Ward 21 Councillor Joe Mihevc: If Rob Ford becomes mayor, the world as you know it will come to an end (or words to that effect)

Leftist Toronto City Councillor Joe Mihevc is a supporter of David Miller, whose disgraceful performance  as mayor during the civic strike in his last term had killed his hopes for re-election. But Mihevc has reluctantly turned his back on fellow Miller "progressive" Joe Pantalone.

Mihevc advocates strategic voting for George "Captain eHealth" Smitherman because in his words, front-running Rob Ford  "would destroy so much that we value about our city – its diversity, animated neighbourhoods, care for the newcomers and the poor, our quality of life." I guess that is Mihevc's way of saying 'implement policies which would reduce the city's skyrocketing debt and cut the bloated waste at city hall.'

Or maybe it's his way of saying Ford is going to try to get to the bottom of why the St. Clair streetcar fiasco, which was budgeted at $43 million, ended up costing $120 million.

Mihevc's hysteria continues with: "Under Rob Ford, City Council will not function, our city agencies will be in disarray, economic development will be hurt and our city will suffer in many ways."

I was waiting for the part where Mihevc describes how the earth will open to the sulphuric pits of hell,  and how the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will ride their steeds in a crimson sky above the CN Tower which will be transformed into a pillar of fire, but he didn't go quite that far.

I also didn't notice the part where Joe tells you how popular he is with the city's unions who dread Ford clamping down on them on behalf of the city's taxpayers.

Sure Joe. Whatever you say. There's a good candidate running in Ward 21 named Shimmy Posen.

And Joe, if you're reading this, as I expect you or one of your staffers will be, it would have been one thing if you had endorsed Smitherman by extolling his virtues. But evidently that task was too challenging (I don't disagree with you there), so you felt the need to lay on ridiculous invective about Ford. That's an insult to the intelligence of your constituents and invites this sort of response.


Read Joe Mihevc's statement here.

UPDATE: Joe Mihevc said in a press conference that he spoke with Pantalone about where his endorsement would go, but The National Post reports:

Mr. Pantalone was completely shocked by Mr. Mihevc’s “incomprehensible” decision to support his opponent, which he clearly took personally. “I don’t know how Joe Mihevc can explain his position to his progressive base. He should be ashamed of himself,” Mr. Pantalone said last night, after a debate. “He didn’t even give me the decency of a phone call, after all the years we’ve known each other. I thought we were friends.”