The impetus for the book is pretty clear. 2010 saw the election of Rob Ford, a figure that one half the city never truly understood and another portion of it viewed as their champion. While electoral politics may distort the number of supporters and detractors Ford had it is clear that he spoke to some part of the city that felt underrepresented. Micallef sought to explore that side of Toronto.
Micallef does this by visiting wards all over the city of Toronto and meeting with challengers for the city council seats primarily. His survey goes from the Downtown, to Etobicoke, Scarborough, and places in between. Issues raised range from transit, housing, social housing, education, support for culture, parks and waterways, and on and on. It provides fascinating insights into the issues that were percolating at ground level in 2014, and no doubt have many parallels to issues that continue to fester or evolve to this day.
I think this book is valuable in gaining some insight into the "suburb vs. downtown" debate and how it is often more nuanced that it may appear on the surface. As Toronto continues to grow and expand the various neighbourhoods are adapting differently, which in some cases means not as well.
Does a book like this have value years after it is written? Well, as I wrote above I believe it speaks to ongoing issues in the city of Toronto between its diverse neighbourhoods and how it functions (or doesn't) as a city. Afterwards I think it'll act as an important time capsule to understand Toronto as it was in 2014 at a more granular, neighbourhood level. I think the book speaks to issues that are going on in big cities struggling to be big and that likely reflects issues in places like Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, Calgary, and so on.
I enjoyed this examination of political life and civic life in Toronto and would recommend it to local political watchers.
