Mayor John Tory's Toronto

[TheTigerMaster]

JT is under fire for taking out a loan to balance his budget:

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/bl...ont-on-financial-management-and-from-the-left

 

[Palma]

Miller was definitely better than both Ford and Lastman. Will Tory be better? So far he's better than both Ford and Lastman, we'll see after four years where he rates with Miller.

Tory will definitely be better than Miller. As that article stated, Toronto’s net debt in 2010 was more than a billion dollars greater than it was in 2004. The 2010 operating budget projected 43 per cent more spending than in 2003, much of it on salaries and benefits to Miller’s purported friends in the unions. You can bet this will not happen under Tory. I never really use to pay much attention to municipal politics before (thanks to Ford, that has changed) but I do remember hearing constantly of cost overruns of anything the city touched

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I don't want to get too off-topic, but here's a choice quote from Toronto Life:

http://www.torontolife.com/informer...n-long-years/?page=all#tlb_multipage_anchor_1

Bwahaha... Did you just link a NatPost columnist's hatchet job from 2010 as your proof of anything? OK.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I don't know that he's the best mayor we've had in decades. But I will say that Miller is, without a doubt, the best Mayor we've had since amalgamation. However mind that his "competition" for the title of best mayor has been pretty pathetic (Ford and Lastman).

Which was better than Miller - Hall or Rowlands? 'Cause those are your only two other choices.

 

[Soop]

Well now, Rob didn't even bother to vote against it.

Fortunately, Rob doesn't have a vote on exec committee. I say fortunately in the general sense, not necessarily as it relates to Smart Track as I don't have a position on that yet.

He is on Etobicoke York Community Council, Audit Committee, Government Management Committee, Hockey Hall of Fame Board of Directors, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

The NatPost Matt Gurney piece linked on today's UT news page is very interesting to me, in the context of 'rightwingers agreeing with Tory for things that they lambasted Miller'. I'm not a fan of Gurney, but I'd be interested if he & Selley actually went out to Scarborough and saw where the LRT would have gone and did a writeup akin to their Waterfront Toronto piece back in the day. (IIRC, it was Selley who actually went down to the waterfront and it turned out WT knew what they were doing and Doug Ford was an idiot.)

I think there's zero chance they re-visit the subway, but there's the billions you need for all your other projects, Mr. Tory, including SmarTrack.

ETA: The comments on that piece are Worms Sun-level awesome.

 

[Tuscani01]

Which was better than Miller - Hall or Rowlands? 'Cause those are your only two other choices.

Neither of them were mayor of the new megacity, so they aren't even choices.

 

[nrb]

Tory will definitely be better than Miller. As that article stated, Toronto’s net debt in 2010 was more than a billion dollars greater than it was in 2004. The 2010 operating budget projected 43 per cent more spending than in 2003, much of it on salaries and benefits to Miller’s purported friends in the unions. You can bet this will not happen under Tory. I never really use to pay much attention to municipal politics before (thanks to Ford, that has changed) but I do remember hearing constantly of cost overruns of anything the city touched

That article is extremely biased and the budget has actually increased more under Ford than it did under Miller. It's an irrelevant metric for a quickly growing city in any case.

The debt grew more under Ford as well. In this first budget Tory certainly isn't doing anything different. He's still running a deficit and I don't know why you think, for some reason, the budget is not going to grow as much under Tory. This first budget is all about increased spending.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Neither of them were mayor of the new megacity, so they aren't even choices.

That's ridiculous. The Mayor of Toronto is the Mayor of Toronto. But, if you wish, eliminate Hall and Rowlands and add Tonks. Does that change your opinion? Or, just eliminate them all. Does that change your opinion?

 

[Greg Banks]

That article is extremely biased and the budget has actually increased more under Ford than it did under Miller. It's an irrelevant metric for a quickly growing city in any case.

The debt grew more under Ford as well. In this first budget Tory certainly isn't doing anything different. He's still running a deficit and I don't know why you think, for some reason, the budget is not going to grow as much under Tory. This first budget is all about increased spending.

I beg to differ...Tory/Crawford are offering an unbalanced budget (an 86M hole) something that Ford/MDG/FDG or Miller/Carroll/Soknacki never did...

 

[nfitz]

I beg to differ...Tory/Crawford are offering an unbalanced budget (an 86M hole) something that Ford/MDG/FDG or Miller/Carroll/Soknacki never did...

Didn't Miller run similar unbalanced budget a couple of times ... once taking a Provincial bailout, and a second time adjusting it when no bailout was forthcoming? (I'm asking the question ... I haven't thought about this for years).

 

[W. K. Lis]

The 2015 budget actually starting in 2014 in the individual departments under the then Mayor Rob Ford, or Deputy Mayor at the time. Council only started to see the first drafts in November of 2014. It will take until March before council even considers the 2015 budget. See link.

2015 Budget Schedule

2015 Rate and Tax Supported Operating and Capital Budgets

January 20, 2015	Budget Committee Launch
January 26 – 29, 2015	Budget Committee briefings and service standards review
February 2 - 3, 2015	Budget Committee public presentations
February 4 -5, 205	Budget Committee program reviews
February 13, 2015	Budget Committee wrap up
February 20, 2015	Budget Committee final wrap up
March 2, 2015	Executive Committee considers the 2015 Budgets
March 10 – 11, 2015	City Council considers the 2015 Budgets

We're in the Budget Committee stage.

 

[Greg Banks]

Didn't Miller run similar unbalanced budget a couple of times ... once taking a Provincial bailout, and a second time adjusting it when no bailout was forthcoming? (I'm asking the question ... I haven't thought about this for years).

Yeah, Miller went a couple of years using Provincial "one time" bailouts however that was upfront and known at the time and Lastman/Miller ignored the 200M loan and interest covering initial amalgamation costs (as well as the close to 3B Toronto received from the Regions over what fifteen years via the "Toronto Tax"), oh and yes the loan and interest were forgiven last year... unlike this time round with the Crawford/Tory budget "we're negotiating" "we should have an affimrative answer by next" which was in fact balderdash...only to be told later in the day help would be coming by a secured line of credit in other words balance your present by mortgaging your future.......

 

[Videodrome]

The media B-team at City Hall must think that council only has one member...

 

[hper]

I don't want to get too off-topic, but here's a choice quote from Toronto Life:



http://www.torontolife.com/informer...n-long-years/?page=all#tlb_multipage_anchor_1

Chris Selley is always cranky. And mostly wrong. And by revving up the resent-fueled time-machine you've managed to dredge up something which suggests you are, too.

RRR is correct. Miller Time was Good Times. Toronto leapt onto the global stage (in a positive fashion). The Fordus Interuptus was an entirely aberrant slope-head interregnum that we, as a city, will hopefully never see again. That said, Tory's doing okay in his 'bland-is-good' trained-way. There are a bunch of issues which will test even the greatest Mayor though. Here's to hoping.