George Smitherman defrosts mayoral campaign by talking to a BOT

Contrary to impressions, the Twitter feed @TorontoBOT is not a bot — although whose interests are served by the Toronto Board of Trade remains a bit of a mystery to most. But this is where presumptive mayoral candidate George Smitherman kicked off his tour of the rubber chicken circuit, the day after telling the Ontario Legislative Assembly he was ready to move on after a decade as Toronto Centre MPP. Member tables of 10 cost $950, and there were 600 people in the sold-out room at the Sheraton Centre, all of whom presumably expect something from the guy. “The next three months will be my Toronto MBA,” he told the media scrum after the luncheon, where he was presumably in his element by taking questions from the floor. Adam Radwanski of The Globe and Mail tweeted that Smitherman sounded like he was on the verge of too much substance: “I guess that’s part of the image-building, but still.” Keywords gleaned from the hashtag: economy, jobs, financial services, green energy, civic entrepreneurship, change, change, change, vision, vision, vision, and his two proclaimed campaign pillars: jobs and the economy. Smitherman’s farewell to Queen’s Park also included a passive-aggressive smirk at David Miller: “I have noted that the mayor of Toronto does attend here — sometimes even without cap in hand.” Sunday morning, he will serve as grand marshall for a Polar Bear Swim in Lake Ontario being held in support of actual polar bears.

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