Pantalone, the current Deputy Mayor, gets the bulk of Pantalone, the current Deputy Mayor, gets the bulk of his political support from councilors who supported cur--rent Mayor David Miller including Howard Moscoe and rent Mayor David Miller including Howard Moscoe and Gord Perks. A number of Miller-supporting councillors, Gord Perks. A number of Miller-supporting councillors, however, including Adam Vaughan and Joe Mihevc, have however, including Adam Vaughan and Joe Mihevc, have abandoned Pantalone’s campaign in recent weeks, going abandoned Pantalone’s campaign in recent weeks, going instead to George Smitherman. While Pantalone has few instead to George Smitherman. While Pantalone has few major backers in terms of business or high-pro!le political major backers in terms of business or high-pro!le political leaders, he is getting a high degree of backing from unions, leaders, he is getting a high degree of backing from unions, media makers, agencies, and artists.media makers, agencies, and artists.KEY BACKERS:KEY BACKERS: David Miller, Jack Layton, Michele David Miller, Jack Layton, Michele Landsberg, Sam the Record Man, Sarah Polley, Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Canadian Auto Workers, Peter TabunsNOTABLE 2006 DONORS: Leslie Yager from Plazacorp (condo builder)

Landsberg, Sam the Record Man, Sarah Polley, Toronto

KEY FUNDERS:

and York Region Labour Council, Canadian Auto Workers, Peter Tabuns

Jack Layton and Olivia Chow,

NOTABLE 2006 DONORS:

NOW

Leslie Yager from Plazacorp (condo builder)

magazine, head of the Toronto and York Region Labour KEY FUNDERS: Jack Layton and Olivia Chow,

Council, head of the TTC workers’ union, Alan Menkes (a

NOW

major developer), Sam the Record Man, Paul Sutherland

(lobbyist), Paul Christie (lobbyist), lobbyists from Sussex

magazine, head of the Toronto and York Region Labour

Strategy Group.Note:

Council, head of the TTC workers’ union, Alan Menkes (a

Pantalone is the only candidate to have released his

major developer), Sam the Record Man, Paul Sutherland

funder list before we went to print. "e law only requires

(lobbyist), Paul Christie (lobbyist), lobbyists from Sussex

that a list be released after the election.

Strategy Group.

Ford has angered many on council for his focus on city

Note:

spending. David Soknacki, the City’s former Budget

Pantalone is the only candidate to have released his

Chief, argued in a

funder list before we went to print. "e law only requires

Toronto Star

that a list be released after the election.

editorial that Ford tried to

Ford has angered many on council for his focus on city

cut ‘waste’ at City Hall throughout his tenure as a coun

spending. David Soknacki, the City’s former Budget

-Chief, argued in a

cillor. His failure is attributed to his bypassing attempts

Toronto Star

to gain support from councilors, going straight to council

editorial that Ford tried to

instead. His inability to build support on council as well as

cut ‘waste’ at City Hall throughout his tenure as a coun

his decision to post councillor expenses publicly made him

-cillor. His failure is attributed to his bypassing attempts

a pariah, but the side e#ect was that Ford, unable to work

to gain support from councilors, going straight to council

in City Hall, sunk almost all his time doing constituency

instead. His inability to build support on council as well as

work instead. He’s allegedly a !xer with immigration cases,

his decision to post councillor expenses publicly made him

is very constituent focused and has major backing in the

a pariah, but the side e#ect was that Ford, unable to work

Italian and Portuguese communities.

in City Hall, sunk almost all his time doing constituency

Ford’s right-wing political leanings and conservative eco-

work instead. He’s allegedly a !xer with immigration cases,

nomic policies have made him an attractive candidate for

is very constituent focused and has major backing in the

business and right-wing politicians on council and in the

Italian and Portuguese communities.

provincial and federal governments.

Ford’s right-wing political leanings and conservative eco-

KEY BACKERS:

nomic policies have made him an attractive candidate for

Jim Flaherty (Conservative Finance

business and right-wing politicians on council and in the provincial and federal governments.

Minister), Cllr. Mike Del Grande, Cllr. Frances Nunziata, KEY BACKERS:

the Toronto Sun

Jim Flaherty (Conservative Finance

, (anti-Pride Parade) Pastor Wendell Minister), Cllr. Mike Del Grande, Cllr. Frances Nunziata,

Brereton, Merit OpenShop Contractors Association.the

NOTABLE 2006 DONORS:

Toronto Sun

Greater Toronto Apartment

, (anti-Pride Parade) Pastor Wendell

Association (landlords).

Brereton, Merit OpenShop Contractors Association.

Ford released his funder list as we were going to print.

NOTABLE 2006 DONORS:

"e list can be found at

Greater Toronto Apartment

www.xtra.ca.

Association (landlords). Ford released his funder list as we were going to print. "e list can be found at www.xtra.ca.

George Smitherman was the original mayoral front-run-George Smitherman was the original mayoral front-runner and has tremendous political backing and an immense

-

political machine. "ree former cabinet ministers under ner and has tremendous political backing and an immense

Harris have endorsed Smitherman along with many othpolitical machine. "ree former cabinet ministers under

-Harris have endorsed Smitherman along with many other political stalwarts: Justin Trudeau (Liberal MP), John

-er political stalwarts: Justin Trudeau (Liberal MP), John Sewell and Art Eggleton (former mayors). Several backers of former right-wing candidate Rocco Rossi have defected Sewell and Art Eggleton (former mayors). Several backers

to the Smitherman campaign. Ditto for former candidate of former right-wing candidate Rocco Rossi have defected to the Smitherman campaign. Ditto for former candidate Sarah "omson. Smitherman has also seen key progressive Sarah "omson. Smitherman has also seen key progressive unions back him (instead of Pantalone) in the mayoral race including the Central Ontario Building Trades.unions back him (instead of Pantalone) in the mayoral race

Many see Smitherman as being a municipal extension including the Central Ontario Building Trades.

of the current provincial Liberal government, as he was Many see Smitherman as being a municipal extension

a minister in Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet. Smitherman of the current provincial Liberal government, as he was

has additional made no commitment to Mayor Miller’s a minister in Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet. Smitherman has additional made no commitment to Mayor Miller’s Transit city. Richard Joy, the current Vice President of the Transit city. Richard Joy, the current Vice President of the Toronto Board of Trade, worked for Smitherman while Toronto Board of Trade, worked for Smitherman while he was in the provincial government. "e Board of Trade is o$cially non-partisan.he was in the provincial government. "e Board of Trade

KEY BACKERS:

is o$cially non-partisan. "e KEY BACKERS: Toronto Star "e , the Toronto Star Globe and Mail, the Globe and Mail, ,

George Tory (son of former progressive conservative leader George Tory (son of former progressive conservative leader John Tory), 38 prominent provincial Conservatives, the John Tory), 38 prominent provincial Conservatives, the Liberal premier and several prominent Toronto Liberal Liberal premier and several prominent Toronto Liberal MPPs, Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. MPPs, Local 793 of the International Union of Operating

BUYING INFLUENCE

Engineers.

BY TIM GROVESBUYING INFLUENCEBY TIM GROVES

Toronto Media Co-op has conducted part of an investigation into lobbyists who try to buy Toronto Media Co-op has conducted part of an investigation into lobbyists who try to buy in%uence by donating to Toronto city councillor’s election campaigns. Candidates in the in%uence by donating to Toronto city councillor’s election campaigns. Candidates in the current municipal election are not required to disclose their !nancial backers until March current municipal election are not required to disclose their !nancial backers until March 2011, so the !rst part of the investigation looks at the current councillors and lobbyists who 2011, so the !rst part of the investigation looks at the current councillors and lobbyists who donated to them in the 2006 election. In April 2011, the second part of our investigation donated to them in the 2006 election. In April 2011, the second part of our investigation will be released.will be released.

Our investigation matched the names or people or corporations in the City of Toronto Our investigation matched the names or people or corporations in the City of Toronto Lobbyist Registry to the names of contributors to candidates in the 2006 Toronto municipal Lobbyist Registry to the names of contributors to candidates in the 2006 Toronto municipal elections. Under legislation no person or corporation can donate more than $750 to any elections. Under legislation no person or corporation can donate more than $750 to any candidate for city council. To the right is a list of the lobbyists who donated $3000 or more candidate for city council. To the right is a list of the lobbyists who donated $3000 or more to candidates in the municipal elections. Although the amounts of money given are small enough to question if much in%uence is being secured by the donations, the systematic approach that some corporations have taken to donating to candidates regardless of their politics may suggests they are attempting to buy in%uence.

It must be noted that the 10 candidates in the last municipal elections did not accept do-nations from any corporations or unions, and others accepted limited donations. Corporate and union donations are banned in the 2010 election.

photos by Flickr users SSTUDIOO and zolk, used under a Creative Commons license

to candidates in the municipal elections. Although the amounts of money given are small enough to question if much in%uence is being secured by the donations, the systematic approach that some corporations have taken to donating to candidates regardless of their politics may suggests they are attempting to buy in%uence.

It must be noted that the 10 candidates in the last municipal elections did not accept do-nations from any corporations or unions, and others accepted limited donations. Corporate and union donations are banned in the 2010 election.

photos by Flickr users SSTUDIOO and zolk, used under a Creative Commons license

ISSUE 3. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.CISSUE 3. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.C

THE NEWSPAPER OF THE ANT I -G8 /G20 CONVERGENCE, A PROJECT OF THE TORONTO MEDIA CO -OPTHE NEWSPAPER OF THE ANT I -G8 /G20 CONVERGENCE, A PROJECT OF THE TORONTO MEDIA CO -OP

  ISSUE  14.  FRIDAY  OCTOBER  22,  2010   PART  OF  THE  MEDIACOOP.CA  NETWORK

TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.CA

PATTISON OUTDOOR ADVERTISINGTotal contribution: $6125Councillors contributed to: 18Issues lobbied: "e rewriting of the Sign By-law, which regulates billboards, and outdoor sign approval.CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOORTotal contribution: $5600Councillors contributed to: 12Issues lobbied: "e rewriting of the Sign By-law, which regulates billboards, outdoor sign approval, street furniture, and authority to enter agreement with Astral Media Outdoor.GREATER TORONTO APARTMENT ASSOCIATIONTotal contribution:

 

$5350

ISSUE  14.  FRIDAY  OCTOBER  22,  2010

Councillors contributed to: 11Issues lobbied:

  PART  OF  THE  MEDIACOOP.CA  NETWORK

policies regarding residential landlords, and the possibility of Toronto licensing apartments.

TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.CA

TELUSTotal contribution:

PATTISON OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

$7500

Total contribution:

Councillors contributed to:

$6125

10

Councillors contributed to:

Issues lobbied:

18Issues lobbied:

City of Toronto Wireless

"e rewriting of the Sign

Telecommunications Protocol.

SUSSEX STRATEGY GROUP INC

By-law, which regulates billboards, and

Total contribution:

outdoor sign approval.

$4000

CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR

Councillors contributed to:

Total contribution:

9

$5600

Issues lobbied:

Councillors contributed to:

"is lobbying !rm had 72

12

di#erent entries in the Lobbying Registry and worked on a variety of issues for many clients.

Issues lobbied:

TDL GROUP CORP. TIM HORTONS

"e rewriting of the Total contribution:

Sign By-law, which regulates billboards,

$7925Councillors contributed to: 11

outdoor sign approval, street furniture, and Issues lobbied:

authority to enter agreement with Astral

In-store packaging report

Media Outdoor.

to reduce waste from stores, and Drive-

GREATER TORONTO APARTMENT ASSOCIATION

"ru Zoning Bylaws.

Total contribution:

TRIBUTE COMMUNITIES (YORK) INC.

$5350

Total contribution:

Councillors contributed to:

$3000

11

Councillors contributed to: 5

Issues lobbied:

Issues lobbied:

policies regarding

Planning at 2130 Bayview

residential landlords, and the possibility of

Ave. and 426 University Ave.

Toronto licensing apartments.DUNPAR DEVELOPMENTS INC.

TELUS

Total contribution:

Total contribution:

$3000

$7500

Councillors contributed to:

Councillors contributed to:

4

10

Issues lobbied:

Issues lobbied:

Planning at 1145

City of Toronto Wireless

Ossington Ave. and 51 Lakeshore Blvd.,

Telecommunications Protocol.

and OMB hearing on 4187 Dundas St.&W.

SUSSEX STRATEGY GROUP INCTotal contribution:

and 569-571 Prince Edward Dr.

$4000Councillors contributed to: 9Issues lobbied: "is lobbying !rm had 72 di#erent entries in the Lobbying Registry

CORPORATIONS IN THE LOBBYIST REGISTRY DONATING AT LEAST $3000 IN THE 2006 MUNICIPAL ELECTION:

and worked on a variety of issues for many

Who makes whom?

clients.

The key funders, endorsers and backers of the

TDL GROUP CORP. TIM HORTONS

Toronto mayoral candidates.

Total contribution:

BY GEORDIE DENT

$7925Councillors contributed to: 11Issues lobbied:

JOE PANTALONE

In-store packaging report to reduce waste from stores, and Drive-"ru Zoning Bylaws.TRIBUTE COMMUNITIES (YORK) INC.

ROB FORD

Total contribution: $3000Councillors contributed to: 5

GEORGE SMITHERMAN

Issues lobbied: Planning at 2130 Bayview Ave. and 426 University Ave.DUNPAR DEVELOPMENTS INC.Total contribution: $3000Councillors contributed to: 4Issues lobbied: Planning at 1145 Ossington Ave. and 51 Lakeshore Blvd., and OMB hearing on 4187 Dundas St.&W. and 569-571 Prince Edward Dr.

CORPORATIONS IN THE LOBBYIST REGISTRY DONATING AT LEAST $3000 IN THE 2006 MUNICIPAL ELECTION:

Who makes whom? The key funders, endorsers and backers of the Toronto mayoral candidates. BY GEORDIE DENT

JOE PANTALONE ROB FORD GEORGE SMITHERMAN

As a result, UH 75 is calling on Accor to: respect the Trade Union Rights agreement signed with IUF, “in particular the commitment not to oppose efforts by its workers to unionise,” to publicly affirm its neutrality and voluntarily grant union recognition where there is evidence of majority support and to reinstate organizers who have been terminated or lost shifts and hours since their campaign went public in November 2008.

The 100 workers at Novotel on the

Esplanade will be joined by hotel and food service workers across the GTA. UH 75 is calling for allies to join them at the picket lines any time from 7am to 7pm and at 4:30pm in particular for a mass rally to show community solidarity and support.

Council recently calling for an independent investigation of the incident was blocked by the US who called on Israel to investigate themselves.

the  spoke     ISSUE 3. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.CA

... continued from page 1

UNITE HERE STRIKE

Alternative Summit Cost Equals Six Seconds of G8/20 Summit By Tim Groves

Six seconds of the G8 and G20 summits would be enough money to cover the entire cost of the Peoples Summit, an alternative summit happening a week before the official summit.

“Our budget is $30,000, which works out to six seconds worth of their cost,” said Mark Calzavara, an organizer of the People’s Sum-mit. The G8 and G20 Summits are costing $1.2 Billion dollars. Calzavara calculated the cost per hour as $17 million then divided by the cost of the Peoples Sum-mit to arrive at the figure of six seconds. “Whatever way you dice it, it shows the absurdity of it all,” he said.

The G8 and G20 Summits are being attended by a handful of elite politicians and business people while the public is being kept out by a large fence and a massive security operation. Calzavara believes these are not about finding real solutions for everyday people. “It’s really about making sure the rules favour their own nations above all oth-ers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the People’s Summit is open to everyone. Over 100 work-shops are being held on a wide va-riety of topics, with several sessions dedicated to children. It launches on June 18th with an opening event at the Carlu Theatre and continues on Saturday and Sunday at Ryerson Campus.

For more information visit: peoples-summit2010.ca

the 2009 Pride Parade. The claim made by lawyer and Israeli-supporter Martin Gladstone was later debunked as being an anti-swastika symbol not even worn by a QUAIA member.

Toronto Community Mobilization Network

ABOLISH THE G8/G20!

Defend Tur tle Island

THEMED DAYS OF RES ISTANCE (BUILD UP)JUNE 21 , 2pm, Allan Gardens: March, “All Out In Defense of the Rights of All”JUNE 22 : Creative civic transformations and street theatre for Gender Justice.JUNE 22 , evening, f inancial district : Queering the G20!JUNE 23 , 11am, Alexandra Park (Dundas/Bathurst) : March, “Call for Environmental Justice! A Toxic Tour of Toronto!”

JUNE 24 , 11am, Queen’s Park: March, Canada Can’t Hide Genocide: Indigenous Day of Action.

DAYS OF ACTIONJUNE 25 , 2 :30pm, Allan Gardens: March, Block Party, Tent City, “Justice for Our Communities”JUNE 26 , 1 :00pm, Queen’s Park: March, “People First”JUNE 26 , 1 :00pm, Queen’s Park: March, “Get Off the Fence”JUNE 26 : Radical Street Party, “Saturday Night Fever.”

JUNE 27 : Autonomous Direct Actions, “Getting Down to Business”JUNE 27 , 1pm: Bike Block ActionJUNE 27 , 2pm, St . James Park (King/Church): Funeral MarchJUNE 27 , 3 :33pm, Queen’s Park: Make Believe Tea PartyJUNE 27 , 5pm: Bruce Mackey Park (Dundas/Wardell) : March, Fire Works For PrisonsFor more details & events, alternative media, convergence centre and more. . . visit :

G 2 0 . t o r o n t o m o b i l i z e. o r g

... continued from page 1

BRYANT’S PR MANAGERS

G20 Map for Downtown Toronto

ISSUE  14    FRIDAY  OCTOBER  22,  2010 TORONTO.MEDIACOOP.CA

Friday night on the Esplanade—15 youth workers, high school students and university stu-dents (most from the local area), are out on the streets and in apartment buildings, knocking on doors and handing out %yers. Although they identify as radical left, they are campaigning in the municipal election for Pantalone and Toronto Public school board trustee candidate Chris Moise.& "ey are not happy with Pantalone’s %yer: “"is pamplet is for old people who live in the

suburbs,” one of them says, pointing at the photo of a grey-haired white couple. “"is doesn’t engage with people here.” Instead, they go door-to-door talking to people about issues af-fecting the community: public transit, privatization of public services, and public housing. Most people are receptive, although some can’t vote because they aren’t citizens, while others aren’t sure about where the candidates stand on the issues.

What makes radical youth engage in municipal politics? I spoke to Farshad Azadian, a leader in the Esplanade Community Group, who explained the decision of his group to get involved in campaigning for Pantalone despite the serious disagreements he has with the candidate’s politics: “Typically, when going door to door, it wasn’t uncommon for us to tell fellow residents that Joe Pantalone wasn’t the greatest candidate, but he is the only working class candidate and we should always vote labour. In the process, we get to talk about real politics, talk about issues in our community, it allows young activists to get a more grounded view of the confusions working class people have.”

Azadian explains his participation by suggesting, “the most advanced layers of work-ers and youth, us activists, have an obligation to explain to workers what is happening in the current elections and to explain the need for building the class struggle. Activists who boycott the elections for a lack of a genuine revolutionary candidate are living in the clouds.&"e working class is confused, scattered and atomised. Every occasion to infuse a

sense of class-consciousness, to interact with workers, to recruit the most advanced ones and to talk socialism should be used. "ose who call for a boycott do nothing to advance the struggle – none of the workers listen to them – they are looking for a real solution. We tell them only working class candidates are a solution but we need to ensure that our candidates stand on real socialist policies.”

In regards to the other candidate they were campaigning for, Chris Moise, the Esplanade Community Group and the Toronto Young New Democrats, of which Farshad and several others involved in the Esplanade Group are also members, were able to signi!cantly in%u-ence many aspects of his campaign. As Farshad details: “So with Chris Moise, who was an NDP-connected candidate for TDSB school trustee, he approached us and actually came out to an Esplanade event to get our support for his campaign. We used the opportunity to demand that he take up a concrete program that we could bring to our community. He would keep agreeing with us in person, but then say he couldn’t write that, particularly on the contentious issue of “police in schools”/School Resource O$cer (SRO) program. However, by putting him to criticism in front of the whole community and then subsequently at the Toronto Young New Democrat meeting, he put forward, on his own, an exemplary concrete program based on repairs to inner city schools, increased funding to inner city schools, no school closures and no police in high schools. For us this was an important success and we have given him considerable backing. "is goes more to show the work that revolutionaries can do after having patiently built a base in working class communities, in ensuring that candidates take up a platform that relates to them.”

After a few hours of canvassing, having handed out all their %yers, the young activists still seemed a bit ambivalent towards Pantalone, but were proud to be engaging in political work in their community and getting marginalized people to count in the political process.

A letter writing campaign has been launched to persuade the Toronto City Summit Alliance (TCSA) to ask their chair, John Tory, to step down, after he endorsed two candidates in the municipal election. The letter says that TCSA’s former chair David Pecaut “would have never endorsed a candidate and his sterling reputation was built by being able to work with everyone.” TCSA is a coalition of civic leaders who are trying to address the challenges Toronto is faced with.

At least 10 new faces on city councilSystem set to keep incumbents in officeBY TIM GROVES

Forty-four council seat are up for grabs in Monday’s election, however most of the faces on council are likely to stay the same. "irty-four councillors are running for re-election. Only ten councillors are are giving up their seats.

Incumbents usually win in election races. In the last Toronto election, in 2006, 37 in-cumbents ran for re-election and only one was defeated. Similarly, in the 2003 municipal election, one incumbent lost their seat on council.

Once councillors are elected they usually stay in o$ce for multiple terms, and some have been on council for decades. Outgoing city councillor Howard Moscoe !rst joined North York’s city council in 1978.

With no term limits and the winning candidate needing only the most votes rather than a majority of votes, the current system helps keep incumbents in o$ce.

“Some [incumbents] are incredibly popular, but many others are not,” said voting reform advocate Desmond Cole. “Winning with 25% is not what we think of in a democracy, it make people angry.”

Cole works with Ranked Ballot Initiative Toronto (RaBIT), a group that wants voters to mark their top three choices on the ballot in order of preference. "ey believe this would reduce strategic voting and allow voters to vote for what they believe in, not against the worst candidate.

Cole believes that term limits need not be imposed, so long as the people elected are popular, instead of winning by splitting the vote. He said that in the current system “the more people who run against an incumbent the better they will do.”

On Monday’s election 77% of wards will have incumbent councillors running in them.

WARDS TO WATCH ON MONDAY:On election day, be sure to watch the wards with no incumbent running, as they will prob-ably best show how council will be changing. "ose wards are: 1, 2, 10, 15, 18, 19, 22, 27, 29, & 36.

Know where to vote on Election Day? Find out at toronto.ca/elections.

Radical Youth Engage in Municipal Politics BY MEGAN COTTON-KINCH

INCUMBENT STATUS

% OF POPULATION REGISTERED TO VOTE

incumbent running

< 50%50-59.9%

60-69.9%

incumbent not running

> 70%

NOVEMBER IS TORONTO MEDIA CO-OP’S MEMBERSHIP MONTH!Get involved! Become a member! Become a sustainer!

toronto.mediacoop.ca