http://www.citynews.ca/2014/03...st-televised-debate/ 

Wednesday’s mayoral candidates debate, hosted by CityNews, is a highly anticipated one as it’s the first time all five main contenders will be under one roof, allowing viewers to watch them battle it out in one of the country’s most important campaigns.

“The first debate is like the first primary in the presidential election,” political strategist Jim Warren says, adding it sets the momentum, the tone and the candidates’ ability to fund raise.

“It affects all the pieces that help you win the election eventually,” says Warren, who advised former mayor Mel Lastman and former premier Dalton McGuinty.

The first televised debate, which airs at 5 p.m., will no doubt be one of many in the Toronto mayoral race for Olivia Chow, Rob Ford, Karen Stintz, David Soknacki and John Tory. But this debate will focus only on three topics chosen by CityNews: transit, finances and leadership.

To get ready for battle, each candidate will have spent the past weekend doing mock debates with members of their team playing their rivals and taking shots at their candidate, political strategists say.

“I’m sure all the other candidates are doing the same thing,” says Erika Mozes, who has worked for George Smitherman, Gerard Kennedy and Michael Bryant and is now communications director for Tory. “It prepares people for going into a debate.”

Tory, who lost the 2003 mayoral race to Mel Lastman, told CityNews he was getting ready by staging his own mock debates.

“The best way to prepare is by simulating what’s going to happen,” says Tory, who is a former Ontario PC leader, a former radio talk show host and ex-CEO of Rogers Media.

David Soknacki, a former Scarborough councillor and city budget chief, says he has been rehearsing in recent days in different spots throughout the city. Last weekend, he and his team practiced in a theatre space at a dramatic arts school and fine-tuned at a boardroom in downtown on Monday evening.

“We are preparing as best as we can and we’ll give it our best shot,” he says.

But he declined to say what he’ll focus on during the TV debate, though he has said he’d scrap the mayor’s Scarborough subway for an LRT.

Jamey Heath, who was Jack Layton’s main communications person and now working on Chow’s campaign, told CityNews that Chow didn’t do any mock debates over the weekend but that she has been briefed on “a broad range of policies and issues that are expected to come up ” by veteran campaign strategists, including Brian Topp and John Laschinger.

Chow, who is a former school trustee, city counillor and federal MP, said Monday she’s also been preparing for the debate by attending community events like Sunday’s Greek Independence Day parade and riding the TTC to talk to riders to get “a first-hand feel of traffic gridlock in the city.” Moving the people of Toronto, through improved transit, is one of the cornerstones of her campaign.

Stintz, who is a city councillor and former TTC chair, says she’s excited about the impending clash of political ideas.

“It is the first time that we’ll have an opportunity to talk about our ideas and start offering Torontonians solutions to the challenges they face,” says Stintz, who believes the downtown relief line could be funded by selling a stake in city-owned Toronto Hydro.

Mayor Ford says he’s been plotting his strategy inside a “war room” ahead of Wednesday’s debate though neither he nor his campaign manager/brother, Doug Ford, would divulge any names. Regardless, the mayor says he’s prepared for whatever his political rivals throw his way.

“They can get personal. I’m ready for it, no problem,” he said Monday in the CityNews newsroom. He also added, “People are sick and tired of all the personal attacks. They want someone who can watch their money, who has done it for 14 years down here.”

So what can viewers expect during the two-hour debate? They can expect each candidate to hammer his or her key message.

For Chow, it’ll be about her campaign theme of building a better city with a new mayor. Ford will talk about finishing the job he started, while Tory will talk about his corporate success running Rogers Media. They can also expect Stintz and Soknacki, who are trailing in the polls, to try to emerge from the debate with a higher profile.

Torontonians can also expect opponents to bring up each other’s track record, jockeying for position. So expect Ford’s scandal-plagued year to be a talking point, though each candidate will have to decide whether to get personal or not, political strategists say.

“You’re going to know from the first debate who the really strong candidates are and who the contenders are,” Warren says.