DISCLAIMER: This Is Not A Parody

It is an assessment of what we face thanks to the people who voted in Miller and his gaggle of left wing nutbars.

January 20, 2007
It's sure hard having fun in this town with the loony lefties in charge. At least there's the boat show
By JOE WARMINGTON

Forget a blast of winter, this town could use a blast of fun.

I get it that the leftists are in charge and it will be a four-year-long winter without many laughs and lots of taxes.

But somebody has to say it. It's so boring around here we are talking about squeegee kids again. I liked it better when we fantasized about getting the Olympics, a major Hollywood studio or being a world class city.

Who's the city's economic development chairman? Kyle Rae. Did you know that? Is he the best person we have?

Maybe he'll help us land the Gay Games. I'd rather have the Olympics but it would be an economic boost I guess. And not boring.

I wouldn't put a politician named Rae in charge of anything but we'll see how he does. If it's not done right we lose investment. We lose opportunity. We lose the future.

On this course, with this mayor and his cabinet council of clones, I'll bet in four years there still will be no train to the airport, no waterfront development, no new highway replacing the Gardiner and no new subway stations.

No nothing. More meetings, more committees, more panhandling, more dirty streets, more taxes and more lefties. And you'll all still put Mayor David Miller in for a third term.

Miller and his club are not the only ones who are useless. Premier Dalton McGuinty is pretty bad too. I saw this clip on CTV where he told Ken Shaw "as painful as it is to admit we in Ontario have become addicted to gambling revenues."

So some poor slug losing at the slots is paying for the medical system and the premier makes light of it! He should be ashamed of himself. He's a failure. No other CEO would ever get away with his kind of incompetence.

If our province is jonesing for our poor hooked gamblers to pay for everything no wonder there is a shift to customize the law to allow casinos to install giant smoking areas - using more taxpayers money to do it.

It's illegal for everybody else -- the pub, bar or strip club is not allowed to do this. What a double standard and the hypocrite McGuinty should resign or at least not be rewarded with a second term. The people in Caledonia will likely agree.

Meanwhile what a yawner this city has become. They don't even extend us the courtesy of letting us have a Vegas-style casino here so we could reap some of the economic benefits and jobs. Instead, we send everybody down to Niagara Falls. Or up to Rama. Yeah, that's smart!

The only thing that grabs attention around here are all the shootings and gangland activities. It's like there is no creativity left in people. Entrepreneurs are handcuffed because of the regulations. It's not easy for the person with an idea anymore. Everything is corporate. Everything is the same. Blah, blah, blah. Take no chances, don't say anything and kiss the butt above you. It's a joke. But it keeps the fourth-raters in charge of everything. And that's what it is really all about.

The private sector needs to be encouraged to have some zip - work around this dynamiters and build a great destination here. Bob Deluce at Porter Airlines is an example of that. His island airline works around the goofs at City Hall. He's doing something different. It seems everywhere else it's all status quo. Every mall is the same. Same stores, same restaurants, same, same, same.

How's that Maple Leaf Gardens project coming? Yeah, right. It's been vacant for seven years. It will probably be finished about the same time as you can take the subway out to Pearson or take in our new waterfront aquarium.

There is very little in Toronto that defines us anymore. We had better get on that if we want to bring back the tourists.

A friend from Calgary e-mailed me this week and said make a list of 10 things you love about Toronto. Hey readers, help me out with this one. A top 10 list we can send my western pal who will still hate us no matter what anyway.

This is a great city but it has become all about the administration. Rules and regulations and the same people seem to be in charge of everything for ever. And they are no good.

Maybe I need a vacation. It's usually about this time of winter where everybody could use a cold one, sit in a boat and have a fish fry. I did all of that yesterday at the Toronto Boat Show. Enjoyed some fresh pickerel from Henry's on the dock of the lake inside the Ricoh Centre -- and went aboard some nice boats too. My favourite was a $2.2-million, 59-footer Greg Crate of Crate Marine took me on a tour of. Incredible. "This is a dream," he said.

He's sold that dream to eight people this year. Good for them. Just stepping on one of those boats is the closest most of us while ever get to owning one. But it is OK to think big every once in a while. And have some fun.

This city ought to try it sometime.