Next Mayor of Toronto?

[wanderer66]

Unfortunately js97, blame is the only thing some people can do...

From the movie "American President." Describes how I feel about politics sometimes... put the looney blamists as Bob Rumson.
"I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it! We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections."

 

[T.O.Fanatic]

Too me, Rossi sounds like he's the only one that knows how to handle a multi-billion dollar budget.

That may be true, but he seems to be trying for the angry suburbanite vote. Look at his policies, why stop Transit City? Its the only real TTC improvement we've seen in a while, not to mention that it also wants to use urban and land use planning to make the suburbs more pedestrian and transit friendly. He's bringing Toronto into the past.

 

[MetroMan]

I'm inclined to support Smitherman since Giambrone's departure but I can't live with his initial position to stop Transit City. It's funded and ready to go. I'd rather have the city blanketed in LRT than waiting decades for a couple of subway stumps.

 

[nfitz]

I'm inclined to support Smitherman since Giambrone's departure but I can't live with his initial position to stop Transit City. It's funded and ready to go.

I don't recall Smitherman trying to stop Transit City ... that was Rossi's position wasn't it?

 

[MetroMan]

^ He doesn't have an official position yet (does he have an official position on anything?) but when asked about it, he said he'd like to put it on ice while reviewing the plans. What's there to review? It's been studied and debated to death. It's now funded and projects are ready to go.

So far, only Pantalone and Giambrone were in favour of full steam ahead on TC. With Giambrone gone, Pantalone is the only flag bearer for Transit City.

 

[eddiek]

Just read the article, what I love about Pantalone, he's one of those silly people who blame the Province for downloading and that being the sole reason for all the economic woes in the city, I guess it's easy to forget that the province picked up TDSB and is paying 2 billion a year for it. That’s about 2/3'rd the City budget increase since Miller took office.

As for transit, Rossi is right, We can't move forward with transit if it's the wrong model just because it's the first thing planned since the 70's. We need to be smart with it and do it right, we only have one shot at it.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

eddiek:

I guess it's easy to forget that the province picked up TDSB and is paying 2 billion a year for it. That’s about 2/3'rd the City budget increase since Miller took office.

I guess if you have any understanding of the system, you'd realize that the education portion of the property tax isn't a part of the city budget - it pays for education, not city services.

AoD

 

[js97]

eddiek:



I guess if you have any understanding of the system, you'd realize that the education portion of the property tax isn't a part of the city budget - it pays for education, not city services.

AoD

I think that's what he's saying.

2/3rds of education is now funded by the province, hence, the city only needs to fund 1/3rd, and not the entire amount as it used to be.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

js97:

2/3rds of education is now funded by the province, hence, the city only needs to fund 1/3rd, and not the entire amount as it used to be.

The City of Toronto as an institution does NOT fund education in general, period. What the change did was basically took away the ability of the school boards to raise their own revenue through the education portion of the property tax and replaced it with funding divved up by the provincial government (based on a funding formula) - in fact, the understanding is that Toronto based school boards now receieve less money for their operations than what the province takes in from the education property tax. What he was implying is that somehow this change is beneficial to the City of Toronto - i.e. uploading expenditure to the province - when in fact it isn't the case at all.

Honestly though, for all this talk about fiscal responsiblity, I found the lack of literacy on municipal finances distrubing, to say the least.

AoD

 

[GraphicMatt]

It's weird to see the see kind of rigid hierarchical thinking people have about levels of government. The provincial government isn't some kind of 'father' to Toronto's city government. They have an entirely symbiotic relationship. It goes both ways. The provincial government doesn't control the purse strings because they're some wisened patriarch whose practiced good fiscal discipline. They control the purse strings because they take way more of the average Torontonian's tax dollar.

The played-our arguments that Toronto should somehow bootstrap its way out of a financial hole that was caused directly by the provincial government's meddling are so so tiresome.

Honestly, it's like if I came into your house one night and stole all your stuff, but then when you asked for me to give some of that stuff back to you I told you to get a higher-paying job and just buy new stuff.

 

[Darwinkgo]

^ Other cities have adapted to the new reality whereas Toronto never has. Toronto still avoids fee for service on many items (even with improvements in areas such as water and garbage collection), and has lower residential property taxes than the 905. Plus, spending has increased at a ridiculous pace while the city continues to cry poor.

 

[nfitz]

The provincial government isn't some kind of 'father' to Toronto's city government.

It is though, isn't it? Legally. The municipalities exist only at the sufferance of the provincial government. The province has the sole right of disbanding the city, or whatever else it pleases.

 

[old boy]

It is though, isn't it? Legally. The municipalities exist only at the sufferance of the provincial government. The province has the sole right of disbanding the city, or whatever else it pleases.

I think the next round of belt tightening coming from the Feds and Queen's Park is going to change the way Toronto operates more than any of today's aspiring mayors are inclined to discuss. Be prepared for Harris 2, - the gang in Ottawa has had some related eexperience.

 

[SimonP]

Yvonne Bambrick, head of the Toronto Cyclists Union, has posted that Rossi backed out of a debate with her that had been set up by CP 24:

Unfortunately, the live discussion was called off. The show's producers told me that Rossi refused to speak on the issue at the same time as me once he found out who he was scheduled with. He almost cancelled in fact - requested a separate green room, and then appeared separately after me. I was quite surprised to say the least. If he can’t have a civilized debate with the representative of a key stakeholder group in an issue he is speaking out on, how on earth can he expect to run the largest city in Canada?

Link

 

[Darwinkgo]

Candidates don't debate people who aren't candidates. Campaign management 101.