{"id":48288,"date":"2014-04-14T13:32:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T17:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=48288"},"modified":"2014-04-17T12:45:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T16:45:10","slug":"lorinc-john-tory-will-speak-comes-transit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2014\/04\/14\/lorinc-john-tory-will-speak-comes-transit\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: Which John Tory will speak up when it comes to transit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"feature-lorinc\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier today, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the grand reveal of the Liberal government\u2019s long-awaited strategy<\/a> to fund GTA transit this week.<\/p>\n

In the year since Metrolinx unveiled its recommendations on how to raise $2 billion a year for the next quarter century (as per the Metrolinx Act, 2006), we\u2019ve been treated to a disgraceful spectacle of political spinelessness, first at Toronto city council (which voted to not endorse almost every one the proposed taxes and levies) and then at Queen\u2019s Park, where the Liberals have spent months retreating from Wynne\u2019s pledge to break the back of this destructive problem.<\/p>\n

During the extended period of policy foreplay leading up to last spring\u2019s announcement, and then in the aftermath, one public figure emerged as the champion of an unpopular proposition. In interviews, through his advocacy group and on the radio, John Tory banged away at the message that our political leaders have to demonstrate some intestinal fortitude on the subject of paying for transit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also know that if we haven\u2019t come to grips with having a straightforward discussion about this issue, then we will let another period of time pass by,\u201d he told the Toronto Sun<\/em> last March. \u201cAnd even worse than that, you may have people get elected on promises not to do anything about it and we\u2019ll be sitting here five years from now with no money and no transit projects actually under construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my question: Will John Tory blast Kathleen Wynne this week for wussing out on her promise to fix the funding mess once and for all? Will he ream out the Liberals for perpetrating one of the most epic examples of policy foot-dragging in recent memory? And does he point out to gridlock-addled Torontonians that the Liberals have had years to make their move, and instead waited until they were way past the government\u2019s best-before date?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to hear some fire and brimstone, but I\u2019m not holding my breath.<\/p>\n

From what we\u2019ve seen to date, the candidate version of John Tory (who is surrounded by Liberals) is not the advocacy version of John Tory, and that makes me wonder which one will be taking office if he prevails next October.<\/p>\n

One of the more surreal exchanges in the campaign so far occurred when Karen Stintz accused Tory, during the CityTV debate, of harbouring a plan to foist his \u201csecret\u201d transit taxes on an unsuspecting electorate.<\/p>\n

Tory, the civic action figure, was anything but secretive on this subject, and he\u2019s left a long trail of quotes, speeches and statements in his wake. I remember tuning in to his drive-time show a couple of years ago, when he was asking callers to choose from a list of possible taxes \u2013 a gas tax, a point on the HST, property tax, and a couple of others. \u201cPick your poison\u201d was his line, but Tory added this interesting proviso: callers weren\u2019t allowed to say there was no problem.<\/p>\n

As I recall, his preference (that day) was the HST because it spread the tax burden so broadly. \u201cMany hands make for light work,\u201d Tory told his listeners.<\/p>\n

Here he is, more recently, in a joint Toronto Sun<\/em> op-ed with then Civic Action CEO Mitzie Hunter, now MPP for Scarborough Guildwood: Our political leaders, they wrote, \u201cneed to buckle down and get ready to make tough decisions about how to fully fund a better transportation system through new sources of revenue \u2014 both public and private \u2014 that are dedicated and sustainable and spent efficiently, accountably and transparently.\u201d And so on.<\/p>\n

As I wrote in this space last week<\/a>, apropos Olivia Chow\u2019s hedges about the Relief Line, the leading mayoral challengers need to prove \u2014 to me, anyway \u2014 that they\u2019ve got the jam to fight for the city\u2019s interests instead of playing go-along for the sake of partisan convenience (and access to party voter identification lists).<\/p>\n

As the most outspoken advocate for a full suite of revenue tools, Tory should be taking it upon himself to make it sticky and uncomfortable for the Liberals (and the NDP and the Tories) for their failures on the transit file.<\/p>\n

But Tory can\u2019t merely berate the provincial powers that be for not acting decisively. As he did with Civic Action (and its long list of political ambassadors to the cause), he must persuade Toronto voters that there\u2019s no free lunch in this urban life \u2014 that if we want a \u201cYonge Street Relief Line\u201d and any other improvements, we\u2019re going to have to face up to the fact that we\u2019re all going to have to pay, somehow.<\/p>\n

The campaign, as the insiders like to say, is long, and there are still plenty of opportunities for the candidates, Tory included, to prove they have credible strategies to help underwrite expansion without detonating operating budgets.<\/p>\n

So if Tory genuinely wants to \u201cfix transit,\u201d as he\u2019s promised<\/a>, he\u2019s got to risk his political capital and speak frankly about solving the funding shortfall. Anything less and we\u2019ll all know he\u2019s just more of the same, only in a more genteel package.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier today, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the grand reveal of the Liberal government\u2019s long-awaited strategy to fund GTA transit this week. In the year since Metrolinx unveiled its recommendations on how to raise $2 billion a year for the next quarter century (as per the Metrolinx Act, 2006), we\u2019ve been treated to a disgraceful spectacleContinue reading “LORINC: Which John Tory will speak up when it comes to transit?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":48290,"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":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-transit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: Which John Tory will speak up when it comes to transit? - 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\/2014\/04\/14\/lorinc-john-tory-will-speak-comes-transit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: Which John Tory will speak up when it comes to transit? - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier today, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the grand reveal of the Liberal government\u2019s long-awaited strategy to fund GTA transit this week. 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