Toronto mayoral candidate Rossi – playing from the conservative playbook? Globe and Mail photo
Rocco Rossi, one of the candidates running for mayor of Toronto, has unveiled some of his election platform. And in doing so, he has carved out niche on the right, leaving Smitherman to straddle the centre.
Rossi may be the cherubic, smiling counterpoint to Smitherman's furrow-browed bully, but make no mistake, Rossi has put his thumb on Torontonians' basest fears and has decided to play on them.
In yesterday's speech to the Empire Club in front of an audience, according to the Toronto Star, bulked up with enthusiastic supporters, Rossi sermonized from the Fraser Institute/Canadian Federation of Independent Business Handbook for How to Incite Fear and Win Public Office.
First, Rossi resurrected that old time right-winger favourite: sell public assets. That's right, take something built using public dollars, Toronto Hydro, and auction it off to the highest bidder. Toronto gets a one-time boost of a few bucks and the private sector buyer gets a cash machine.
