No, I’m not talking about that silly reality television show that for some reason is still on TV…

I’m talking about the 2010 Municipal election which will hopefully pit George Smitherman against John Tory.

Nothing says “Friday” like a good political debate!

Just to ensure that everybody is aware of my stance on the issue, I’m going to say it right from the get go: I want John Tory to be the next Mayor of Toronto.

Or maybe I just don’t want George Smitherman to be the Mayor, and I’d be willing to accept anybody other than him.

No…..no, I’m gonna go with my gut on this one and say that I was right the first time around; JOHN TORY FOR MAYOR!

Yes, I’m reporting old news, but last month David Miller announced that he will not seek re-election as Toronto’s Mayor in 2010, and already the political debates are being had at water coolers across Toronto – especially in offices with incredible nerds like myself….although we don’t have a water cooler, nor will anybody discuss this with me, but you get the point…

I know that only two candidates have officially announced their intentions to register on January 4th, 2010: Giorgio Mammoliti and George Smitherman, but in the event that we have another candidate not named “Georgie,” I’d like to think it’s John Tory.

And I’d like to think that this is going to be one hell of an election race!

A recent poll, which I saw somewhere but really can’t source so you’ll just have to trust me, said that 47% of people would vote for John Tory and 21% of people would vote for George Smitherman.  But something tells me it would be a lot closer than that!

I think we, as a city, really need an amazing race for the Mayoral office!

Remember the last municipal election in 2006?  David Miller won by a landslide with 57% of the vote, while Jane Pitfield, who I voted for, came a distant second place with 32%.

And for those of you with extremely short memories, don’t forget that David Miller’s evil tenure as our city’s ruiner was forged in 2003 with a very tight election win over John Tory himself – 43% to 38%.

Some say that John Tory would have won, had it not been for the smear campaign run by political brat John Nunziata, who accused Tory and his party of trying to bribe Nunziata to drop out of the race by offering him the Deputy Mayor’s position.

Hmmmm…..is there any way that I could believe a man who’s fat sister, Christine, was caught buying plus-sized clothing and charging it as a business expense to tax-payers?  While we’re on the subject, because this is too good to let go, Christine Nunziata also charged the following items as business expenses: jewelry, personal vacations to Cuba and the Dominican Republic, lingerie (ew god, the thought!), trips to Canada’s Wonderland, and massive amounts of food and alcohol (which is forbidden) that were consumed after midnight when clearly nobody is still doing public service!

Okay, that was a massive tangent, but it once again demonstrates how rarely we find honest, hard-working politicians…

Back to the task at hand: pitting John Tory and George Smitherman in an all-out blood-bath….er….political race.

Let’s look at the candidates a little more closely:

John Tory

Like so many other politicians, half of John Tory’s life has been spent in the public sector.

He spent 1980 – 1981 working at his father’s law firm, Tory, Tory DesLauriers, & Binnington, and returned to the firm for portions of 1986 – 1995.

From 1981 – 1985, Tory served in the office of the Premier of Ontario.

From 1995 – 1999, Tory served as President and CEO of Rogers Media.

And what I find most interesting is that from 1996 – 2000, Tory served as Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.

In 2003, Tory ran against David Miller and Barbara Hall in an unsuccessful bid to become succeed Mel Lastman and become Toronto’s mayor.  As a demonstration of Tory’s good character, he helped Miller and Hall raise funds to repay their massive campaign debts after the election was over.

In 2004, Tory began his quest to become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and eventually succeeded in early 2005.  He won the riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey in March of 2005.

In 2007, Tory ran in the general election and lost to Liberal Kathleen Wynne.  Tory made a huge political mistake by promising to provide public funding for Ontario’s faith-based schools, and this undoubtedly cost him the election.

In January of 2009, Tory ran in a by-election for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock but lost 43.73% to 41.17%.

And now we wait to see whether or not he will run for Mayor in 2010.

George Smitherman

George Smitherman has been a life-long politician, first serving as a Member of Provincial Parliament in 1999, however he has spent a little time in the private sector running a consulting business.

In 1999, Smitherman ran as the Liberal candidate for the Toronto Centre-Rosedale seat in Provincial Parliament, and won mainly due to the fact that former Toronto Mayor, John Sewell, was running as an independent candidate to protest the city’s amalgamation.

In 2003, Smitherman retained his seat as the Liberals won the election, and “Furious George” was named to cabinet as the Minister of Health.

In 2006, Smitherman was named Deputy Premier and Toronto Regional Minister.

In 2007, Smitherman was elected for the third time as the Liberal representative for Toronto Centre-Rosedale, and was eventually named Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

Then last week, Smitherman officially announced his intention to run for Mayor in 2010.

So where does this leave us?

Well officially, it leaves only Smitherman and Mammoliti as the two candidates, but we know there will be 5-10 others – including John Tory.

Why do I endorse John Tory?

It is my opinion that we need a business-man to run our city, NOT a politician.

Yes – am saying that the most important political position in our city should NOT be had by “just” a politician, but rather a person who has experience in the private sector that will help this city climb out of the financial mismanagement that it’s spiraling into.

As the President and CEO of a billion-dollar corporation, I trust John Tory to make the decisions that will shape our city’s future.

I’m sorry to say, but I think that George Smitherman is “just” a politician, and I think many of us would agree that politics is often about making the most people happy and making decisions based on public perception and opinion rather than what is necessarily best for the city.

I don’t think that David Miller had any sort of “plan” during his two terms as Mayor, but rather I think he flew by the seat of his pants and took it one day at a time.  During his reign, we saw our taxes increased more than ever before, and Miller’s own personal biases (such as his bicycling hobby) played a role in new infrastructure and legislation.

Shelley Carroll suggested last week that Toronto needs its own sales tax to generate additional revenue for public spending.  If that is all a politician can come up with – more taxes, then what hope to we have?  Shelley Carroll just signed her own death warrant as far as politics is concerned, since we already have a 13% sales tax and McGuinty has brought in the HST.  Should we look forward to Carroll raising our sales tax to 19% so the city can continue to spend out of control rather than come up with any cost-saving or cost-cutting measures?

I can’t wait for Shelley Carroll to declare her intentions to run for Mayor…

David Miller’s handling of the 2009 garbage strike demonstrates what our city has become: one giant bleeding-heart for anybody that cries poor.

I am certain that a businessman like John Tory would run this city like a business, and would lay out the ground work for a “ten-year plan,” which is something that most politicians don’t do.  Nobody wants to demonstrate any foresight but rather continuously re-assess where the city stands in a daily snap-shot and just maintain the status quo.

I lost all faith in George Smitherman when he tried to tack the Green Energy Audit on to all real estate transactions, and I’m not just saying this as a Realtor.  The only reason that we were able to come out of our short-lived “recession” in 2008-09 which lasted a whopping four months is because the real estate industry was so vibrant.

And people like George Smitherman want to make it more difficult to transact in real estate, which would spell disaster for the economy as a whole.

I like Smitherman’s idea for the Green Energy Audit, but I don’t like his idea for implementation.  If the best he can do is try and make it “somebody else’s problem” by assigning the responsibility to the real estate industry, then he isn’t thinking about what is best for our city and our economy.

I cringe at the thought of anybody BUT John Tory serving as our next Mayor.

Our city has major issues, folks!  Admit it, or not.

And John Tory is the man to turn things around…