TORONTO VOTES: Scarborough and the Fords among topics of discussion at UTSC mayoral debate

"Your councillors, your MPs, your MPPs, haven’t been fighting hard enough," Ford explained Tuesday, Oct. 21, in a lecture hall at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.

Local Rotary clubs organized the event as part of an exercise in Scarborough’s renewal, and several screened questions candidates were asked suggested area residents felt ignored or abandoned, and implied they were not be receiving the same services as other districts of Toronto.

At one point, Ford, Olivia Chow and John Tory were told Scarborough, with a population equal to that of Halifax, has "no significant museums or cultural institutions."

Ford said he’ll extend the Sheppard subway eastward instead of the planned Sheppard East light-rail line, a project Tory supports, and pledged to continue building underground transit into "the furthest reaches of Scarborough."

All three said municipal tax incentives should be used to attract new companies to areas in Scarborough, particularly around the proposed Bloor-Danforth Subway extension, often called the Scarborough Subway.

"We just haven’t made the effort before," Tory said.

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Chow, who wants to increase bus service across the city by 10 per cent, also read from a list of 30 bus routes she said were cut under the Fords, including many in Scarborough.

Ford, she argued, has promised the TTC more money, but Tory would not spend a penny to restore them if elected.

Tory responded the routes can be restored, but not before city council can say where the money will come from.

Ford, as usual, clashed frequently with Tory, the frontrunner: "You didn’t even know where Scarborough existed until you decided to run," the Etobicoke councilor said to Tory, who fired back that he visited Chester Le, Malvern, other Scarborough neighbourhoods either as a United Way executive or as a private citizen.

"As a private citizen, you didn’t come near this place," he told Ford.

The mayor’s brother also took a question about restoring Toronto’s "tainted" reputation, which Ford said was a reference to Rob Ford’s addiction issues. "I’m proud of Rob for going to get help," he said as a man in the audience shouted "Shame on him!"

"Was it embarrassing for Rob Ford? Yes. Did it hurt the city? The numbers show, not at all"

Moments later, another man was escorted out after heckling Chow.

Ford said debates at city hall get heated, "but a lot of it down there – I’ll be very frank – is theatre."

He said he works especially well with Scarborough councillors, but took a shot at "Scarborough councillors" who voted against the subway extension, though there is only one, Paul Ainslie.

"It’s staggering to me. How can you vote against your own people?" Ford asked.

Tory said things have to settle things down at council, and councillors such as the Fords have to "stop formenting disputes" between different parts of the city.

"We’ve seen in the last four years a division that can’t go on."

The candidates seemed sympathetic to the view Highland Creek residents have towards waste disposal at the local sewage treatment plant.

In 2011, council decided to replace incineration of sewage at the plant with "beneficial use" – that is trucking of the dried waste out of the community. Many near the plant preferred to have newer incineration technologies installed, though some residents to the west opposed this and favoured beneficial use.

The province has ordered a new environmental study which won’t be finished until the end of next year.

Tory said the city needs to find a different solution than trucking sludge, which he said was a temporary solution at best, not to mention dangerous. "Wherever it ends up, it’s not good news," he added of the material.

Ford said he spoke loudly at council and voted against trucking sludge. He said he’d find another solution.

Chow said she wasn’t as familiar with the issue but "I’m definitely open to looking at other alternatives."

As for Scarborough’s lack of cultural institutions, Chow and Ford said they support developing an arts and culture centre in the area, with Chow suggesting Scarborough could host the Canadian Rock Hall of Fame.

Tory said much of the art and artifacts at Toronto institutions sit "in vaults in the basement" and could be displayed at the "underused" Scarborough Civic Centre, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, or even at community centres.

D!ONNE Rene, a mayoral candidate (there are more than 60) who was removed from previous debates when she tried to participate, said she felt Scarborough "has been excluded from what goes on" in the city.

"I’m meeting a lot of people who do not know there are more than three candidates in this election," she added.