by arthur Weinreb,
September 14, 2004
We think that we shall never seeas Hurricane Ivan was making its way to usually sunny Cuba, there were reports of Cubans cutting down trees in attempts to minimize the damage that the storm would inevitably bring. To date there have been no reports of Cubans being jailed or otherwise punished for bringing down the mighty palms.
What freedoms those Cubans enjoy; they don’t even own land, but they can cut trees down. Not so in "Toronto the Dirty" if city council has their way. The left wingers on council are proposing a bylaw that will, if passed, come into effect on May 1 (anyone else here see the irony?). The bylaw will prohibit Toronto residents from cutting trees down on their own property. It will be a city wide extension of the existing bylaw that was first brought in by the old city of Toronto.
Residents who wish to murder a tree on their own property must apply to the city for permission and pay $100. Not $100 for the application though; $100 per tree. But it doesn’t stop there. Residents will be encouraged to plant new trees on their property and failing that, will be forced to part with more of their hard earned money. according to Deputy Mayor and the chief proponent of the bylaw, Joe Pantalone, the bylaw is needed because our "urban forests" are being destroyed.
Now many of you may be thinking that charging citizens of Toronto to control benign growth on their own property is just a tax grab. If that’s the case you better think again. although the city of Toronto plans to take in over $300,000 in fees and other charges, the bylaw will cost about $200,000 more than the proposed revenues will bring in. This is because Pants and his misguided greenies on the left plan to spend about half a million dollars on enforcement. Only in Toronto could a government ever initiate a tax grab and then lose money on it.
For all that money, we lucky people are going to have tree cops to go along with the smoke police, the bug spray cops and the litter police that the city has recently hired. Mayor David Miller, who came to power with the promise to keep the unions happy, is, unlike a current Ontario premier who shall remain nameless, true to his word. Seven new jobs will be created in addition to all the other recent cop-hires and the workers who have been hired to hug the homeless and run down to their squats when they are summoned.
and speaking of greening, the current crop of councillors would make Stalin green with envy. according to Little Pants, there needs to be control of private property "for the greater good". Council has absolutely no concern over the private property rights of the taxpayers. The easy solution to the problem would be for the city to plant more trees. They could even go to properties where trees have been cut down and ask the owners for permission to plant replacement trees. But that would mean that our commie council would end up respecting the property rights of the taxpayers who pay their salaries and perks. and the councillors need to feel the satisfaction that they will get from re-educating the unwashed masses about the benefits of having trees on their property.
What is really disgusting is the fact that most home and property owners will simply march down to city hall, chequebook in hand, and pay for their permit cum lecture.
If Toronto City Council could only get half as excited about cleaning up the garbage or getting the homeless off the streets, Toronto could once again be a nice place to live and visit.
Perhaps some day, Torontonians will be able to enjoy the same freedoms that Cubans now enjoy. In the meantime--don’t touch those trees!