Sarah Thomson on the campaign trail
In case any of you were indifferent to Toronto’s current race for mayor, candidate Sarah Thomson recently made it a little more interesting.
Speaking with the Toronto Star’s editorial board this past Thursday, Thomson made headlines for saying rival candidate Rob Ford would be a “scary” choice for mayor.
She admitted she came to this conclusion as she campaigned from door-to-door; realizing that support for the controversial Ford was waning.
She even gathered her own statistics on Ford’s chances of becoming mayor, saying that five out of every six residents in Toronto are in opposition to Rob Ford.
Whether her statistics are accurate or not can certainly be debated—consider that this morning’s stats put Ford as the front-runner for mayor by almost 45% of those polled. Worth noting however, is that Mayor Miller was also behind in the polls before he went on to win.
As for the other batch of mayoral-hopefuls (Smitherman, Pantalone, and Rossi), Thomson wasted no time in throwing verbal jabs at each of them.
In her criticism of the three, Thomson claimed Smitherman “can’t be trusted with a budget”; Pantalone does not have what it takes to lead; and Rossi “got a great show, but people see it as a show” (as quoted by David Rider of the Toronto Star).
Since every candidate not named Sarah Thomson is supposedly incapable of running our city, just what makes her the right fit?
Why should voters pencil her in when filling out their ballots on October 26?
Well, so far she has promised to freeze property taxes for one-year, expand transit into the city’s suburbs, and introduce rush-hour tolls on the DVP and Gardiner Expressway.
Yes, that’s right, electing Thomson could mean emptying our wallets into government hands yet again. Considering the city’s recent economic state, it’s safe to say she took quite the risk even mentioning this idea in her campaign.
While this may not be Thomson’s most endearing proposition, she has backed it up by promising to use revenues to extend the city’s subway line by 58 kilometers over the next decade.
She also does a good job at selling herself as a highly confident, aggressive leader.
When addressing the question on why she never ran for a council seat in Toronto prior to her running for mayor, Thomson said she likes to “take over” and would have probably tried to “undermine the mayor” if elected to a seat.
It should also be mentioned that Thomson guaranteed she will win this election and did not express any concern about her position in the polls.
It’s politicians like Thomson that make these discussions so worthwhile.
Be sure to tune in for the next live Mayoral Debate on September 21, at 8:00pm to see what Sarah Thomson has to say next.
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I am not sure she has what it takes to run our city, but she is a very refreshing candidate. Her lack of experience on Toronto city council may actually be an advantage. It is nice to have a choice aside from the usual suspects.
looks like she’s dropping out…
It is probably for the best that she step aside at this time, but she has impressed a lot of people and could be a player in the future.