News

mgee@globeandmail.com

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Since John Tory pulled out of this year's race for mayor earlier this month, George Smitherman has been the prohibitive favourite. He has a lot going for him, including heavy-duty backers, many of them from the former Tory camp, and a background as former deputy premier that puts him streets ahead of his competitors in profile and name recognition.

No surprise, then, that he has been running a front-runner's campaign: Keep your powder dry. Keep your statements general. Roll out your campaign at your own pace. Let your opponents flail around.

But there's a risk. What if another guy comes along, makes a lot of noise and gets the jump on you? That seems to be the game plan of Rocco Rossi, the former Liberal fundraiser who is staging an upstart campaign for mayor, and doing a pretty good job of it.

Mr. Rossi kicked off his campaign with two specific proposals: to sell off city-owned Toronto Hydro and to cut the mayor's salary by 10 per cent as an example of restraint.

In his maiden speech as a candidate yesterday, he threw out more ideas: a promise to put several big transit projects on hold until he can decide if they are affordable; a plan to ban future bike lanes from major arterial roads; a plan to give the TTC a private-sector board of directors; a vow to break the public monopoly on some city services and open them up to competitive bidding (while giving public-sector unions a chance to join that bidding).

It was a meaty speech, delivered with considerable skill and confidence for a newcomer to the political stage. He sketched out three priorities for the city: fixing its messed-up finances; ending gridlock with better traffic and transit policies; and attracting new economic activity.

He addressed his inexperience head-on. The notion that only an insider can fix city hall, he said, is "a little like saying you need an arsonist to put out a fire."

Taking a shot at long-time politicians (take that, Mr. Smitherman) he said "it has been 100 years since we've elected a mayor who wasn't already in elected politics. Maybe, just maybe, that's part of our problem."

He tapped into the frustration many Torontonians feel at the inertia of municipal government. "This is a city that has the wind at its back, but too often city hall is an anchor and not a sail." Good line.

He tapped into all the anger about transit, too, decrying the lack of discipline, business sense and respect for taxpayers' money that leads to fiascos like the mess on St. Clair Avenue during the construction of a dedicated streetcar line.

The TTC, he said, "seems deaf to the mounting frustration."

Granted, many of his new ideas are either not especially new or not very well thought out. How do you get people to bike to work if you don't have bike lanes on major roads?

Back-street routes are not always available. How do you open up bidding on city services when existing union agreements limit your ability to contract out?

Promising to cut the mayor's salary is a cheap populist stunt. The mayor and city councillors get modest pay for tough, demanding jobs.

Even so, there is an appealing passion in Mr. Rossi's pitch.

He is boyishly enthusiastic.

He has many keen followers, and not all of them from his sprawling Italian-Canadian family.

He has good ties with ethnic communities, many of which were represented in yesterday's crowd of about 600 at the Royal York. He has backers on Bay Street and in the political backrooms. He cannot be written off as a no-hoper - not after yesterday.

By contrast to the eager Mr. Rossi, Mr. Smitherman can sometimes come across as almost too smooth, too sure of himself.

His own maiden speech last month was forceful and assured but rather flat in comparison to Mr. Rossi's. Short on detail, too.

Mr. Smitherman promises lots of policy later on. He argues, quite reasonably, that his policy crew needs time to study the issues before he comes out with a platform. It is still nine months till the election, after all. But given how hard Mr. Rossi is coming on, he may have to move faster than he planned. Credit to Mr. Rossi for turning up the heat.