By Arthur Weinreb
Monday, July 23, 2007
Two. If you don't think that this is funny it's not supposed to be. It's not a joke.
A few years ago I was coming out of the house and saw two city of Toronto employees, paintbrushes in hand, slowly approach a fire hydrant across the street. I watched in awe as they both sat down, on opposite sides of the hydrant and then began to paint. Starting at the top, in what seemed to be an eternity they finally painted down to the nozzle. Then they stopped and took a break. I left but they eventually finished; whether or not they did a good job is hard to tell. After all, not too many people said that the property was nice but that fire hydrant really needs a paint job.
This is the heart of the city of Toronto's financial problems. It's true that the city mothers can't stop spending and even forked over $1.2 million to purchase Theatre Pass Muraille within hours after not passing the land transfer tax, the perfect tax the rich scheme, as well as a $60 vehicle registration tax. Without these taxes, the city was doomed. The councillors' justification for the purchase was that the theatre was an asset; much like a Rolls Royce is an asset to someone on welfare. But the main problem that the city finds itself in is because of wages and salaries, and Mayor David Miller's love of unionized workers.
During a radio talk show a couple of years back, callers were asked to call in and tell the host what the easiest (i.e. laziest) job was. Overwhelmingly, a lot of callers said not government workers but specifically city of Toronto workers. Although you couldn't really tell, a lot of callers identified themselves as being employees or past employees of Canada's largest city. The perception is certainly out there that they do relatively little work, but the reality is that they are overpaid for what they do and this overpayment is due not to economics but to the socialist ideology where Miller and his ilk cry tears for those who they like to refer to as "the poor working people".
Those on council who will at least acknowledge this problem have floated the idea of having Miller Days; much like former Ontario Premier Bob Rae did in the early 1990s where provincial employees were forced to take unpaid days off in order to attempt to bring Ontario's huge deficit under control. But it will never happen. Those were different times and the economy was bad. Although provincial civil servants railed publicly against Rae Days, most would admit privately that they were much better off than private sector workers who were facing massive layoffs. Miller's union buddies are already making noises that they are not prepared to help. The head of the TTC union has already said that his employees are not prepared to help get the transit system out of the mess that it's in.
David Miller is no Bob Rae. Nor is he Jean Chrtien, who despite his love of spending, knew that he had to make painful cuts, carried them out and lived to spend, spend, and then spend again. Miller and his left wing cronies on Toronto City Council are simply bullies and like all bullies they are weak and prone to panic. First they are going to shut down the Sheppard Subway and then they're not. They're threatening to increase property taxes anywhere from 10 to 18 per cent next year. About the only thing that they are not threatening to do is propose "serious" spending cuts as opposed to threats. All of this because contrary to what the mayor at least publicly believed, the residents of the city of Toronto were not really enamored with his new "revenue tools".
While many Torontonians can simply laugh at Miller's threats about gigantic property tax increases, it scares a lot of others. Especially the elderly. No, not the elderly union workers or the elderly transgendered but the ordinary men and women who are retired, have paid off their homes and are living on a fixed income. To Miller and his fellow travelers, they can all just go to hell. These people aren't as important as the overpaid and underworked city employees.
Unless wages and salaries can be brought under control, the city will not solve their financial problems. And there's no sign that this can be achieved under the current council. They simply lack the will to do it. And they'll never get it that it takes two grown men to paint a lousy fire hydrant.
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2024 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2024 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement