On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

I'll say this for the So You Think You Can Mayor? operation: they gave one heck of a show, both in the ways they expected and hoped to deliver and in at least one sense that they didn't expect at all.

By way of explanation: This was the first time I've ever seen a mayoral candidate removed from a debate by way of police escort!

Of course, this was also the first time I've ever seen a candidate crash a party they weren't invited to.

The invited candidates were Clive Doucet, Jim Watson, Charlie Taylor and Mike Maguire. The topics were child care, transit fees, recreational services fees, and housing.

The party-crasher?

Jane Scharf.

According to at least one news report, she'd already done this a couple of nights ago. I was NOT expecting to have a ringside seat for a second such instance, but she provided. Much argument ensued, both on stage and in the audience over whether or not to tolerate this and to what degree.

In the end, the organizers did what I suspect they believed was the only thing that could be done: call the constabulary. They conducted themselves reasonably well, and as for Scharf...well, I'm put in mind of at least one proverb: Well-behaved women rarely make history.

After she left, some interesting discussions of ideas came up. Doucet's suggestion of merging the city's housing, health and recreational services arms under the banner of "Department of Population Health" - I'm paraphrasing him here - is intriguing. His case is based on his conviction that the three sectors are linked in ways we tamper with at our societal peril.

Maguire...well, he warned us that he was going to approach everything through an economic lens. And he disappointed or pleased in a very predictable way. Although there were details re: the bus/streetcar argument where I almost thought that Doucet would - if elected - give serious thought to putting Maguire in a post involving contract negotiations for any streetcars ordered by City Hall. I'll be interested to see if that happens.

Watson certainly had his hand all over the housing file. No surprise, given his cabinet role at Queen's Park these last couple of years. Some of his work has gotten promising developments moving. Not sure how far that will take him.

More as I think of it...unless you think of it first.

I may be posting pix from tonight on Flickr at some point.

Update: Here's the pix!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwight_ew/sets/72157625118336724/