He's known for his antics on council (he once removed his shirt during a debate), his globe-trotting trips at taxpayer expense to bring pandas to the Toronto Zoo and a failed bid to win a second term for former police chief Julian Fantino.
Now, Toronto councillor Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West), a 15-year veteran of city hall, wants to be known as “chief magistrate,” filing papers on Tuesday to run for mayor in the Oct. 25 election.
“It's time for change and I am the one to bring that change to city hall,” said Mr. Mammoliti, a member of the executive committee of Mayor David Miller, who is not seeking a third term.
A former New Democratic MPP who says he will let his current Liberal party card lapse, Mr. Mammoliti's agenda counts on a lottery and casino, both of which would need provincial government approval, to solve the city's fiscal woes.
“A casino can bring us up to $300-million a year,” he said. “Casinos make sense.”
His estimate flies in the face of historic agreements under which Niagara Falls and Windsor collect only $3-million a year from the province.
“A lottery is something I believe we have the ability to introduce,” he said. “The province has to come on board and to agree we should be on our own two feet and to allow us the tools to raise the necessary money.”
Mr. Mammoliti promises a tough-on-crime approach, contending that “gangs have taken over.”
Despite his failed bid to retain Mr. Fantino in 2004, Mr. Mammoliti praised current chief Bill Blair and his much-praised community approach to crime prevention.
But the councillor said “those officers on the street need a mayor who supports them instead of criticizing them and forcing them into a position at times to be afraid to make an arrest.”
Mr. Mammoliti dismissed a pledge by mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi to cut his own pay by 10 per cent if elected mayor.
“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” said Mr. Mammoliti.
As for his bellicose style, he makes no apologies. “You need a mayor that is vocal and loud to proceed with this agenda I have,” he said.
Reality check: Are these promises practical?
Lottery
No dice.
Unless the city can persuade Revenue Canada that it's a charitable organization, Ontario's Alcohol and Gaming Commission won't license Toronto to hold a lottery of its own.
According to the criminal code, only provincial governments, religious groups and charities can hold lotteries or other gaming events. Notable exceptions are native groups and temporary fairs and exhibitions, such as the Canadian National Exhibition, that hold short-term licensed casinos or lotteries.
The city would have a hard time shoehorning itself into one of these categories.
Casino
Don't bet on it: See lottery legislation.
Theoretically, an enterprising mayor could use the model of Toronto's Woodbine racetrack and propose to get a share of the profits from a provincially run gambling gambit in the city. Toronto gets 5 per cent of the profits from the first 450 slot machines at the city's Woodbine racetrack, and 2 per cent from the other approximately 1,550, bringing in around $16-million a year.
But the Caesars Windsor, a resort casino, now nets the city of Windsor a flat rate of $3-million a year – nowhere near the $300-million Mr. Mammoliti surmised a casino could bring Toronto annually.
But the province has made clear already it has no intention of bringing in any new gaming facilities: A January, 2005, release states the province's gambling strategy “includes no additional casinos.”
Crime
It's high time the city cracked down on crime, Mr. Mammoliti argued on Tuesday – specifically gang activity and prostitution. He has vowed that as mayor he would get tough on both.
But crime rates have been falling, dropping 6 per cent in 2008 and falling below the national average for several years running.
And the Toronto Police Service already has a lauded gang task force, whose work has been credited with reducing gang activity in many areas of the city – notably 12 Division, which had a spate of shootings earlier this year but has remained comparatively quiet since a summer police blitz.
A regulated prostitution industry (or a red light district, which Mr. Mammoliti has proposed in the past) would first require the formal legalization of solicitation and brothels. A case now in Ontario courts could make this possible.
Anna Mehler Paperny
