New faces for shaking up Toronto city council

[Somalina]

South Asia Mail

Thursday, October 07, 2010

 

Most of the media attention in the municipal election campaign has been devoted to the Toronto mayoral race. But there are also hot races for the 44 seats on Toronto City Council. Incumbents generally win these races, but the Star believes it is time to shake up council by electing new people who have fresh ideas and better reflect the diversity of the city. Closer to election day, the Star will list its choices for city council in all 44 of Toronto’s wards. But today we focus on three potential new faces that merit special attention:

 

Cadigia Ali, Ward 2, Etobicoke North. Mayoral candidate Rob Ford has held this council seat for 10 years and before that his father represented the area at the provincial level. Now Rob’s brother, Doug, is hoping to maintain the Ford dynasty in Ward 2. His main opponent, Cadigia Ali, a Somali-Canadian, is a graduate of medical school in Rome and a committed community leader with years of experience mentoring youth, advancing public health and promoting student excellence. She would be a change for the better.

 

Mohamed Dhanani, Ward 26, Don Valley West. This candidate was just five years old when his parents fled Tanzania and came to Canada. After living in Toronto’s Flemingdon Park area, Dhanani earned a master’s degree in public health from Yale University. He has worked as a skilled government administrator, a successful entrepreneur and an impassioned community leader. He lost by just 214 votes to incumbent John Parker in 2006. There are others on council who reflect Parker’s small-c conservative views. Dhanani would bring a new perspective to council.

 

Neethan Shan, Ward 42, Scarborough-Rouge River. Incumbent Raymond Cho has served on council for 19 years. That’s long enough. Shan is a strong alternative. A Tamil-Canadian, he has left his seat as a school board trustee in Markham for a crack at Toronto council. Now a Toronto resident, Shan has long been a community activist in the city’s difficult Malvern neighbourhood and heads the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. City council would benefit from his presence.

Source: South Asia Mail

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

 

Khadiijo Cali has the best chance; last time she came in a distant, but quite well, second. The incumbent, Rob Ford, is not running marka fursad weyn heysataa.

 

Xaafadee rabto laga doorto waa xaafadda Soomaalida, if Soomaalida ay mideysan yihiin lee. I hope Reer Etobicoke North (waa degmadee Dhigsan [Dixon] ka tirsantahay) midoobaan for once.

[Somalina]

I hope so too. Support Khadija reer N Etobicokoow!

[Jacaylbaro]

CADIGIA ALI

[Mr. Somalia]

^Which white man in his right mind would vote for a KHADIJO CALI?

 

That anglicized version of her name is understandable because she, like any other politician, would stoop however low they must in order to secure votes, and in this case, to attract particularly the non-muslim vote. So it makes sense that she played around, in a deft manner, with the syllables in her name to make it sound more exotic and as far away as possible from sounding Islamic. And for that alone, in my opinion, this woman deserves to loose.

[Kool_Kat]

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro:

quote: CADIGIA ALI

My sentaments exactly!

 

She's a lovely lady, who has always been involved in her community as well as with many other organizations...Mansha'allah, I've always been a fan of her, as early as her days with Midaynta...She's also a very good friend of my mom...Lakiin maxey magaca saan ugu rafaadisayna?

[Somalina]

How is a name like Cadigia anglicized? and why wouldn't the white man vote for her? are you mistaking Canadians for their south of the border racist neighbours? miskiin.

 

Magaca wey wadatey markey Canada soo gashay, meesha ay kala timidna waa iska cadahay (Italy). Dad ayaa la caayaa ayaad ka danbeysaa, is deji aboow xooga. Waxay community-geeda u qabatey, adiga ma fahmeysid weligaa, ileen sidaas umaadan hadleen haddii kale.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

 

Very, very sad result to see. She was defeated by the newly elected mayor's brother. That marax Ford family ayaaba that district iska leh. It was his brother before him, and before that their father was elected from there to Ontario provincial parliament.

 

And what is even more sadder is that Toronto, of all places, got a new right-wing, conservative mayor. oh, Koronto, now nalka ayaa ka dami doono.

[AfricaOwn]

^ aside ford, who was the other option you wanted to win as the mayor?

[Juxa]

waa khadija maxamed ali.... sida loo qorey magaceedana waa siduu talyaaniga uqorey back in the day.

 

she is truely remarkable lady, very energatic and outspoken. reer koronto should support her little bit

 

mr somalia meeqa qof aa magacooda Ahmed, saida, sadia, fatima, hawa or Mohamed loo qoraa,,,,,,this is not different

 

of course i am biased but still i think she is remarkable lady... i dont know much about her policies though

[LayZie G.]

MMA, on october 8th, you wrote and said that 'the candidate who had the best chance of winning the ward 2 seat' was Mrs Ali, so my question to you is if Mrs Ali didnt win in 06, did you think she would run a political campaign with her hands tied behind her back by overcoming the failures of the last election cycle and still have a good chance at beating her opponents?

 

 

I dont know about the city of toronto but in my tuulo, you have to meet the following requirements to run for municipal elections:

 

 

3.1 Qualification of Candidates

 

You can run for Council if you meet the following qualifications:

 

• A Canadian citizen;

• At least 18 years of age;

• A resident of the City of the city;

• The owner or lessee of property in the City, or the

spouse;

• Not legally prohibited from voting; and

• Not disqualified by any legislation from holding municipal office.

• Candidates must be qualified on the day they file their nomination

paper.

• A Member of Council must maintain their qualifications throughout the entire term of office or their seat will become vacant.

 

(as u can see, most qualify to run but so few win)

 

With that said, I don't see why Mrs Ali couldnt change her tactics this election cycle? Did she actually think she could beat anyone, much less the political power of the 'Ford's' running the same campaign as '06?

 

What in the world does being a 'doctor' once in ITALIA have to do with running for municipal elections?

 

Instead, Mrs Ali failed the basics of political campaigns 101. Know your issues, get the message out, get big endorsements and out spend your opponent, all of which she failed to deliver.

 

Regardless of the vacant seat in her ward, she should have known that in order to create jobs, people want you to talk about the issues, they want to know how your so called "civic service" experience will help create jobs, instead they heard you say "you know what the community is going through" and I will be your voice to represent you, which was uttered so many times to toronto star. (sure, send a minority to city hall but how will that help them get the constituents get the jobs they need in their district or how will it help them curb the high taxes)

 

Instead of talking to property owners, who are mostly affected by the decision of city hall, she limited her message to the minority groups, as thought that will win you a seat. That was bold move on her part but she should have known that it was a gamble.

 

Another failure is getting endorsement from the toronto star, that was toxic. Mrs Ali as a candidate lacked political depth, she obviously has not learned the '06 lessons and her loss was inevitable, even if the winner didnt have the ford name and money behind him, she would have still lost.

 

 

Lastly, Mrs Ali, if you are reading this and have convinced yourself that Mr Ford, the senior ford beat you because of his brother's political base, think again. YOU BEAT YOU. Your message resonated with the poor and the disfranchised and not everyone in that constituency is poor and disfranchised.

 

If you are considering running again, just change your message, its that simple, CHANGE YOUR MESSAGE.(if you dont believe me, visit doug ford, the winners website and read his message)

[Ismalura]

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar:

 

Very, very sad result to see. She was defeated by the newly elected mayor's brother. That marax Ford family ayaaba that district iska leh. It was his brother before him, and before that their father was elected from there to Ontario provincial parliament.

 

And what is even more sadder is that Toronto, of all places, got a new right-wing, conservative mayor. oh, Koronto, now nalka ayaa ka dami doono.

Too bad that she didn't win but still it is heartening enough that she went that far. May be next time !

 

In Ottawa all I saw was balaayo wada madax dheer for the council.

[Taleexi]

How her name is written should not be a matter of a concern, at least on this thread. That she showed up there and competed is what calls on our reflection. To this end, she did remarkable job least to say.

 

P.S. Regarding Somali names, why Joe's name never changes no matter in whatever context it is in, while Maxamed becomes Muhammad, Mohamed, Muhummad and Cali becomes Ali and so on, I am a crusader of preserving Somali names as they are for instance Xaliimo, Faarax, should never change irrespective of their context, whether it is in japanese, English, or Italian context. This shows the deficiencies of the way we do our naming and further development of Somali language must be in order.

[Ismalura]

Actually it matters IF she changed it.

 

When you change something about you to fit in with someone else you admit that your is inferior to the other. Exactly my problem when I see Somali's dying to assimilate.

[Taleexi]

Your "IF" says all and thus we are in agreement