Friday 10 September 2010

Olivia Chow endorses Joe Pantalone for Toronto mayor

Last night, at a dinner with supporters in Chinatown, Olivia Chow announced her support for Joe Pantalone in his run for mayor of Toronto. Jack Layton, and Mike Layton (who is running in Joe's old Ward 19 riding) have also endorsed Joe for mayor.
Olivia said of Pantalone: "Mr. Pantalone, he works hard, sometimes behind the scenes. He just get things done in his quiet, effective very serious way. And that's in stark contrast to what Mr. Ford is offering."

Two things seem to be holding Joe back in the campaign -  The fact that he is soft-spoken, and that most mainstream media just want to cover Rob Fords's antics. Even when Pantalone was the only one invited to take part in the Labour Day Parade, the media focused more on the parade-crashers Rossi and Thompson, than on Joe.

Pantalone is campaigning on his steady-hand-at-the-wheel experience in Toronto municipal politics, and collecting more and more endorsements, while the media rarely mentions him. But, as the front-runner Ford makes himself out to be more and more of an ignorant buffoon, and the other right-wing candidates continue to show themselves as Ford wanna-bes, I think Pantalone will shine through. I think people in Toronto have enough smarts to see through the jesters in the campaign to the one serious candidate.

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