David Miller leading a ‘Four More Years’ cheer

The official kick-off for David Miller’s effort to remain mayor featured a video message of support from environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Which was perfectly appropriate considering how much the campaign packaging owes to the second term of Bill Clinton, who successfully ignored whatever passed for dissent, while being too charismatic to allow accusations of incompetency to stick. But with the limp launch of Jane Pitfield’s effort to unseat Miller – with shrill remarks about criminals, condos and cadgers – the real competition may yet emerge. “Same Great Mayor. Same Great Hair.” reads one of the posters for the confidently postured candidate, while other tritely acerbic slogans serve to remind us that he’s tall! honest! and nice! The robust crowd at the imitation genuine Steam Whistle Brewery ranged from seasoned veterans of media launch buffet lines to others who appeared to genuinely need the free meal, and drink tickets are always a good motivation to fill out a volunteer form. Miller’s speech provided a soundbite related to every topic he’s dealt with in 30 months on the job: The mayor’s only reference to his opponents came in mentioning how the city was a surprise sliver medalist as Best Employer in the Toronto Sun Readers’ Choice Awards – coming in second to Pizza Pizza, it turns out. Bumper stickers reading i ♥ my mayor reflect his self-assurance in the midst of the urban renaissance that seemed completely unfathomable during the reign of Miller’s predecessor – maybe the 2003 indictment from Mel Lastman, “You’ll never be Mayor of Toronto because you say dumb and stupid things”, deserves a place on the campaign literature, too. Lastman’s recent return from his undisclosed location, which began with his labeling the current batch of councillors “a bunch of duds”, was really just a warm-up for the expansion of Bad Boy appliance stores with a reception at the Lobby bar on Bloor, suggesting a slicker sales pitch since the days of son Blayne perspiring in his prison stripe pajamas, trading lines with a Clinton lookalike. Mercifully, a thorn in the side of City Hall’s post-amalgamation era of slippery lobbyists, Adam Vaughan, has traded his reporter badge for a run at Olivia Chow’s vacated council chair, intriguingly driven by his argument that the recent overload of downtown high-rise residences will reach a crisis point once too many of the current swinging single occupants start to breed, and either bail for the suburbs, or feel lost in the urban jungle – although fears of a steel and glass sequel to St. James Town, as these clusters of condos find their value dwindling with the years, might only be pre-empted by slipping birth control ingredients into bottled water.

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