The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Sunday, August 29, 2010 

M edia coverage of the upcoming election in Toronto has been confined to a few candidates, none of whom speaks about the concerns and issues of a long neglected constituency -- the huge and vote-rich "visible minority". Thirty-seven are running for mayor of Canada's largest city yet the media focus is only on five. One candidate, Phil Taylor, breaks from the mudslinging mould of the five and provides a refreshing look at city politics. No traditional politician he appears to be. He preaches harmony and amity in the face of current adversities. To him, politics need not be bloody and insulting.

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INTERVIEW WITH PHIL TAYLOR

“Politics Need Not Be a Blood Sport,” Says Toronto Mayoral Candidate 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

T ORONTO -- With the way mainstream media is portraying the Oct. 25 election, voters don't seem to have much of a choice. As if there's a dearth of qualified people.

The truth is, out of the five candidates getting all the media attention, there are thirty-two others less conspicuous but probably more qualified to run Toronto as mayor.

For the most part they are faceless, no name recall like a Miller or Ford, or a Harper or Ignatief, but just as enthusiastic to change the culture of politics at City Hall.

Consider Phil Taylor, author, public speaker, motivational guru.

Soft-spoken with an immense capacity to bear no malice towards anyone, he refuses to engage in the current muck-racking among the mainstream media's five, namely, in alphabetical order, Rob Ford, Jose Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman and Sarah Thomson.

Every tired word, every irrelevant issue, every little gaffe are magnified a thousand times by these media and re-echoed a hundred thousand times more in cyberspace so long as they are spewed from any of the five mouths of the talking heads.

It is in this context that Phil Taylor is a refreshing sight, perhaps a re-energizing change for all Toronto.

"I choose not to make this politics a blood sport," he declares in an interview with this reporter. It is his belief, he said, that running for a public office need not be that bloody and insulting.

Taylor preaches love, harmony and amity not for the sake of maintaining the status quo, as in the way public affairs are run and managed at City Hall, but as a means of evoking positives from everyone and preserving goodwill inherent in every man.

A sked why he stays quiet amidst the rancour among the candidates, he retorts: "That's not the path I want to go down".

(An earlier live interview is available at: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel)

Taylor premises his run for Toronto mayor on the glaring fact that only 35 percent of registered voters have gone to vote in the past elections.

"This means people are discouraged," he explains. "They're not showing up in polls".

He adds: "That also means that people in positions of power and the candidates themselves are not addressing the majority of Torontonians".

"The core is this: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," Taylor states, sounding philosophical.

"The real question is: Do they really care? I just want to know if you care about me," he says

Taylor does care enough for Toronto and its 2.48 million population (5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area) that he wants to roll back taxes if he gets elected, and cut the mayor's salary. At least those two items are high in his agenda.

"Half of their (the population) life is being hijacked by the government through taxes," he explains. "We are not finding solutions by increasing taxes," he adds.

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To know more about the election, please visit the city's official website at: http://www.toronto.ca/elections/

For the list of candidates, please visit: http://app.toronto.ca/vote2010/findByName.do?lastName=all 

For other stories, please visit: 

1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/ 

2. http://torontonewsroom.blogspot.com/

3. http://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/

4. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/ 

5. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/ .

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Member, Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA)

and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE)

For news videos, please visit and click the links:

1. Beauties & Queens of Toronto: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel">&feature=channel 

2. Shirt as a Medium to Foster Pride in the Philippines: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel">&feature=channel 

3. Katrina Halili and the Signing Stars in Toronto: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel">&feature=channel 

4. Toronto Mayoral Candidate: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

For post-G20 summit coverage:

1. Sideshow at Bubbles for Peace Protest: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel">&feature=channel

2. Bubbles for Peace Protest at Queen's Park in Toronto: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel">&feature=channel

For news videos about the G20 summit, click the following links:

1. The other side of protest at: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

2. Part I: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

3. Part II: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

4. Part III: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

5. Part IV: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

6. Part V: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

7.Part VI: &feature=channel href="/&feature=channel" target=_blank>&feature=channel

8. Part VII: href="/" target=_blank>