T.O. voters reject change
By SUE-ANN LEVY
Last Updated: 15th October 2008, 10:28am
If there's one thing for certain, the 2.6 million citizens of this city made few, if any, gains in last night's federal election.
In fact, I'm betting the decision by voters to "play it safe" and return a Conservative minority to Ottawa -- as investors around the world reel from an economic meltdown and plummeting stock prices -- will not bode well for the financially needy Toronto.
For one thing, our tax-and-spend Mayor David Miller has a rocky if not non-existent relationship with the tax-cutting Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They simply do not see eye to eye when it comes to fiscal philosophies. Miller has done nothing to improve that relationship or to instill confidence in the federal Conservatives.
In fact, it was just a week ago that the mayor mused he may have to raise property taxes by 4% next year to balance the books -- even after imposing new land transfer, vehicle ownership and garbage taxes. That poorly timed statement, I'm supposing, did nothing to enhance Miller's fortunes in Ottawa.
LEMMINGS SHUT DOOR
But it gets worse. The lemmings who have yet again shut out the Conservatives in all 22 Toronto ridings have ensured the city will not have even a single voice to make a case for Toronto in the PC caucus, let alone at the cabinet table.
It's beyond me why this city's voters would return the same tired Liberal hacks -- who have not done a darn thing to promote Toronto's huge infrastructure needs -- to Parliament Hill. But I'm guessing fear of change was a strong incentive.
Still believe me, if a recession does indeed spread from the U.S. to Canada, the minority Parliament will be focused on the country's economy, not on the needs of a city that forever has difficulty balancing its books and is constantly crying for more cash.
There's no doubt, Toronto's needs are tremendous, but perhaps not as huge as the expectations of our socialist mayor.
About the only request he's made of the feds that won't cost millions of dollars -- at least I don't think it will -- is to ban handguns in Canada.
That said, Miller and his socialist lackeys have made no bones that they expect the feds to contribute a significant portion of their $13.7-billion Transit City plan, their $355 million in new LRT lines on the waterfront and $674 million in other transit plans.
The mayor hasn't given up his attempt to exact one cent of the federal GST either, even after Harper lowered the GST by two points and returned the money to citizens. These days Miller insists it is a national campaign (now that several big city mayors have signed on), although $132,049 of city money has been spent promoting it.
In a Sept. 25 letter to all party leaders -- about the only pitch Miller made during the entire campaign -- he also talked of an "urgent need" for $469 million a year for 10 years (a portion of which should come from the feds) to create thousands of units of (what I call) unaffordable housing.
Fat chance that will happen. In fact, in a report to the city's community services committee tomorrow, the city's homeless officials say the current federal homelessness funding runs out next March 31 with future funding "uncertain."
It is so uncertain, says the report, that the city may have to draw $2.9 million from the social housing stabilization reserve fund to keep homeless projects alive until next June 30.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told me in an exclusive interview last summer the one cent of the GST campaign is a non-starter -- that his government is firmly committed to lowering taxes. I highly doubt -- with an economic downturn looming -- that the Conservative stance has changed on that front.
As for transit funding, city CFO Cam Weldon told me yesterday that the city can expect to get about $169 million from the feds next year -- gas tax funding which has become "permanent." Some $622 million will also come to Toronto over the long haul for the York subway extension, not to mention the $90 million it was rebated in 2008, he said.
ECONOMY IN TATTERS
I'll bet that will be it, particularly with the economy in tatters.
Nevertheless, the mayor was talking a good game last night, seemingly oblivious to the world's economic woes.
He told me the opposition parties -- Liberals, the NDP, Bloc and the Green Party -- all committed "very significantly" to investing in infrastructure, in public transit and in housing.
"I would expect that this Parliament would honour the spirit of those commitments and would invest significantly in infrastructure in cities, particularly in public transit," he said.
The mayor insisted one needs to "invest in public infrastructure" during an economic downturn to create jobs.
"When the economy is softening ... that's exactly the time to do it," Miller said, adding that "sustained permanent investment" that grows with the economy (that is a portion of the GST) was also a commitment of most of the opposition parties.
But Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong says there has to be a "fundamental change" in attitude by the mayor and the way he approaches the federal Conservatives.
"When he doesn't get a handout, he throws a tantrum," Minnan-Wong said. "This is his opportunity to turn the page and start a new, co-operative relationship."
Nevertheless, the perception is that Toronto doesn't spend the money it gets from other levels wisely, is totally controlled by highly paid union forces and imposes more and more taxes to feed its spending habits, Minnan-Wong said.
'BUNCH OF WHINERS'
"That would make any government reluctant to give more money to the city of Toronto," he said.
Councillor Mike Del Gran -de agreed that the prevailing attitude is that Toronto always "cries and whines" and doesn't balance its books.
"The perception is that we're a bunch of whiners," he said. "The environment here (at City Hall) won't change until people wake up that Toronto (politicians) have an insatiable appetite to spend."
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