Rob Granastsein might be right but the reality is that we have maxed out the Visa card and the free ride is over. Amalgamation was supposed to make the city leaner and meaner but Lastman and Miller failed with even the simplest things; ie: harmonization of services. There is no question that downloading has created many of our problems but let's not forget why....Martin cut back on transfer payments to provinces which had no choice but to pass some of the pain on to municipalities but this should have been revenue neutral but the municipalities didn't do their part mainly because they didn't stand up to the unions. Miller's poor performance has just excebarated the problem.
Tax dodge buys Toronto nothing |
Now what?
Your gutless local representatives deemed the tax potato too hot to handle and tossed it to Queen's Park -- Toronto's house of no assistance -- rather than make a decision.
We're safe from the land transfer and vehicle registration tax -- for now. It will be an election issue for provincial politicians, the local politicians said.
Says who?
None of the leaders has pledged to do anything that will make this problem go away for the city. Why should they? Queen's Park has dodged this issue since amalgamation.
If anyone thinks on October 11 -- whether Dalton McGuinty or John Tory is premier -- the legislature is going to fix Toronto's problems, they are dreaming.
Still, this is without question Mayor David Miller's biggest belly flop since taking the helm of the city. And it's well deserved.
Not because it's awful policy. Even TD chief economist Don Drummond, who doesn't favour the land transfer tax, said yesterday it's not enough to halt our hot housing market.
But because Miller didn't make his case to his city. He didn't show huge restraint in his own office. He didn't come out to the meetings about the new taxes. And the citizens revolted. Miller's opponents deserve major credit for finally winning a vote. The big one.
But they also better be preparing the Plan B. There's a $600-million hole in the 2008 operating budget, and freezing union wages, contracting out a little more and cutting office budgets doesn't plug that. Stopping the Nathan Phillips Square redesign or new garbage bins doesn't plug that, those are capital budget items.
Cutting staff does. Chopping jobs from police, fire, EMS and TTC. Closing school pools, ignoring the homeless, easing off on litter picking and parks maintenance is how you deal with that number.
How does that sound?
Until October, Miller and city staff must find a way to charge forward on readying the implementation of these tax measures in case they are passed.
The alternative, slashing services and the 18% property tax increase mentioned by the city's chief financial officer, is far worse than the two options shelved by our weak-kneed council yesterday.
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