Warren Kinsella -- strategist for both Dalton McGuinty and John Tory -- had the following to say on his blog about David Miller's election as mayor:

November 11, 2003 - Well, that didn't take long.

No sooner had David Miller won the mayoralty - due entirely to (a) John Nunziata's slime campaign and (b) the historic collapse of Barbara Hall's support - and Miller gave a graceless, cheap victory speech. It had all the hallmarks of vintage NDP, ie. an absolute certainty that everyone else is not just wrong, they're evil in their essence.

As I said to Liberal pals at the John Tory party (and it was a hell of a party): “They've just elected the leader of the opposition. The NDP is going to use City Hall as a base of operations to pick off Liberal MPPs and MPs. And he's going to be at war with business and police in no time.”

And, oh yes, your taxes are going up. And crime is going to get worse.

Apart from that, it is going to be just ducky.

I'm just not going to say much about this, because I think it speaks for itself so clearly.

As for picking off Liberal MPPs and MPs -- I really do think that David Miller is going to continue to put the interests of the City of Toronto first -- exactly as he should -- and not some other agenda. If Liberal MPPs and MPs lose out because they don't represent their ridings, then too bad. And I say this as someone who has almost always voted Liberal (but who doesn't have a Liberal membership card, in case anyone now wanted me to rip it up).

On the other hand, Liberal MPPs may come under another form of pressure as a result of this Toronto mayoral election. John Tory put in a very strong showing, and has positioned himself well to replace Ernie Eves as leader of the provincial Tories.

He looked like he was having fun this year, so why not stay in politics? He could have a chance of following in the footsteps of his hero, Bill Davis... if only he can get his party to ignore the hardcore and follow him toward the centre.

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