http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/home.aspxJohn Tory, host of The Live Drive (weekdays 4-7pm), is one of the most profound radio hosts in the country. His experience in business and politics allows him to provide in-depth coverage on any current event en-usCopyright 2013, CFRB-AMMon, 20 May 2013 12:56:45 GMTWed, 20 Feb 2013 22:52:39 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comAnd the awards go to:Best at sticking to the real issues: NDP Leader Andrea Horwath on jobs and the economy.Best political strategy: PC Leader Tim Hudak for pushing the "Kathleen Wynne is Dalton McGuinty" line without much pushback.Best attack dog (by acclamation): Lisa McLeod Kathleen Wynne review on day one: She was competent and comfortable. She needs better answers on differences from McGuinty and on power plants. One down, endless Question Periods to go. Here's the audio of my comment today on the Live Drivehttp://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10506728jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10506728Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:52:39 GMTAs the snow storm moved through Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford joined Matt Gurney on the Live Drive to commend the police and city employees for their hard work. The Mayor also praised those who helped others today, lending a shovel and pushing vehicles out of snow banks.http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10501733jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10501733Sat, 09 Feb 2013 02:43:23 GMTThere's no question Tom Anselmi, president of MLSE, is a media savvy, fan friendly guy. But during today's media conference to announce the shocking firing of Leaf GM Brian Burke, Anselmi really let the fans down. No matter how hard he was pushed by reporters, Anselmi kep replying that he "didn't want to get into specifics" about the reason for Burke's sudden dismissal. Anselmi did mention the Leaf's late season collapse last year that saw them miss the play-offs again - a place they've never visited under Burke's watch. But that fold job was nine months ago, so why wait until ten days before a lockout-shortened schedule to bring out the axe? The lockout, by the way, is another reason why Anselmi owed the fans more answers. Like all NHL teams, the Leafs are trying to win back fed-up fans coming out of the labour war and keeping them in the dark regarding the reasons for chopping the ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10487655jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10487655Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:06:06 GMTTwo sets of elections in Canada's two biggest provinces next week and both are important.In Quebec it is a full scale provincial election, probably called by Premier Jean Charest as a bit of a Hail Mary on the basis that his government was already suffering from terminal political fatigue and maybe a campaign would jolt people into forgetting about that and giving him one more chance. That appears not to be happening. And before I predict a bad week for Mr Charest next week, I would remind us all of the fact that he did step up and take on the leadership of the Quebec Liberal party when it was no big prize and that he did serve as the most pro-Canada federalist Premier of Quebec in a long long time, and that was good for Quebec and good for Canada. Whatever the increased role for the separatist Parti ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10433699jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10433699Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:36:25 GMTI have missed being away these past two days at some Board meetings in Montreal. I enjoy the thinking and fun that goes into a radio show, so I miss it, and of all the places I could be, I do love Toronto. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few things we can learn, including from Montreal. We forget, Montreal was for many years, when many of us were younger, Canada's largest, most worldly, best known and most dynamic city. I recall they seemed to be going broke half the time but that didn't seem to matter.Then came the election of a separatist government in 1976 and all of that began to change as Montrealers, thousands and thousands of them, left Montreal to come to stable, dull Toronto and immigrants from around the world got the same memo. Note to Quebec voters--these messages to the world should be ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414583jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414583Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:12:20 GMTHow short our memories are. Don't we remember there would have been at least 11 more federal elections in the past few years if every time the sabres were rattled by the opposition we had actually gone to the polls. We forget, this is part of the give and take of minority government politics. Having lived through this in prior years I almost think it is a necessary part of the "show business" of politics in minority mode--its some bizarre version of a mating dance. So Dalton McGuinty is headed off to see the Lieutenant Governor after a defeat in committee. They will have a meeting and exchange the usual pleasantries, but no election will be called. Why? First, because it would be a complete waste of time and $150 million of your money. Why? Because the result would be almost exactly the same as last time. Why? Because the ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10395139jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10395139Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:47:06 GMTFunny how completely unconnected dots become connected over the course of a week. It began with a story I did on a dating website called "FarmersOnly.com" in which the founder said it really wasn’t for farmers only but rather for people who sought or lived a particular way of life. His best example was one which related to a guy asking a woman to meet him for coffee at 9pm some night. If she was a farmer, it would never happen because there is often nowhere to go "for coffee" in the urban sense, and, as he pointed out, 9 pm is after bedtime when you have to get up at 5 latest to milk the cows or whatever. Next came news of the CareerCast job rankings, best to worst, in which being a dairy farmer was ranked second worst. Aside from the 5 am (or earlier) wakeup time alluded ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10370319jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10370319Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:43:13 GMT I thought Andrea Horwath started off on the right foot (she might prefer to say the left) in terms of doing politics a bit differently in the wake of the recent Ontario budget.  I feel very strongly, minority or majority, that all political parties should be working more closely together (and for that matter with business and labour too). After all, those in the NDP and PC ranks got elected too, by groups of  voters whose votes are supposed to mean just as much as those cast for the Liberals. By saying she would listen to the people and talk with the McGuinty government before deciding how to vote on the budget, Ms Horwath showed that she understood the new reality of minority parliament, and would proceed in a considered manner to make a very important decision. So far so good. The phone and e mail public opinion gathering was ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10368217jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10368217Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:12:16 GMTI am really caught between a rock and a hard place on the whole business of accountability in our governments and in particular the "tradition" of ministerial accountability applied in a doctrinaire way. On the one hand, I honestly believe that it is accountability which is the one most sorely lacking element which in turn makes for poor quality, expensive, often irresponsible government. Long waiting times for government services? No one REALLY accountable for those lineups and having their job at stake if it isn’t fixed. Scandalous overspending? No one REALLY accountable for the original budget, rewarded for doing better than budget , job at stake for doing much worse. And on it goes. And so, when you read of the ORNG air ambulance scandal in Ontario or the F-35 soap opera in Ottawa or even the St Clair transit boondoggle in Toronto, you are inclined to say "off with ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10369377jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10369377Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:10:25 GMTPeople are always talking about how exciting one election or another has been. I haven't ever really experienced a dull one, as an organizer or as a candidate! Certainly as a candidate you have it all on the line so just about every minute is "exciting". As an organizer I have hardly been through one which went EXACTLY according to script, sometimes for the good and sometimes not. So that made them all "exciting".    Leaving my own obvious partisan history aside for you to factor in, I think the one party which has actually had the (relatively speaking) least eventful campaign has been the Conservatives. They went in winners and will come out winners in my view. It is the by- product of a campaign which focussed in a discliplined way on preserving and strengthening their base support. Granted finishing at 45 per cent would be better than the ...http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10232798jtory@astral.com (John Tory)http://www.newstalk1010.com/blog/johntory/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10232798Mon, 02 May 2011 19:57:29 GMT