Promises, Promises

For the past 25 days, our city has been decked out with signage. On every street corner and many lawns one could find campaign art – in eye-catching colours of purple, yellow, navy, and neutrals like taupe and ivory – created and displayed for yet another election., very similar to the one held 245 days ago.

For almost 3 months 102 candidates have been walking and talking about the skills that would enable them to run a city of over 3 million people and a budget of $19 billion. They have used up a lot of shoe leather visiting subway stations, festivals, parades, architectural sites, and public parks. They have stretched their vocal chords arguing about how much better they are suited for the job than any of the other 101. The debates, more like boxing matches, have often focused on the negatives, what the other candidates don’t have our can’t do. Sometimes its been hard to keep it all straight.

We have heard promises: to increase bike lanes, or cut them; to build rental units, or affordable houses; to increase taxes or reduce unnecessary frills in the budget. There were endorsements too. Former Mayor John Tory came out with one just a few days ago. Councillors encouraged us to vote for their buddies. Doug Ford was on the phone a lot. He called me several times, asking for support for his choice. Before the election I hardly knew Doug and now he acts like my best friend!

After lining up at the polling stations, voters were presented with a ballot, printed on both sides – one hundred and two names in alphabetical order – a lot to read! And then another challenge: to figure out the right bubble to to fill in. That’s correct – the RIGHT bubble, not the left. For some candidates in the middle column there were 2 bubbles, one on either side of the name, which added to the confusion. By this time the voter was feeling faint from lack of food.

But all of this hype, all of this confusion, and all of the money spent to host an unwanted election – was it worth the effort? For a succinct answer, just take a moment and look at the international news coming out of China, or Syria, or especially, Russia, or any of the many countries where elections are a sham, where one candidate is an oligarch and HIS opponents are headed for jail, where promises are not even expected.

Yesterday we voted of our own free will and then we watched as our votes were being counted in front of our eyes. Whether or not we liked the outcome, that petite female Asian immigrant, who survived child poverty, learned to speak English, and now stood before us in a cheery yellow dress, was chosen by us. And she will have her chance to keep her promise: to make Toronto a safer, more affordable, more caring place to live. All the best, Olivia.

Sue