A quick note on Fiscal responsibility

This past year, Torontonians were serenaded with a cacophony of the same message.  Toronto's finances are a mess.  Four out of the five major candidates for mayor tripped all over themselves to tell us every chance they got how out of control Toronto's finances were.  The other candidate, the one who ought to know best, Joe Pantalone the deputy mayor ran on a platform of staying the course.  The city is going in the right direction, he said.  Unfortunately for Joe, and others who think the city was moving forward, the 4 candidate echo-chamber on the right set the tone for the entire election.

Now, after months and in Rob Ford's case years of railing against Toronto's "spending problem," financial reports from the individual campaign have come out and it looks like, maybe, the candidates could have used the same law that Toronto has that prevents deficit spending.

Apparently, our more "fiscally responsible" candidates went a bit over budget in their pursuit of power.  Here is a rundown on just how overboard:

Rob Ford- $650,000
Sarah Thomson-$100,000
Rocco Rossi- $40, 000
George Smitherman- none
Joe Pantalone- Says his debt is manageable and will take care of it himself.

But don't worry, they're just regular people like you and I.  When they go overbudget, they just do some "belt-tightening."  Just kidding, they hold a fundraising dinner and all of their rich friends come and bail them out.    Wouldn't that be nice?  Maybe next election some candidate can promise to pay all of Toronto's christmas bills without raising taxes.