by arthur Weinreb,
December 8, 2004
No, that was not said by Rob Ford, the firebrand Toronto councillor, although it sounds like something that he would say. It was the headline that appeared in the New York Daily News in October 1975 after U.S. president, Gerald Ford announced that he would veto any legislation that provided a financial bailout to New York at a time when the city was tottering on bankruptcy.
although Ford had partisan political reasons for not wanting to help New York City and later reversed himself, his telling the city, in effect to "drop dead" is something that should be seriously considered by the province of Ontario and the federal government when it comes to the constant begging for more money by Toronto’s mayor and chief panhandler, David Miller.
Yes, there is the argument that the taxpayers of Toronto send more money to Queen’s Park and Ottawa than the city gets back. and despite the best efforts of the leftist council to drive businesses to Vaughan, Markham and asia, Toronto is still the economic engine of Canada. and yes, unlike the nation of idiots and bastards to the south, our federal government doesn’t fund mass transit. Nevertheless, the other levels of government should think really hard before handing money over to David Miller and his council, whose motto should be "send it and we will spend it".
Toronto’s Budget Chief, David Soknaki said that residents of the city can expect a 3 per cent increase on their property taxes next year. as Councillor Jane Pitfield pointed out, this is not the proper way to do a budget. Council should make attempts to cut their spending and then decide how much money is needed for 2005. What they are doing is figuring out how much money they can realistically force out of Toronto residents without putting their re-elections in jeopardy and then, whatever they can squeeze out of the already over-taxed citizens is the amount of money that they will grab.
Pitfield is right. Toronto City Council is managing to spend money as fast as they can get it in. They have as much concern about reducing spending as they do about reducing violent crime. In just over a week, an 11-year-old girl was shot in the head on a Sunday afternoon bus ride with her mother; a woman killed her husband and daughter before killing herself and a 16-year-old high school student was stabbed to death in a swarming. The response of the mayor and council has been a deafening silence. Violent crime is not a concern for this council--their priority is to dream of ways of getting more money to rent hotel rooms for the homeless that will remain vacant while the homeless sleep in Nathan Phillips Square under the window of the mayor. What was disconcerting was when a business owner near the scene of the 16-year-old’s death decided to convene a meeting with the police and city officials to try and reduce the violence that has recently plagued that part of the city. There was a time when city councillors would initiate such matters. Not any more. Getting more money from other levels of government to spend on grandiose schemes is the priority, not the safety of their communities.
The province of Ontario and the federal government should not readily hand over big bucks to the city until the city mothers learn to be responsible. Those governments should put conditions on council to reduce their expenditures before any monies are given over. The city of Toronto has shown time and time again that they are incapable of taking steps to reduce spending on their own. Money would probably be just as well spent by giving it to Liberal-friendly Quebec advertising agencies for doing nothing as it would by giving it to David Miller and his councillors.
Unfortunately, we have Liberal governments in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park, whose number one priority is to spend money to buy votes. The chances of any conditions being put on Toronto before money is handed over is, more or less, zero.
So taxpayers might as well heed what will be coming out of Toronto City Hall--your taxes will "only" go up by 3 per cent. Be happy.