Mayoral candidate Rocco RossiFred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The four major candidates in Toronto's mayoral race tried to outdo each others' earth-loving environmental commitments in a debate Saturday.
The need for public transit - made newly and more urgently populist now that provincial funding has been thrown into doubt - was one of the few things candidates could agree on as they took aim at each others' environmental and fiscal track records.
Although the debate's questions and setting were green-focused - the discussion itself was in the centre of a Green Living Show touting conservation and renewable-energy technologies - it allowed candidates to reiterate platform points they've spoken about previously in the campaign.
Mr. Ford reiterated his intention to cut council in half, to 22 councillors if elected. He derided councillors' expense budgets and said, as he has before, that if it were up to him such controversial projects as light rapid-transit lines and power plants wouldn't go forward if residents didn't want them.
"If they don't want it, I don't want it. … Let's start listening to the taxpayers."
As he has previously, Mr. Smitherman slammed Mr. Rossi's plan to sell Toronto Hydro, calling it a "407-style selloff," referring to the toll highway.
"Anybody that knows the relationship of a delivery of an essential service knows there's so much more than that. … This would be the loss of Toronto Hydro as a tool for the city for the advancements of green energy."
Both Mr. Smitherman and Mr. Rossi reiterated the lack of "fiscal credibility" at city hall, with Mr. Rossi vowing a multi-year budgeting strategy and aggressive debt repayment in pursuing a transit plan that moves "beyond 'Streetcar City' to a real 'Transit City' ... $450-million buys us a seat at the table. … We need to give the province the confidence they're dealing with a real partner."
Selling assets like Toronto Hydro, Mr. Rossi insisted, is the best option open to the city when it comes to coming up with funds needed for transit expansion.
Mr. Ford was also the target of more debate barbs this time around, with a recent poll putting him in second place after Mr. Smitherman (a large percentage of the people polled, however, were undecided at the time).
Mr. Pantalone accused him of being "penny wise and pound foolish" in his attempts to slice city spending.
The debate gave Mr. Smitherman a chance to tout his record as energy and environment minister, overseeing what he called "the single-largest climate-change initiative to be found anywhere in North America: The elimination of coal-fired electricity generation."
"We have the opportunity now to emerge as more of a solar city, and with some wind, as well. ... These forms of renewable energy are not only about a greener environment; they're about an economic opportunity for Toronto."
But other candidates also took the opportunity to attack his provincial record, with Mr. Rossi attacking his record on the province's single-sourced Samsung deal, and Mr. Pantalone took him to task on his years as health minister.
"Is he going to be applying the same degree of efficiency and excellence as he did when I'm assuming he went line by line on the eHealth budget?" Mr. Pantalone asked.
Each candidate emphasized his commitment to public transit and lining up the necessary funds to expand the city's aging - what Mr. Rossi called "woefully inadequate" - transport infrastructure.
"Doing nothing is not an option. We have a real crisis here in terms of transportation, public life and the environment," Mr. Pantalone said. "We lost a generation in not building anything. ... We cannot afford not to build transit city."