How will the left wing fight Rob Ford? That was the question on everyone’s mind leading up to Thursday’s crucial council meeting.

“We’re hearing they may try to draw this out until Christmas Eve,” deputy mayor Doug Holyday said Monday.

But the filibuster rumours turned out to be just that.

The first working council meeting wrapped up in just one day, with Ford declaring victory on his three major initiatives — killing the vehicle registration tax, reducing office budgets and asking the province to declare the TTC an essential service — and the left mounting barely a fight, even on issues they had championed under the previous administration.

The tax repeal passed 39-6. Even some of the progressives who voted in favour of the fee in 2007 — such as Carroll, Glenn De Baeremaeker and Paula Fletcher — voted with Ford on Thursday.

The most telling moment came during the vehicle registration tax debate, when former budget chief Shelley Carroll, whom many view as a leader of the opposition, said they had made mistakes in how they presented the tax to voters, and she would be supporting the mayor.

“We’re picking our battles,” one councillor said afterward. “There are fights worth having and this was not that fight. When it comes time to talk about Transit City or service cuts, then you’ll see.”

Exactly what that strategy will be is still unclear.

Just days after the election, left-leaning members of council began mapping out opposition tactics. There was, and apparently still is, dissent within the group.

Some had wanted to come out swinging.

Progressive councillors had held influential positions on all of the city’s boards and committees under David Miller. They had spent two terms learning how to work the system. Drowning Ford in paper could successfully delay key votes until after the budget.

By budget time, it will be apparent whether Ford plans to cut city services to pay for a property tax freeze, which he has promised, and the vehicle tax repeal council agreed to on Thursday.

But other left-wingers argued that “screaming and carrying on” wouldn’t gain any sympathy with the public, who had elected Ford in record numbers. A better tactic would be to sit back and wait until his honeymoon with the voters is over.

Based on Thursday’s actions, it appears there is still disagreement.

Some of the more far-left councillors, such as Janet Davis, Gord Perks and Paula Fletcher — who wore a pink jacket recalling Don Cherry’s “pinko” comments at the inaugural — seemed to put up more of a fight by taking full advantage of their allotted speaking and question time, as well as moving or supporting motions to delay debate until January. Others, including far-left rookies Mary Fragedakis and Mike Layton, laid low.

“We’re just going to try to sway people with facts. To me, this is not dollars and cents. It’s smoke and mirrors,” said Councillor Pam McConnell. “Where is the money coming from? You can’t do what (Ford) is doing without cuts. And that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m going to be vigilant about service cuts.”

It’s doubtful the left will form an official opposition similar to what the right-wingers did with the Responsible Government Group in 2009 to oppose David Miller.

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During the campaign, the Miller loyalists warned they would form a rogue government with a de facto mayor so as to keep the city moving. The belief was that Ford would not have enough support on council to push through his agenda.

That was then. Today the political landscape looks much different.

Ford has built a strong team of right-wingers who are relishing their new power. The mushy middle, largely made up of rookie councillors, is open to the mayor’s proposals. And with voters replacing Sandra Bussin and Adrian Heaps with more right-leaning councillors, there are fewer progressives in the mix.

Between Ford’s momentum and the ideological make-up of council, the left didn’t have much hope, said Councillor Adam Vaughan, one of the few who voted against repealing the personal vehicle tax and putting $60 or more back in the pockets of those who can afford cars. “There is a gravy train and it’s still running through the city,” he said. “It’s just running in a different direction and through different neighbourhoods.”

Ford, like Miller on the issue of the bridge to the island airport, moved quickly on items that were important to him.

“And he wanted to do it at a time when the positions he just gave out were still fresh in everyone’s mind. That’s the power of the mayor’s office,” said Vaughan.

“We were not going to get Doug Holyday to stick to his principles on TTC as an essential service when voting with Ford means he gets to sit at the inner circle.”

Holyday said that’s how politics works. Those who drew the plum positions agreed to be on Ford’s team and support his agenda.

“And that’s what we did yesterday, and I don’t think that’s surprising. It happened with David Miller and Mel Lastman. You’re either on the team or you’re not,” he said.

And those on his side of the aisle aren’t too worried about the left.

“I think probably with the left right now there seems to be some jockeying about who is the boss. There isn’t an apparent leader,” Holyday said. I think there may be some divisions. Some of them deserted Joe Pantalone by endorsing George Smitherman, and some of the true believers may not like that.”