Mayoral candidates for mayor face-off in 680News co-sponsored debates

Toronto’s top four mayoral candidates squared off again at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Thursday.

The subject of this debate was “Sustainability, the environment and the Community: What will the new mayor do to improve sustainability and engage Torontonians in their vision for the health and design of the city.”

During their discussion about the community, candidates Rob Ford, George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone and Rocco Rossi were asked their thoughts about continued funding for the city’s 13 priority neighbourhoods that currently share $13-million.

Ford said he was not sure if he would continue to fund them.

“I haven’t seen the results from these investments. I’m not going to commit to anything until we see exactly how much benefits […] we [are] getting from that investment.”

And with that answer Rossi lashed out.

“We’ve been criss-crossing the city for the last nine and a half months and if you have not built up data sense that tell you that the work in the priority neighbourhood is working or not – then you have a very flat learning curve, Mr. Ford.”

While Smitherman said – if elected mayor – he would not stop at just those 13 neighbourhoods.

“We can’t have this discussion about priority neighbourhoods and satisfy ourselves that those 13 were the full list in the City of Toronto – how far off was the 14th neighbourhood?”

Pantalone, however, said he would not only extend the funding – but expand it.

Another main issue debated were the limits a mayor has to deal with, including how the candidates would protect Torontonians from other powers – such as those of the province.

Rossi said “it was David Crombie who said – very wisely – just because we have a weak mayor system doesn’t mean we need to have a weak mayor.”

Smitherman rejected this idea of a weak mayor system as he explained “the office has powers of persuasion, which go well beyond the powers [that] are available to anyone from a legislative standpoint  […].”

And Ford explained the number one thing people need protection from are taxes.

While Pantalone told the panelists the key would be to make Toronto stronger by investing in things like transit and the arts.

The environment and infrastructure were also hot button issues.

Smitherman said we must protect our lake. Rossi added he wants to improve the city’s ravine system.

And when the candidates were asked how they would make the city more attractive, Pantalone said he thinks a cricket system would be a good start.

“We have a baseball stadium, we have a soccer stadium, we have a hockey and basketball stadium – we even have a tennis stadium at York University – but you know what cricket is the fastest growing sport in southern Ontario.”

Ford, on the other hand, said he wants to see more flowers planted across the city.

The debate was moderated by former Toronto Star publisher, John Honderich.

CityNews’ reporter Francis D’Souza, 680News’ John Stall and Toronto Star’s Vanessa Lu made up the panel.

The debate, which was co-sponsored by 680News, began and 7 p.m. and ended just before 8:30 p.m.

The full debate is expected to be up online at 680News.com by 2 p.m. Friday.