Toronto's Race for Mayor : All the Marbles

The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Initiative made it clear to Torontonians "in the know" that all that the City of Toronto would get from any infrastructure project built within its jurisdiction is 5.7% of the tax increments that came from private developments resulting from the infrastructure in question.

The other 94.3% of tax increments would flow to the federal and provincial governments.

Faced by that stark reality, and it is a fact, I can't understand why Toronto would be expected to pay more than 5.7% of the cost of any infrastructure project undertaken in partnership with the federal and provincial governments.

Furthermore, I don't know why Toronto is even involved in planning transit expansion, in anything more than a consultative role. I don't know why city politics is cluttered up with the issue of transit expansion.

It seems to me that if you, the federal and provincial governments, are going to take "all the marbles" at the end of any project, then you must also take all the responsibility for planning and executing and paying for the project.

In these matters, it appears as if Toronto were being run as a charitable, not for profit, corporation and that the chief recipients of Toronto's (YOU, THE TAXPAYER'S) charity are the federal and provincial governments.

This situation is intolerable, particularly when viewed against the background of waste and mismanagement of tax dollars at the federal level: the F-35, the British submarines, the 1.1 billion dollar G8/G20 conference, the 500,000 dollar granite rocks on Sugar Beach (rare treasures imported specially from Quebec).

This is a nightmare and none of the candidates for Mayor in this town seem to get it. Even worse, one of the candidates, John Tory, seems to be operating as a federal/provincial collaborator in this warped scenario. Don't get me wrong. Nobody is really calling a spade a spade in this situation, not Olivia Chow or Doug Ford.

Somebody in public life has got to start waking people up.

One thing voters in Toronto must get through their heads. Federal and provincial politicians bear most of the responsibility for Toronto's infrastructure problems.

They take 94.3% of the marbles and must assume 94.3% of the responsibility for transit expansion.

Is there anybody CRAZY AND INSANE enough TO RACK UP A HUGE CREDIT CARD BILL to make a payment to a charity run by GRIFTERS?

I can't think of anyone, myself, that would be so stupid, but I can think of one city all ready to do so, particularly if they elect John Tory.

I agree with you on most parts, except this one:

I don't know why city politics is cluttered up with the issue of transit expansion.

The Government should always be involved in public transit in a city of that magnitude, because of how dependent and crucial it is to out economy/health.

Being from Kitchener and seeing all the TTC strikes over the past decade, I'd say the government needs to get MORE involved. When the TTC workers do go on strike, they literally shut down industries.

a reply to: 0bservant

This is a provincial government responsibility and they did enact legislation to make the TTC an essential service in 2011. The province was accused of pandering to a right wing, anti-union mayor (Rob Ford). It was, nevertheless, the right thing to do in a city of this size and seems to have been done by the province after consultation with the city.

www.citynews.ca...

The provincial government stripped TTC workers of their right to strike Wednesday, prompting Toronto transit union boss Bob Kinnear to call Premier Dalton McGuinty a “lapdog for a union-hating right wing mayor.”

The essential service bill, called The Toronto Transit Commission Labour Disputes Resolution Act, passed on its third reading at Queen’s Park with a vote of 69-9. Under the new law, there will be binding arbitration by a third party when collective bargaining efforts run off the rails. There must also be a review of the legislation in five years.

“This legislation recognizes the vital importance of the TTC to the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the transit system to go to work, school, medical appointments, and shop,” Ontario Labour Minister Charles Sousa said.