Deja Vue

Three years ago Mayor Miller dancing around with his "new" broom in the air bellowed about how he was going to solve all of Toronto's problems by using his clout with Queen's Park and Ottawa to get more $$$$$$ and to his credit he did get a little but he has rehashed that night with his current victory and the other levels of government announced a major spending initiative with only a pittance coming to Toronto.

EDITORIAL: Begging for cash isn't news

By SUN MEDIA

Thank heavens Mayor David Miller now has a strong mandate from Toronto voters to ... uh ... keep begging Ottawa and Queen's Park for more money.

That's the first thing Miller did Monday night in his victory speech, demanding a one cent per dollar share of the annual GST or PST revenues collected in Toronto by Ottawa and Queen's Park.

That would add $450 million a year to city coffers.

Hilariously, the Star, Globe and Post treated this as a front-page story with huge headlines.

Why? Miller repeating a promise he made during the campaign to beg other levels of government for more cash now qualifies as "news?" Right. Here at the Sun where we're a lot better at detecting horse manure than our broadsheet competitors, we mentioned Miller's latest demand for more cash where it belonged -- down copy in our story about his victory.

That's because it wasn't anything "new," which is one of the basic requirements of ... er ... news.

Miller also got his answer from Queen's Park and Ottawa yesterday.

Guess what? It was "no" -- although that could easily change as both federal and provincial elections are looming.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said Miller and other mayors should take their case to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, because Ontario is broke while Ottawa is awash in a $13.5 billion surplus.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Miller's appeal was a "non-starter" and that Toronto council should be more diligent about controlling its own spending rather than hitting up the feds for more cash.

What's particularly appalling is how municipal politicians like Miller -- and he's not the only one -- strut around these days demanding more tax revenues from the senior levels of government as if it's their money.

It's not. It's our money. All of it.

When Miller pitches for $450 million more from Ottawa and Queen's Park what he's really saying is that federal and provincial taxpayers, including those who live in Toronto, should trust him with $450 million more of their money rather than being allowed to keep it and spend it for themselves.

Why? Because, according to Miller, he knows how to spend our money better than we do. Sure he does.