Friday’s Headlines

19 comments

1. Toronto is in big trouble. I am truly frightened for my future, I recently invested my whole life by buying a house and now I am starting to think I bought a lemon in a city that is about to implode.

   These next months will dictate which way this city will go; the Detroit way or the Chicago way. Things are really bad, and not only for Toronto. People hate this city, but if it flounders so will the Province. These guys at Queens Park have a duty to all Ontarians, even the ones who live in this city. Is it too much to ask that a fair share of the taxes I pay stay in my community? When will we all stop being a bunch of pushovers and stand up for what is ours?

   Maybe it is time to do like Quebec and form a Toronto “Bloc”. None of the major parties are willing to help us out, they either take us for granted (Liberal, NDP) or they neglect us (Conservatives). So maybe it is time to try something new, maybe we should start talking seriously about separating from Ontario.

   We need a serious discussion and debate about the advantages and disadvantages in being part of this Province and then a decision must be taken.

2. So Sue Ann Levy constantly begs for service cuts rather than new taxes, then complains when she gets her druthers.

   I have to stop clicking on links to her column. 😛

3. Ben> I clicked once when somebody pointed out something atrocious she said, but otherwise life carries on a degree or two less frustratingly when you don’t click on her.

   We provide the service though for those who also enjoy things like banging their heads on poles, etc.

   Carlos> I believe the hope is a serious discussion will ensue after this, but Toronto is in no way a lemon — and I also hope we don’t follow the Detroit model, but not the Chicago one either. Chicago is more than the Loop, and some of the other parts aren’t so nice, and Toronto has done an alright job avoiding that so far.

4. Thanks for putting together this list of pieces Julie

5. I particularly enjoyed Levy’s suggestion that the TTC automate the ticket collector function. Maybe someone should tell her that if the TTC had the capital to do that, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

6. We, the electorate, clearly should have taken the council portrait debacle as a portent of the dark days of grandstanding and infantile political posturing to come. The taxes bill fell in council because it should have. They were an uninspiring set of off-topic taxes that most of the public saw as frightening. Perhaps the mayor should have tried to sell the public on the taxes themselves not only on the city’s desperate need for cash. And while he’s at it, maybe he should have thought up some taxes that deal directly with the environmental issues that have so gripped the public’s imagination. Sullen in defeat, the mayor response of fear-mongering and blame deflection shows him truly as a wholly unsuitable leader and common middle manager; an image he’s been desperately trying to hide from the public. Go ahead Mayor Miller, close the Sheppard Subway and eviscerate the bus service…that’ll show ‘em! Unfortunately while you’re off making a point, the citizens of the city are going to feel the effects of your Kindergarten politics for years to come.

7. Damn that Sue Ann is pretty annoying. But she works for a low reputation tabloid newspaper, so what do you guys expect? I still think she is entitled to her opinion and it is great that Spacing has links to the Sun even though most people here don’t like it. The main reason people buy that paper is for all the detailed sport stats they publish and maybe to collect clippings from the sunshine girls, my brother in law calls it porn for the poor masses 🙂

   Shawn> You are right, Chicago is not the best model, but it is far better than Detroit and at least they are moving forward and doing their best. I think Chicago is a model for what they did in their waterfront and their infrastructure development. When it comes to vibrant neighbourhoods Toronto is far ahead (at the moment). I know Toronto is not a lemon, I was born here and it is part of who I am, but things might spiral to the point of it becoming an even bigger citrus (grape fruit maybe?), and that is what’s freaking me out.

   I think that websites like these are good starting points to discuss our separation. I am sure that the majority of people in this city feel much more like Torontonians before they feel like Ontarians. People made fun of Lastman when he suggested this, but I think it was one of the few good ideas that buffoon came up with.

8. Joshua-
   The Mayor can’t just “think up” other taxes. There was a detailed report from staff a few months back on what was allowed by the new City of Toronto Act, and it’s not much.

   The way this has just been dropped in everyone’s lap without going to Council is pretty ridiculous, but it’s also pretty ridiculous that people opposing the tax have been calling for cuts, but then when the cuts come, they get angry.

9. What’s ironic about the Sun is that its readership will be hit the hardest compared to the Star, Globe and Post. They help convince working class folks that taxes are bad but when the reality of it hits home they come face-to-face with the benefits provided by a social safety net. They seem to be happy about defeating Miller rather than worrying about how this effects the collective helth of the city.

10. Adam> It’s not unlike what Thomas Frank wrote about in “What’s the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America“.

    The phenomenon is a bunch of cliches — not seeing the forest for the trees, etc. Working class folks supporting positions that are not in their best interest.

    We should do a special issue of Spacing packaged around sports and the The Spacing Girls (who have been itching for a photoshoot) and see what happens.

11. Smitty> Where’s a Congestion Tax, road-tolls on the Gardiner and DVP, heavy fines for illegal signs, parking lot taxes or any single charge that not only raises funds but helps meet our collective environmental and transit-related goals? Perhaps a land transfer tax is appropriate, but you have to admit the Mayor and his supporters must have done a poor job selling it if they can be so sounded walloped but the likes of Toronto Sun. The Sun waves the “Cash Grab” flag and the response of City Hall over the last few weeks has been…relative silence. If this was so important why wasn’t the mayor on TV every night? Surely there was room in his schedule or and his budget for a few TV and print ads to get the electorate on side.

    Yes, you are correct that no one can “think up” a tax. And if Land Transfer and Vehicle Registration are the only cards the Mayor was dealt then I’ll give him a vote of sympathy. But his horrible efforts to convince the public of their benefits call into question his ability to lead the city and make me wonder if that’s the only vote I should give him.

12. Josh — the mayor was not walloped by the Sun. He lost a deferral by 1 vote.

    These taxes will pass in the fall after provincial election. He had a hard time convincing politicians making decisions based on re-election decisions, not what;s best for the city.

    Please let’s understand that some of these actions are political theatre to try and force other levels of governments hand.

    Besides, the taxes proposed, if the public paid attention, would hurt the least amount of people and affect those who can afford it. The cuts will hurt everyone, especially working class, and the raise in property taxes will criple lots of retirees, and the working poor.

13. Hey Carlos P. – there’s no need to be frightened… London (England) went through a recession in the 70s and 80s only to emerge as a powerhouse culture-driven super cool city (or that’s the image it portrays and makes me want to go there over and over again). It’s been a rough week for Torontonians: an aging population is declared, as well as the lowest standard of living in Canada, and now our reps in Council acting like fools (my three year old nephew has more dignity and integrity). So the 00’s and 10’s aren’t going to be our decades. But in twenty years’ time – London watch out!

    And I fully support the idea of a new party – but an Ontario Party (at both provincial and federal levels) with a mandate of sovereignty. Like the Bloc and PQ, they’ll get just enough votes to achieve credibility and mega-funding from Ottawa (a la Quebec). I don’t see any other way. Harper and McGuinty fund and cut funds at will with the sole purpose of buying votes. It seems “new” politics is about just that, keeping one’s job in office. However much Harper spends in Toronto, no one will vote for him. So why bother? And McGuinty doesn’t need Toronto either. National pride? Investment in our future? The prosperity of the country’s capitals? Who cares. As long as the votes are coming in, it seems unimportant that what’s being done is of any benefit to anyone. Oh to run a country…

14. Ali> If these taxes are truly beneficial and he has a solid core of councilors and he has the support of the people and he still lost the vote…well in that scenario, that’s a walloping.

    And to you comment about the “people paying attention”…if the people paid attention, there wouldn’t be a Toronto Sun. But, there is and the Mayor needs to remember that some people may not pay attention, and they need to be reached too.

15. Asha> Oh to run a country where inter-provincial barriers are higher than between European Union countries. Where most people in Quebec believe they pay for confederation. Where we have a central bank that dictates monetary-inflation policies because of an oil boom in Alberta. Where immigrants with high education are given preference over skilled manual labour just to have them driving cabs. Where Newfoundland sells electrical power to Quebec Hydro for 32 million just to have Quebec sell it for 2 billion. Where the national sport after hockey is to hate a city for no reason whatsoever. This list would never end, so I will just leave here, I am getting tired… 🙂

16. if the people paid attention, there wouldn’t be a Toronto Sun.

    Awesome line. Awesome.

17. Joshua, who cares if the “public” saw the taxes as “frightening”. The public is D-U-M-B and innumerate, and the next election is years away. Councillors faced little risk in doing the right thing, and they chickened out anyway. And of course, it’s the councillors who continually bleat about “fiscal irresponsibility” who have shown that they have no fiscal sense, and no willingness to take responsibility.

    It’s crazy that it’s Miller & Giambrone taking the heat for this instead of the pandering council lightweights like Stintz and Ashton.

18. Blarg> It’s not crazy that Mayor Miller and Adam Giambrone are taking the heat. They wanted to be the boss…they get the heat.

    It’s easy to dismiss the public and most of council, as well as anyone that isn’t as intelligent and articulate as those who frequent this website, as dumb. However, if we were to agree that the general public is dumb, then there is even more onus on those who are elected to lead and through their leadership help the public understand the tough choices. This is especially true when the tough choices (like new taxes) are going to cost the dumb people money. If you want to get dumb people fighting mad in a hurry, ask them to pay another tax. Revolutions have started over taxes on more than one occasion and expecting anyone, dumb or smart, to except a new tax simply because S-M-A-R-T people say it’s a good idea is naive.

    My problem with this whole affair, as I’ve said throughout this thread, is that the Mayor and those that supported him ignored the public’s confusion over these new taxes. His opponents, “lightweights” as you put it, played that uncertainty so well that even some of Miller’s close allies on council went running for shelter.

    If the general public is “D-U-M-B” then that means a lot of dumb people out there and in a city this fractious our motto could easily be:

    “He who plays to the dumb…wins.”

19. They didn’t have to play to the dumb. This wasn’t a referendum. The next election is years away. Yes it would be unpopular with their constituents but they would have years following, during which the reduced pressure on the city’s budget would allow council to make many positive choices to improve the city for their constituents, and by which time most people would have forgotten the increase, or realized how little impact it had on their lives.

    The mayor did show leadership. The deferrers did not. They were elected to make difficult choices, too.