Good Advice Will Fall On Deaf Ears

Wise words from Hazel

By BRYN WEESE

Toronto needs to stop looking back at its glory days of yesteryear to stop the hemorrhaging of city jobs to the burbs, says Mississauga's Hazel McCallion, who has served as mayor of her city since 1978.

Toronto needs to figure out -- much like the 905 area municipalities have done -- what its role will be in a rapidly changing GTA.

The city, she said, needs to better adapt to the changing makeup of the region as a whole and grow with it, instead of posting job losses year after year, many of which are going to the 905.

"Toronto needs to deal with that," she said.

And that new role, she added, might be very different from what Toronto has traditionally been, though it will almost certainly always be the country's financial capital.

"When Hong Kong lost all its manufacturing to China, they decided their role would be different," said the iconic 87-year-old mayor of Canada's sixth largest city with a population of 700,000. "I think Toronto needs to look at what they've lost, and decide what role they want to play in the GTA."

Toronto is home to 164,000 manufacturing jobs, which makes up 12% of the city's workforce. Manufacturing growth has been limited to the 905, where land and taxes are noticeably cheaper.

In 2005, when commercial tax rates were only half a percentage point higher in Toronto than they are now, a 250,000-square-foot office paid $800,000 less in property taxes in the 905 than in Toronto.

But whatever role in the GTA Toronto embraces, it must find it soon and do it well, McCallion added.

"I strongly believe that Toronto has to be strong because it is the heart of the GTA. It is not beneficial to the 905 to have Toronto weakened," she said.