggest city, the current government has done little to give Toronto the funding or autonomy it needs to govern itself effectively.

Just this week, Mayor John Tory came out with a list of demands for the province to fund ahead of the upcoming provincial budget. It includes money for housing, rebuilding the crumbling Gardiner Expressway and the downtown relief line. Now, I’m not suggesting the opposition parties start issuing blank cheques, but a dust-up between the popular mayor of Ontario’s biggest city and the politically unpopular provincial government is an electoral opportunity neither should ignore.

So what if Brown stood up and said: ‘I’m going to be the government that treats Toronto like an adult. No, we’re not going to favour Toronto. But we will fulfil core promises that will make life easier for the people of the city and those across the GTA.’

For example, he could promise to make commuting easier by overhauling Presto, a Metrolinx-imposed system riddled with implementation errors that has angered TTC riders for its inconsistency, and frustrated city officials with increasing costs.

Or he could pledge to upload the Gardiner. The Gardiner is falling apart, in large part because Toronto council kicked the can down the road for so long. Today, the city is faced with the untenable task of rebuilding an entire expressway to the tune of over $3 billion.

Take it over and say you will fix it, freeing up badly-needed cash at City Hall for transit projects, and allowing the PCs to trumpet that they will provide a long-term, sustainable solution to traffic congestion not just for the 416, but also the 905.

The Progressive Conservatives will never, and probably should never, be full-throated urban champions. But you can’t win government without winning at least part of Toronto. And that means demonstrating you understand the needs of the city while balancing the needs of the rest of Ontario.

The city’s residents should also not be written off as a lock for Liberal or NDP votes.

A modern, fiscally-conservative, business-minded candidate and platform will resonate with Toronto residents. The city has demonstrated its support for conservative candidates and fiscal prudence at the municipal level.

Make a few clear, smart commitments to Canada’s largest city. Ease Toronto’s fiscal pressure in a way that will set them up for self-sustainability and success.

In short, solve some of their problems out of the gate, and then leave Toronto to its own devices. In the face of a string of broken promises from the current government, Brown could start to look like Toronto’s best option.

Amanda Galbraith is a principal at Navigator and the former director of communications for Mayor John Tory

The businessman and TV star’s outlandish statements are not policy pronouncements; rather they are an attempt to chart a new style of national politics, one based on feelings and confidence rather than thoughtful technocracy.

It is no secret that the economies of the United States and Canada are intertwined and often underperformance by our southern neighbour is a harbinger of a downturn here. The truth is that our political realities very much reflect each others, as well.

Few today remember the disastrous inflation both countries experienced in the 1970s, exacerbated by oil price shocks. After tinkering at the margins for a while, central banks ﾗ led by Paul Volcker in the United States and John Crow in Canada ﾗ courageously raised interest rates to bring inflation down.

It was a political gamble; the medicine was harsh. The disinflation resulted in a recession that left huge deficits and high unemployment in both countries, and people protested. Fortunately, the medicine worked; inflation stabilized, and North America ushered in a period of relatively uninterrupted and stable growth.

Economists call this the period the Great Moderation. It was hailed as proof that the conventional wisdoms of capitalist economics worked for everyone. Governments rushed to be seen heeding the advice of sage economists. All over the world, governments expanded trade deals and lowered taxes, as instructed by the all-knowing plutocrats.

The problem was, the consensus did not account for the political realities of the changing economies. While the overall balance sheet showed growing incomes, many working-class North Americans – especially Americans – lost their jobs to outsourcing, leaving communities across rural America struggling to survive.

But amid a political consensus for spreadsheet-based performance indicators, there was little will to directly engage with the underlying malcontent.

The financial crisis of 2008 brought the period of sustained growth to an abrupt end. With the benefit of hindsight, the crisis was the last chance for the old ways and tested methods of the technocratic compact to prove itself.

For many, they failed.

The pace of change experienced by the working class in America had finally come to a head.

The financial crisis marked the end of the technocratic compact and the beginning of what was then the tea party movements, which has metamorphized into a populist phenomenon.

The failure of the technocratic compact to restore middle America’s faith in the promised land during the crisis of 2008 was when the proverbial curtain was finally pulled back on the Wizard of Oz.

After supporting Barack Obama in two presidential elections, America’s working class in the Rust Belt states of the northern U.S. rallied to Donald Trump, the great disrupter.

Trump got to the White House by convincing white working class voters that he understood that their lives were harder than people in Washington realized.

He spoke to them in plain words, sharing their frustration and staking his reputation as a business leader as a marker of success: a leader who created hotels and golf resorts, not just paper and charts. Trump’s wealth and largesse spoke more to Americans about success than did a pile of degrees from elite institutions.

We are starting to see signs of that wave stirring in the leadership race for Canada’s Conservative Party.

Conventional wisdom has it that leadership candidates win with a combination of ideas and hustle. It is no surprise that Conservative leadership candidates who hog the headlines are those who have substantive ideas to point to ﾗ Maxime Bernier, Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong, Erin O’Toole ﾗ while those who started out close to the front yet chose to campaign largely on their records as MPs ﾗ Lisa Raitt or Andrew Scheer ﾗ are struggling to gain media attention.

This is in keeping with Canadian political history. We have long been a technocratically focused nation. Our prime ministers have been thoughtful and adhered to strict belief systems that have informed the way they governed. Thoughtful governmental policies are established through commissions, painstaking inquiries, and legislation. Public pronouncements are cautious, careful and steady.

And then Kevin O’Leary came along. He has disrupted this steadiness. Policy pronouncements made by O’Leary have been basic at best, and misleading at worst. However, he is currently in the top tier of contenders of the Conservative Party leadership race, and perhaps even a favourite to win.

O’Leary has branded himself as a straight-talking, successful businessman whom English Canadians came to know on CBC’s Dragon’s Den.

He has used his brand to channel dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Last week, O’Leary proclaimed that the CBC should have to ﾓsing for its supper,ﾔ and he has repeated the refrain to make Trudeau’s time as prime minister a ﾓliving hell.ﾔ Obviously, these are not policy pronouncements.

Rather they are an attempt to chart a new style of national politics, one based on feelings and confidence rather than thoughtful technocracy.

Though it must be understood that a Canadian leadership election is very different from an American-style primary system, O’Leary looks well-positioned to upset the steady consensus that has governed Canada for much of its recent history.

Into the Dragon’s Den we go.

Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist.

Randi joins CTV’s Power Play Strategy Session Panel for the first time – they discuss the Cabinet and the recent budget. The panellists weigh in on cabinet ministers visiting the US and the government’s relationship with the Trump administration.

Aired on CTV, Mar 29, 2017.

Sally joins CTV’s True North Politics panel to discuss the NDP leadership debate and the call on Senator Meredith’s resignation.

Air date: March 13, 2017 on CTV

Randi and Stephen Ledrew discuss the NDP leadership race.

After the NDP leadership debate on the weekend, tune in to see Randi break down the latest with the NDP candidates; who does she predict has the necessary charisma and character to secure their spot as leader?

Aired on CP24, Mar 13, 2017.