What impresses me about the Toronto electorate, is in recent polls, Mayor Rob Ford's approval has hardly dropped at all.
The message is clear. "Drink and smoke whatever you want, as long as you do a good job." Ford balanced Toronto's budget for the first time since the current city of Toronto was amalgamated from all the separate smaller burroughs that used to exist independantly. He's improved city services, and cut taxes in that time.
He's a buffoon, but he's still "failing upward."
It seems to me that Canada is more "scandal resistant" than America. When PM Pierre Elliot Trudeau was having an affair, and the media tried to get the scoop, he told them (on camera, no less) to "**** off and stay the hell out of [his] bedroom." His approval ratings went up. Compare to President Bill Clinton, who still got reelected, but the Lewinsky thing seriously damaged his approval ratings. I rather approve of the idea that the electorate is willing to rate you on the job you're doing and not the person you are. They'd rather have a drug-using fat drunken imbecile who keeps the city running and their taxes lower, than a well-dressed, fit, educated and polished charismatic gentleman who raises their taxes and can't keep the city transit system from going on strike. I can understand that.
_________________ Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails... ...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be? Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me █ ♣ █
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