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Mayor David Miller is seen in his office on October 6, 2010.JENNIFER ROBERTS

For months, Toronto's mayoral candidates have been filling the city's ears with promises: the repeal of the land-transfer tax, a city council slashed by half, a ban on bike lanes, the sale of Toronto Hydro.

But decade after decade, as mayors of various stock and stripes have occupied the office, the job's reality is clear: Getting things done will be harder than any of the candidates think.

Unlike other cities - think of mayors like Bloomberg, Daley, Giuliani, Drapeau, Campbell and McCallion - Toronto's city hall comes with built-in obstacles that make it difficult for leaders to leave their mark.

From the lack of an overt party structure and the challenge of wringing money from the province and feds, to the sheer size of the city's bureaucracy, the odds are stacked against any dramatic change.

"It's got to be one of the toughest jobs in the country, without a doubt," said Patrice Dutil, of Ryerson University's department of politics and public administration.

"David Miller thought you [could]still be a hero here. And he discovered that no matter how well intentioned you are, you're never going to come out of this smelling like a rose."

There's no party in our politics

For the last eight years, Mayor Miller has been receiving advice and support from his friend Larry Campbell, the Liberal senator and former mayor of Vancouver.

Both men were elected to office on an unexpected wave of voter optimism. Mr. Campbell promised drug-policy reform, while Mr. Miller vowed to prevent a fixed link to the island airport.

But Mr. Campbell had something his friend did not: the overt allegiances of a political party.

In Vancouver, Montreal and other urban centres, a municipal candidate's political party appears on the ballot beside their name. In 2002, Mr. Campbell took office with his party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, holding eight of the city's ten council seats, and his team was quickly able to push policy direction.

"It's much harder to get through your important items when you have to go out and really hunt the votes," he said this week.

In Toronto, city council is elected by ward, rather than party system, and candidates are prevented from raising or sharing money jointly.

Most voters and city politicians support the lack of party influence on the municipal level, without such overt allegiances, councillors have little motivation to stand behind the mayor on contentious issues, such as a garbage strike.

"Prime Minister Harper, even with a minority situation, can count on a certain number of MPs who will vote with him to the death," said Mr. Dutil. "The mayor here will be hung out to dry, simple as that."

Want to get 'er done? Good luck

This summer, former provincial Conservative leader John Tory decided, once again, that he was not running for Toronto mayor, saying he planned to make "significant and hopefully lasting contributions" to the city outside of public life, and praising the "pleasant and productive" nature of private-sector work.

As noble a pursuit as politics may be, many of the city's best and brightest clearly believe it's easier to get things done outside of city hall.

Contrast that to the United States, where Rahm Emanuel recently announced he was leaving his job as White House chief of staff to run for mayor of Chicago, a city with a $654.7-million deficit.

"He's going to Chicago because he knows he can get things done," said Mr. Dutil. "In Toronto, you just don't have that guarantee."

The American "strong mayor system" gives office holders executive power, while in Canada, city council holds the reins, with the mayor getting one vote, just like everyone else.

"In the U.S., there's a culture of the city being run by the mayor: The mayor is the boss," said Mr. Campbell. "Here, he's the figurehead."

Over the past eight years, Mayor Miller has endeavoured to strengthen his office's hand. The City of Toronto Act empowered the mayor to hire and fire the city manager, hold in camera meetings with his executive committee and control elements of the city's taxation and budget structure. But polls have revealed that most citizens believe the new powers have had little impact, other than saddling them with new taxes.

And even with the additional clout, it is still impossible to imagine initiatives being introduced as quickly in Toronto as they are in New York City, where billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg has organized his staff like a well-oiled Wall Street trading pit.

Within six months of taking office, Mr. Bloomberg had delivered on his promise to create a 311 system, a city information line that has its own website and blog.

In Toronto, a similar program has been in the works for more than six years.

So you have a great idea. Try rallying the troops

Ask most people to name a landmark Toronto mayor and they will mention David Crombie, who held office almost 40 years ago and was known as the "tiny, perfect mayor."

Mr. Crombie recalls getting a slightly different reception when his reform movement began slowing city development, developing green space, protecting neighbourhoods and reorganizing the downtown. "The good old Globe and Mail said I was stealing food from the mouths of widows and orphans," in its editorials at the time, he says.

But he believes mayors should bring big ideas and fierce conviction to office.

"Policies are not the same as issues and issues are not the same as ideas," he said. "The world still moves on ideas."

Mr. Dutil says big-picture thinking is rarely raised in Toronto politics, and that the city rarely throws its weight behind major development projects the way Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau built his city's Place des Arts and Metro system. Toronto's landmark buildings, such as the additions to the ROM and AGO, tend to be largely the product of private sector initiatives.

"We don't have builders here. No one's said, 'Let's have splendid architecture, splendid public works,'" said Mr. Dutil. "It's a very Protestant, Upper Canadian inclination toward ordinariness."

Influence trumps power, every time

Before Mr. Campbell was elected to office in Vancouver, he worked as a steelworker, a Mountie, the city's chief coroner and a writer on Da Vinci's Inquest, a television show inspired by his life. "You come from a world where you say 'I'd like this to happen' and it happens," he said. "As mayor, you say 'I'd like this to happen' and people say 'Well, maybe.'"

Learning how to work with council, bureaucracy and city residents is the hardest part of being mayor, agrees Mr. Crombie, but also the most important.

When he took office, he knew the platforms of each member of council, enabling him to seek out common ground.

"You have to create constituencies in order to give you the legitimate power to move forward," he said.

To create widespread support for his initiatives, he also cultivated relationships with provincial and federal politicians, met with business groups and neighbourhood coalitions.

It's the mayor's job to get the city on board, he said, to use their influence to involve voters in the process of change. Today's voters feel disconnected from City Hall, he believes - a relationship that desperately needs to be repaired.

"There's a confusion today with some candidates who think power is the important thing, when in fact it's influence," he said "You have to get people to say 'I like that, I'll work for it, I'll support it.'"

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