Miller’s power grab

The announcement that the city of Toronto was going to be banning guns has drawn lot of heat from people south of the border. Several dozen outraged Americans have written to the Toronto government to express their anger over the temerity of David Miller and his sock-puppet city council and have received a canned reply from Joanne Miller (no relation) that states Toronto’s position.

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Some of our American readers have forwarded copies of Ms Miller’s letter, the content of which should disturb not only residents of Toronto, but also all Canadians, as the gun ban is the opening salvo of a social coup d’etat on the part of the nanny state. One section of the letter in particular was disturbing because it laid the groundwork for further actions that could conceivably be taken within the Toronto gulag. Ms Miller’s letter stated in part that,“The City of Toronto has the right to regulate the property and civil rights aspects of firearms as they relate to the health, safety and well being of its residents. Handguns pose an increasing threat in our community that we must not ignore. The Mayor wants to ensure that the City is taking all available actions to address gun violence.” Anyone with half a brain realizes that the term “firearms” as used in that letter can be replaced with any other objects our socialist guardians deem detrimental to the way they “relate to the health, safety and well being” of Torontonians. Presumably if the mayor felt that obesity was a “health and safety issue” deserving of his divine intervention, then it’s conceivable that the city could outlaw burger joints like MacDonald’s and other fast-food outlets because of their detrimental effects on the health of those who consume them. In the same token, it’s possible that Miller could outlaw automobiles within the city limits, as they could represent a threat to the health and safety of Torontonians. (Although he’d be loath to do that, given the amount of revenue cars now generate for the city with the additional municipal license fees). “The right to regulate the property and civil rights aspects of [gay men] as they relate to the health, safety and well being of [Toronto] residents” could also be on the table, given the mayor’s claim to these new “rights”. Given that HIV-AIDS is disproportionately prevalent among this demographic, a case could be made for controlling or outlawing this behavior. “The right to regulate the property and civil rights aspects of [smokers] as they relate to the health, safety and well being of [Toronto] residents” is another area into which one could see a power-drunk demagogue, such as David Miller delving. We’ve already deprived smokers of many of their civil rights, so why not treat them like legal gun owners and criminalize them? Since David Miller has become Mayor of Toronto the only things that seem to have won his undivided attention are how to get more money from taxpayers and other levels of government and how to increase the power of the mayor of Toronto. He has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams on both counts, while the city crumbles around his ears. If David Miller put half the effort into doing what he was elected to do, rather than taking on the role of Chief Social Engineer, then the city of Toronto wouldn’t be the filthy, decrepit sinkhole it is today. Bad roads, poor public transportation, dirty streets, aggressive panhandlers and soaring murder rates. These will be David Miller’s legacy. If ever there was a strong case to be made for forcing literacy tests on potential voters, David Miller is it.