{"id":18721,"date":"2011-03-23T12:01:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T16:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=18721"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:40:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:40:01","slug":"lorinc-nada-zilch-bupkis-from-the-fords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/03\/23\/lorinc-nada-zilch-bupkis-from-the-fords\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: Nada, zilch, bupkis from Ford on federal budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4046\/4692676818_8bdf46f26f_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/uploads\/toronto\/feature-lorinc.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"85\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a shocker: Save and except a two-line statement, the Mayor of Toronto had nothing whatsoever to say about the Conservative government\u2019s Titanic budget, which included virtually nothing for cities in general and the City of Toronto in particular. \u201cNada, zilch, bupkis,\u201d as Howard Moscoe used to say.<\/p>\n<p>Rob Ford was, as is his custom, AWOL yesterday, leaving his trusty sidekick Giorgio Mammolitti to bask in the warm glow of the media\u2019s gaze with the truly idiotic suggestion that the Toronto islands be declared a red light district \u2013 a move that should cause us all to rethink the meaning of Hanlan\u2019s Point.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, this tweet, from Ford\u2019s policy chief Mark Towhey, flitted across my computer screen later in the day: \u201cHome before 6pm. 1st time I&#8217;ve left office before 8-11pm in months. Not sure what to do with the daylight. Maybe I brought some work home?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The current council\u2019s total indifference to matters federal is a stark contrast to the way former mayor David Miller and his staff handled federal (and provincial) budgets past.<\/p>\n<p>They lauded some and criticized others, but the point is they <em>engaged<\/em>. Miller knew that Torontonians of all political stripes send a whole lot of money up to Ottawa and wouldn\u2019t mind seeing some of it come back down from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>For the record, yesterday\u2019s budget includes $228 million to repair bridges off Montreal Island, but just $25 million for Harbourfront over the next five years, which effectively renews a funding arrangement that has existed for a long time.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Tories also pledged to enshrine the $2 billion-a-year gas tax transfer into law. While the move suggests they\u2019ve heard the message that cities need long-term funding stability, the cynic in me wonders whether the decision to legislate the funding level will essentially handcuff future governments by making it more difficult to raise the limit.<\/p>\n<p>What I don\u2019t know is whether the brothers Ford feel these moves are helpful or harmful. I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ve made inquiries or received assurances about the $330 million Stephen Harper pledged for the dearly departed Sheppard East LRT. I don\u2019t know if the various tax cuts and other morsels will benefit local businesses, because no one at City Hall was asked to do the analysis or serve up the spin. All I know is that there\u2019s a lot of radio silence coming from the second floor.<\/p>\n<p>I have complained before in this space about Ford\u2019s disgraceful approach to public relations, and will again.<\/p>\n<p>True, the administration\u2019s reaction is moot because the government will fall later this week. But the Fords\u2019 approach to such events is nothing if not revealing: seeing only trees and never the forest, they bulldoze along, bullying civil servants and wrecking stuff while paying no attention to the universe beyond an excruciatingly parochial world which houses the occasional smelly expense invoice, property tax bills and little else.<\/p>\n<p>Ottawa, you see, is such a very, very long way away for the boys from Etobicoke. None of our business what happens there.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wyliepoon\/4692676818\/\">photo by Wylie Poon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a shocker: Save and except a two-line statement, the Mayor of Toronto had nothing whatsoever to say about the Conservative government\u2019s Titanic budget, which included virtually nothing for cities in general and the City of Toronto in particular. \u201cNada, zilch, bupkis,\u201d as Howard Moscoe used to say. Rob Ford was, as is his custom,<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/03\/23\/lorinc-nada-zilch-bupkis-from-the-fords\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;LORINC: Nada, zilch, bupkis from Ford on federal budget&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17284,2096,425,1174,45,5239,330,17283,426,17287,346,53,17285,22085,4352,2092,19,420,391,17286,8263],"class_list":["post-18721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billion-a-year-gas-tax-transfer","tag-conservative-government","tag-david-miller","tag-ford","tag-funding-cities","tag-giorgio-mammolitti","tag-howard-moscoe","tag-mark-towhey","tag-mayor","tag-montreal-island","tag-ottawa","tag-parliament-hill","tag-policy-chief","tag-politics","tag-public-relations","tag-stephen-harper","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-islands","tag-usd","tag-way-former-mayor","tag-wylie-poon"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LORINC: Nada, zilch, bupkis from Ford on federal budget - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/03\/23\/lorinc-nada-zilch-bupkis-from-the-fords\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: Nada, zilch, bupkis from Ford on federal budget - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a shocker: Save and except a two-line statement, the Mayor of Toronto had nothing whatsoever to say about the Conservative government\u2019s Titanic budget, which included virtually nothing for cities in general and the City of Toronto in particular. \u201cNada, zilch, bupkis,\u201d as Howard Moscoe used to say. 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