Results tagged “elections”

In a recent article, we described Canadian democracy as "drunken" and "staggering," eliciting the image of a bumbling, well-intentioned dullard saddled with an affliction that, for better or worse, is an effect of his or her environment or circumstances but manifest as failure for reasons entirely their own. Today, with news from Ottawa that two opposition parties are going to supportively wedge themselves under Harper's armpits for a while, we—like others with a shamelessly professed anti-Harper bias—stand by it.

When voters go to the ballot box in St. Paul’s on Thursday their choices will include the latest in a long line of Toronto Sun columnists who have attempted to parlay their print personas into elected office, usually for parties that have matched the paper’s right-wing tilt.

Cue the trumpets, unfurl the banners, make with the fanfare, and let fly with a triumphant shout of "Sweet merciful crap, here we go again."

"My friends, my fellow mushrooms....For all of our lives they've been keeping us in the dark! They've been feeding us bullshit!" A political career was born earlier this week, and it belongs to one Marvin Mushroom. Marvin proved himself a fearsome candidate: quick-witted, righteously indignant, born speech-maker. Marvin was campaigning, of course, for mushrooms to feature prominently on the assembled voters' pizza, and he drew a hearty round of applause after making his case.

Did you vote in the last election? You sure? Really? Positive? Are you absolutely, 100 per cent certain? Fine. We don't believe you.

Advertisement, The Toronto World, January 1, 1909

Original graphic by Dave Meslin for Who Runs This Town? recoloured by Jonathan Goldsbie.

                 

As the announcement of Barack Obama's victory neared last night, a group of about forty revellers gathered at Yonge and Dundas Square to celebrate and Welcome Back America. Public art group Newmindspace was also in attendance and provided music and encouragement to the crowd.

Most of the election signs currently lining the streets of the city stick to identifying local candidates and their party colours. Commentary on the other candidates is rarely seen on lawn signs, while billboards tend to be the domain of lobbyists. This was not the case during the Ontario provincial race in 1948, when passers-by got an eyeful of what the opposition thought of the government.

Every Saturday, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today.

Photo by functoruser.

Jack Layton may have still had a shitty week, but his Twitter never got hacked with messages about "poop time" or Olivia being a douche—Accordion Guy picked the screenshot of Layton's Twitter up from image dump site File Pile (the name Miss Fipi Lele, his "reliable source," is just a play on the site's name, which we didn't know at the time), and he was notified last night by the person who posted the image there that it was fake. We can still dream, though.

(UPDATE: It's a fake!) It's been a pretty shitty week for Jack Layton. First, he faced an enormous backlash from supporters and opponents alike after he threatened to back out of the leaders debates if Elizabeth May was allowed to participate in them, and, yesterday afternoon, his Twitter got into the hands of someone who made three quick entries: "Olivia's being a douche."; "Alright, poop time."; and "Okay, poop is coming out." The entries remained on his Twitter for at least fourteen hours, more than enough time to make the whole thing totally embarrassing.

Elizabeth May—Green Party leader and former Tall Poppy interviewee—will be in the televised leaders debates at the beginning of October after all, says Canada.com. The move comes thanks to the NDP and Conservative Party, who earlier today retracted their objections to her participation. Congratulations to Ms. May, who didn't even have to do anything to make two major political opponents look totally awful.

Apparently 6% GST is still being charged in parking lots at Pearson airport, in spite of the fact that the tax was lowered to 5% on January 1. The overpricing is being blamed on a system glitch that is being "worked on," but in the meantime, the GTAA plans to keep the extra cash for themselves. A spokesperson explained, "If you don't like it, then you can fly out of another international airport in Toronto."

Diligent Torontoist reader The Politics Ranter caught this gem today on the way to work, at King and Sherbourne:

Overheard at a stoplight while leaving Queen's Park at 12:30 PM today.

Did David Miller do it for you the past three years? Did Jane Pitfield plagiarize your heart? Or did Kevin Clarke shout his way into yours? And what of the 30-odd other mayoral candidates, and that whole "choosing a city councillor" thing?