Hall into the home stretch of mayor

The campaign for Toronto's seat in City Hall is set to heat up in the coming weeks

With a 27-point lead in the polls, almost 2,000 volunteers and a long list of distinguished supporters ranging from filmmaker Atom Egoyan to a number of MPs and MPPs, it's fair to say Barbara Hall's campaign is in full swing.
The former city of Toronto mayor, who was beat out by Mel Lastman in the first megacity election in 1997, has probably had the biggest impact in this year's race. Hall has positioned herself away from a pack of five high-profile candidates - 31 in total are registered to run - as it is expected the campaign to be the next mayor of Toronto, heats up in the coming weeks.
"I feel great," said Hall during a recent discussion with Tandem. "I feel an enormous amount of excitement in all parts of the city about the future of our city, so I think that gives me a lot of energy. Also, I feel a lot of encouragement. I was out at Kipling subway station at seven this morning with a lot of recognition and support and I feel that in all parts of the city."
"My plan was to be active in all parts of the city and put my vision for the city out there and to focus on what I had to offer and that's what I continue to look at and I'm getting very positive responses from that; lots of volunteers coming in and getting involved; and it feels totally on track."
In recent weeks, Hall has been the target of her opponents over a fundraiser held last year a full six months before she even registered to run for mayor. The 'Friends of Barbara Hall' group raised and spent $100,000 exploring the feasibility of such a campaign and to register whether there was enough support for her candidacy.
The Hall campaign has dismissed the attacks, saying her opponents are trying to find something that will close the gap in the poll numbers. At present, former city councillor Tom Jakobek, also in the race for mayor, is the only one to file a formal complaint saying Hall is in breach of the Municipal Elections Act. That complaint is under review by provincial courts.
Hall narrowly missed being the new amalgamated city's mayor, when Lastman edged her out in 1997. She lost by less than five percent.
During that campaign, it really was just a two-horse race. This time out, with the likes of Jakobek, former Rogers CEO John Tory, city councillor David Miller and former federal MP John Nunziata entered in the fray, the campaign has become a different race altogether.
But the most recent poll numbers released show Hall at 45 percent support, followed by Tory at 18 percent, Nunziata at 17 percent, Miller at 13 percent and Jakobek trailing with six percent.
"I believe all the candidates when they say they're going to be there until the end," said the Cabbagetown resident. "I also know campaigns are about getting a lot of people to work with you and about money. It's very costly to run campaigns, so I think each campaign will make its own decision. But I do agree we are running out of time for people to change where they're going.
"I think it's great for Toronto that there are a number of serious contenders out there talking about the issues. I think it brings more people to the process and I think there's interest earlier than there normally is. Usually people don't start campaigns until summertime, or maybe Labour Day, and yet there's a lot happening."
Among her policy initiatives Hall is committed to solving the homeless problem, revamping the tendering process at city hall in an effort to make it more transparent and open, putting more police on the street and enhancing the city's vibrant cultural community. Like her opponents, though, restoring integrity at city hall is high on her platform.
"I think we need to start with a clear plan, clear expectations," she said. "We need to make absolutely clear, for example, that lobbyists and others who are not elected cannot be influencing decisions. The public service is there as its name suggests, to serve the public broadly defined and the public good."
As well, Hall would like to see a restructured arrangement between the three levels of government that would allow the city an opportunity to have more say over its own governance and access to more funding to deal with additional responsibilities downloaded on it in recent years. But first, she said, the city has to prove that it can be a responsible partner.
"I believe that one of the things that has got in the way of us getting that new deal is the perception that we don't have our own house in order, so in the midst of scandals like MFP, the city has let the provincial and federal governments off the hook, because they've been able to say 'why would we give them more money and more power, when they can't manage what they have?' " she said. "So I think the first priority needs to be getting our own house in order and bringing in good management that gives the citizens of the city faith, but also other institutions, other levels of government, and that's essential to being able to solve any of the problems we're having. If people don't trust the city, then they're not going to be a partner, whether it's a resident in north Etobicoke or East York, or whether it's a major corporation, or whether it's the federal government."

Publication Date: 2003-08-24
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3085