ArtsVote Toronto has announced grades for the front running mayoral candidates, and guess who got a D-! I'm sure the suspense is killing you.

Leading the pack was, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, George Smitherman who was given an A, followed by Joe Pantalone and Rocco Rossi, both of whom received a B+. Rob Ford was named the class dunce with his D- for his poor debate performance, negative track record and lack of platform for the arts.

Ford struggled to stay afloat during the ArtsVote mayoral debate last week, since the term "gravy train" isn't favourably used to describe public arts initiatives and citywide installations. The foot-in-the-mouth moment came when Ford said, "Not everyone supports funding the arts. We're $300 million behind in road repairs. Don't you think it's more important to have safe streets and roads fixed before funding stuff we can't even afford?" The comment was met with boos and jeers from the crowd, from which Ford managed to salvage himself only slightly by remarking, "If we had the billion dollars that Mr. Smitherman squandered in his eHealth scandal, how many art programs would that fund?"

And so solves the mystery of the ArtsVote D-?

The grades were based on responses of a comprehensive survey (if completed), municipal voting records, arts platforms and responses at the Mayoral Arts Debate. Grades were assigned from A ("A deep understanding and appreciation of the value of the arts to municipal life, and a strong commitment to support its growth") to F ("Candidate who actively opposes public support to the arts").

For more details on the report card, check out the ArtsVote Toronto website.

Photo by Tomasz Bugajski