Sue-Ann & I Don't Take Lightly The Problems......

....but we both agree; "the mayor arrogantly refuses to put the city's house in order, to contract out services, to look at creative ways of doing business or to rein in his overpriced union pals. Quite the contrary. The Millerites keep spending as if money is pouring from the heavens." and it looks like McGinty is telling Toronto they are on their own. And as far as Miller's concern about Toronto becoming a "world leader" I would suggest that first we need to elect a leader to the Mayor's office.

Miller gets a Liberal brush off
By SUE-ANN LEVY

It was not a good afternoon yesterday for the man who's been very busy as of late dreaming up 101 schemes to bail out his regime's spending excesses.

Toronto mayor David Miller had his hands outstretched for more provincial largesse. He fully expected his prayers would be answered just in time to help balance the books before the city's $8.1-billion operating budget is presented next week.

But alas, Miller came away empty.

Provincial Finance Minister Greg Sorbara -- eager to shore up pre-election support using this year's surplus -- gave billions of dollars to poor children in his 2007 budget.

He gave millions of dollars to poor families for housing. He handed $781 million more to school boards and $10 million to northern Ontario residents for better broadband coverage.

He even threw $2 million into a Trees Ontario fund.

But Sorbara all but shut out the socialists here at City Hall.

The uploading of $175 million the city pays for the Ontario Disability Support and Ontario Drug Benefit Programs? It didn't happen. The province didn't hand over one red cent either towards the $127 million extra the mayor says the city pays for court security costs.

There wasn't even a small down payment. Zilch. Bupkes.

The closest Sorbara came to addressing the matter was to acknowledge a panel reviewing which services should continue to be delivered municipally and to say it will report its findings next year.

Fact is, he went out of his way to ignore Miller and Co. He uploaded some of the cost ($200-million) of the city's social programs -- but only those pooled by Toronto's GTA neighbours.

When he spoke of reducing the business education tax over the next seven years -- which will eventually return some $200 million to Toronto's businesses -- he didn't even mention this city as one in the province where commercial entities pay a significantly higher portion of business taxes.

All of that left Miller nearly spitting bullets.

"People understand the downloading ... it's pretty simple," he said. "I'm extremely disappointed that this wasn't addressed in this budget particularly when the provincial government has a surplus."

He suggested the city won't become a "world leader" if the province continues to refuse to pay its bills.

"Our goal is to build a great liveable city for everybody ... we can't do that when we're continually forced to pay for provincial programs through the property tax," he said. "It simply can't go on anymore."

He even had the audacity to imply that this might impact on the 3% tax hike (in other words, increase it) built into the 2007 operating budget. "Our budget next week will be extremely difficult," he said.

I kept waiting for him to stamp his feet like a petulant child.

Look, I think uploading of some provincial social programs is probably the best way to put this city on a smoother fiscal course. But heck, it's not as if the province has ignored Miller and his trained seals in recent years.

The city will get $163 million from the province in the way of gas tax money this year -- a handout I'm told will continue in perpetuity.

Miller also got his City of Toronto Act. As early as Monday, he and his minions will be discussing how to exact at least $340 million more in taxes from already overburdened Torontonians using the new powers under the act.

Meanwhile, the mayor arrogantly refuses to put the city's house in order, to contract out services, to look at creative ways of doing business or to rein in his overpriced union pals. Quite the contrary. The Millerites keep spending as if money is pouring from the heavens.

In other words, if this city is in a fiscal crisis, it's hardly because of the province.

Instead of waiting for handouts, His Blondness might want to try his hand at being frugal -- however foreign an idea that is to the socialists.