“Socialist In Ideology, Capitulate In Methodology”
September 29, 2009 — Raphael Alexander 
His blondness [or is it his greyness after all these years?], Mayor of Toronto David Miller, will be leaving office in November 2010. But he’s taking a parting gift with him, and it’s not just a watch and a city calender. The socialist mayor who joined the NDP in 1985 has had his share of memories in the provincial capital over the past 6 years. He swept into power in 2003 on the most unlikely of campaign platforms: to stop Mel Lastman’s $22 million bridging of the Toronto Island Airport with the city which would have made the need for a ferry obsolete, made downtown air service more efficient, and bring in much-needed money, so that he could instead “revitalize” the waterfront. And as we all know, the waterfront was revitalized by the Great Wall of Condos they built obscuring the entire lake beyond the Quays. So Toronto didn’t get a bridge for $22 million. But it did cost the federal government $35 million in compensation to the Toronto Port Authority.
David Miller assumed a $344 million budget shortfall when he took power, and began immediately raising property taxes. He promised to limit it to a modest 3% each year. After increasing spending in 2004 and 2005 without breaking that promise [by robbing the city reserve fund], he then shifted property tax from businesses to homeowners. Budget shortfalls continued to plague his office, and property taxes went up to 3.8% in 2007. Spending had increased $1.7 billion since 2003, and to offset that, David Miller proposed a series of taxes, including a whopper of a steal, the 1.5% land transfer tax. He insisted Torontonians wanted to pay the new taxes.
Then there was the garbage strike. A five-week city worker strike ended with a deal so good for the unions that CUPE accepted when “the city removed ‘the last concession’ from the table”, giving them a 5.6 per cent pay raise. During a recession.
Now David Miller is on his way out, and because City Hall severance policy states that councillors get one month’s salary for every year they serve in council to a maximum of twelve months, he’s get $166,985 a year from this November. The compensation is based on his salary received during his last year, which means that although he served as mayor for only six years, he’s getting paid as though he did it for twelve:
“He (David Miller) has been an elected official since 1994, and it will take some time for him to find another position,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong in defence of the golden handshakes. “If you want to attract good people to serve on council, there has to be a reasonable amount of capacity to transition into a new career.”
Geez, and here I thought the normal routine was a subway token and a map to the Employment Insurance office. Silly me. David Miller is also entitled to $3,500 in “career counselling”. Maybe someone can finally give David Miller the advice he needs.
1 comment:
what is the shortfall now?
What was the level of services then, and now?
What is the state of the infrastructure now? (it was pretty much in the dust when Lastman left...)
Oh. And the garbage workers, DID NOT get a 5.6% pay raise.
It was not a great deal by any standards. You'd have to be a blithering idiot to believe that nonsense.
The truth is, you neo con fucktards wanted to believe so badly that Miller caved that you are now actually printing it.
Try reading the facts, and stop being such a moron.
Are you the brilliant lemming that supported Pitfield the last election?
Yeah that's pretty brilliant Walter. Support a twit because it's anyone but Miller.
Thank god the rest of the residents of Toronto and I'm talking home owners business owners not the condo/island dwellers you so love to hate, had the good sense to reject that idiot.
Too bad you were too stupid to...
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