{"id":8267,"date":"2014-10-10T00:08:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T07:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=8267"},"modified":"2014-10-09T19:24:37","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T02:24:37","slug":"cija-uja-host-toronto-mayoral-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/10\/10\/cija-uja-host-toronto-mayoral-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"CIJA-UJA host Toronto mayoral debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the debate are, from left, John Tory, Ari Goldkind, Doug Ford and Olivia Chow. (photo from cjnews.com<\/span><\/a>)<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t much focus on Jewish issues at the CIJA-UJA-hosted mayoral debate Sunday night, but Ari Goldkind, the race\u2019s sole Jewish candidate, arguably stole the show with his caustic barbs directed at fellow candidate Doug Ford, particularly when he confronted the councilor on his brother\u2019s past use of an antisemitic slur.<\/p>\n

The debate, held at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto\u2019s Wilmington campus and attended by several hundred people, featured fringe candidate Goldkind debating alongside leading contenders Ford, John Tory and Olivia Chow.<\/p>\n

The debate was moderated by National Post<\/em> columnist Chris Selley, who gave each candidate several minutes to respond to questions on transit, taxes, community safety and conduct in city council.<\/p>\n

Goldkind, a defence lawyer and the fourth-place mayoral contender, had the audience chuckling with one-liners such as \u201cWhat does Ford stand for? Falsify. Overstate. Repeat. Deny\u201d and \u201cThis campaign has turned into a reality show. It\u2019s like the Kardashian show.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later took Ford to task for what he said was the former\u2019s failure to apologize for an antisemitic slur uttered by his brother, Mayor Rob Ford \u2013 who made a conspicuous appearance partway through the debate \u2013 last March.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Rob Ford called Jews the \u2018K\u2019 word,\u201d Goldkind said. \u201cAnd then he has the chutzpah to come in here tonight. He might get a free pass from the others on this stage, but not me. When you insult a whole people, you are not setting an example for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the audience laughed and booed, Ford responded, \u201cI have a Jewish doctor and a Jewish dentist … my family has the utmost respect for the Jewish community…. We look forward to working with the Jewish community, as we have for the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then added that he had already apologized on behalf of his brother for the remark, adding, \u201cI\u2019ve told [Rob] clearly that those comments were unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the subject of funding proposed transit projects, Goldkind said, \u201cI\u2019m the only one on stage who\u2019s open in saying we have to talk about taxes. If you believe Tory\u2019s Smart Track plan is going to be free, or Ford\u2019s \u2018subways, subways, subways\u2019 will be, or that Chow\u2019s proposed tax increase [to fund transit] will only be on the wealthy, if you accept that math, they\u2019ll earn your vote,\u201d he said sarcastically.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI will ask each household in the city to pay 50 cents extra per day … then … instead of going to the provincial and federal governments with our hands empty, go to them and say, \u2018the people of Toronto have spoken and we have a transit plan worth investing in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Invectives aside, the four took turns laying out their respective visions for transit, with poll-leader Tory emphasizing Smart Track, his London, England-modeled surface rail subway plan. Meanwhile, Chow endorsed building light rail transit (LRT) and a downtown subway relief line, Ford called for subway expansion and Goldkind advocated for a downtown relief line, new LRT lines and replacement of the Scarborough subway line with LRT.<\/p>\n

Regarding taxation, Ford and Tory both pledged to privatize garbage collection in the city\u2019s east end.<\/p>\n

Ford trumpeted his brother\u2019s administration\u2019s slashing of the vehicle registration tax. Chow said she would increase the land transfer tax for houses valued at more than $2 million and raise property taxes around the rate of inflation, and Goldkind suggested congestion fees and road tolls on certain highways to help pay for infrastructure improvements, as well as raising the land transfer tax on homes valued at over $1.1 million.<\/p>\n

The candidates also addressed community safety and the recent spike in antisemitic incidents in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Chow said the Toronto Police Service hate crimes unit could use more support and training to be able to better work with people, including those with mental health issues. She suggested that her plan to beef up after-school activities across the city could be a good antidote against \u201cyoung people who get into trouble and get recruited by people who are full of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tory brought up the need for better education for \u201cthe young and less young,\u201d including more training for police and interfaith initiatives in the community.<\/p>\n

Ford said that under his brother\u2019s administration, the city hired more police officers and reallocated a number of officers to the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy. He said the city needs more mentors for young people.<\/p>\n

The Toronto mayoral election will take place on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

\u2013 For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the debate are, from left, John Tory, Ari Goldkind, Doug Ford and Olivia Chow. (photo from cjnews.com)\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much focus on Jewish issues at the CIJA-UJA-hosted mayoral debate Sunday night, but Ari Goldkind, the race\u2019s sole Jewish candidate, arguably stole the show with his caustic barbs directed at fellow candidate Doug Ford, particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2187,2188,2081,2079,2078],"class_list":["post-8267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-ari-goldkind","tag-chris-selley","tag-doug-ford","tag-john-tory","tag-olivia-chow"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}