Canada: Toronto's Tea Party mayor

[pampango]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/canada/101229/tea-party-mayor-toronto-rob-ford

If there’s a Tea Party-type politician in Canada, it’s Toronto’s newly elected mayor, Rob Ford. He bulldozed to victory in late October’s municipal election with a simple slogan: “Stop the gravy train.” By that he meant taking an axe to perks enjoyed by the city’s 44 city councilors, and to a $9.2 billion operating budget he describes as dripping in waste.

Analysts were unanimous in crediting Ford with tapping into voter anger, of the kind that saw Tea Partyers and Republicans win big in U.S. midterm elections. What voters had to be angry about, however, isn’t clear. (Unlike U.S. banks, those in Canada remained solvent, housing prices didn’t collapse — in Toronto, they continue to rise — and the economy has regained the jobs it lost during the recession.)

During the campaign, he said Toronto shouldn’t welcome any more immigrants — a provocative statement in a city where half the population is born outside of Canada. He also suggested Toronto should get rid of streetcars and pronounced an end to what he calls the “war against the car.”

His election demonstrated a clear divide in the city: The suburbs voted overwhelmingly for Ford while the central part of the city voted for Smitherman — the first openly gay candidate to run for mayor.