The bottom line is Ford promised to cut the FAT and STOP THE GRAVY TRAIN. Well he cannot find enough to cut so now he is looking to cut services to balance the books. There is not a $750 million defiencency. It is probably around $500 mil since Miller left us a surplus of $250-$300 MIL, He is trying to panic people into believing that there is a big problem, just like the US did with their billion's bailout. it is not working her in Toronto as it is clear what is happening, he sold the voters a story and now it is clear that it is a Ford Fable.
Is Rob Ford doing a good job?
- Thread starter avxl1003
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.... Wow ~ I'm speachless.
I don't have children but I'm appalled by this statement.....
Tell that to the single mothers in Toronto trying to make a life for their family who rely on subsidized daycare.
Think beyond your own little comfy world.... That's what most Torontonians tend to do... that's why I'm proud to be from this city and digusted by Ford et all.
Ford has not done that......yet......but that's what they all think. Just by inference everyone in the union is scared of what he's going to do.....many took the retirement package that are near retirement so they won't have to put up with him when the contract expires at the end of the year.......they fear Ford will lock them out over some tough issues like sick days, pay, seniority, etc..... and many other benefits.
These threads devolve into arguments about tiny details and miss the point.
Toronto has to find a way to close the $700 million gap between what our current programs cost and what our current revenue is.
One way to to that is to raise taxes, user fees, and other charges by $700 million dollars.
Another way is to cut jobs, services, programs, and facilities to the tune of $700 million.
A third option is to find some combination of the above.
All of these are, of course, the wrong answer. Getting elected is often about a few pithy sound bites and a simplistic world view. Governing well is much more complicated. Complex problems call for complex solutions. Rob Ford did a great job at the sound-bites and pithy catch-phrases during the election. He's doing a bad job at finding a realistic and practicals solution to the budget problem.
First of all, it was irresponsible and premature to cut the vehicle registration tax when we were so far into deficit already. Politically, it generated a quick win for the Fords but it was a bad financial decision for the city which provided a small payoff for the driving class and at the future expense of everyone (and disproportionately on the non-driving class - if you don't see that you are too slow-witted to have it explained to you).
Second of all, only a simpleton calls for the same cut across the board. Obviously, some services and departments are more valuable and important than others and you can't just cut them all the same percentage with any expectation of a successful outcome. This approach is amateur night at it's most obvious and suggests the inmates are running the asylum.
What Toronto needs is some creative and proactive planning. Some ideas of how to generate new revenue without increasing the burden on taxpayers. Some relief from a great deal of costs that we in Toronto currently carry on behalf of much of the GTA.
The Province has downloaded a great deal on the city in the past fifteen years and it's past time to push back and get some of that support back. Toronto provides roads and infrastructure that half the 905 uses on a daily basis but don't pay for; it's time they accepted a share of the cost of the city they work and play in (but don't pay taxes to). Every 905 person who works in Toronto gets free roads, water, subsidized transit, and many other benefits for free...it's time that changed.
We need an intelligent and resourceful Mayor (and council) who can think outside the box and move Toronto into the current century. We don't have a Mayor that is up to the job.
Toronto has to find a way to close the $700 million gap between what our current programs cost and what our current revenue is.
One way to to that is to raise taxes, user fees, and other charges by $700 million dollars.
Another way is to cut jobs, services, programs, and facilities to the tune of $700 million.
A third option is to find some combination of the above.
All of these are, of course, the wrong answer. Getting elected is often about a few pithy sound bites and a simplistic world view. Governing well is much more complicated. Complex problems call for complex solutions. Rob Ford did a great job at the sound-bites and pithy catch-phrases during the election. He's doing a bad job at finding a realistic and practicals solution to the budget problem.
First of all, it was irresponsible and premature to cut the vehicle registration tax when we were so far into deficit already. Politically, it generated a quick win for the Fords but it was a bad financial decision for the city which provided a small payoff for the driving class and at the future expense of everyone (and disproportionately on the non-driving class - if you don't see that you are too slow-witted to have it explained to you).
Second of all, only a simpleton calls for the same cut across the board. Obviously, some services and departments are more valuable and important than others and you can't just cut them all the same percentage with any expectation of a successful outcome. This approach is amateur night at it's most obvious and suggests the inmates are running the asylum.
What Toronto needs is some creative and proactive planning. Some ideas of how to generate new revenue without increasing the burden on taxpayers. Some relief from a great deal of costs that we in Toronto currently carry on behalf of much of the GTA.
The Province has downloaded a great deal on the city in the past fifteen years and it's past time to push back and get some of that support back. Toronto provides roads and infrastructure that half the 905 uses on a daily basis but don't pay for; it's time they accepted a share of the cost of the city they work and play in (but don't pay taxes to). Every 905 person who works in Toronto gets free roads, water, subsidized transit, and many other benefits for free...it's time that changed.
We need an intelligent and resourceful Mayor (and council) who can think outside the box and move Toronto into the current century. We don't have a Mayor that is up to the job.
What's wrong with this guy?
He calls us "cityfolk" selfish?
I don't have a kid in subsidized daycare... But I don't want it cut....
I don't go to the library (I used to as a kid).... But I don't want them closed or hours cut back....
I don't need subsidized dental work... But I don't want it cut....
I don't take late night TTC.... But I don't want it cut or cut back....
I haven't gone to the zoo since I was kid... But I don't want it sold and I want it accessible to everyone...
How the fuck are we selfish?
It seems like we care about our fellow Torontonians unlike Fatty Ford.......
I don't have a kid - but I have friends who do and they struggle. As a woman in this industry, I've known many women struggling to make a better life for their children and have a huge issue with the thought of taking away subsidized day care to those who need it.
I received social assistance when I was 18 and had to move on my own while still in highschool with two jobs. I know how it feels to live below the poverty line and the little help I received for the three months that I received it helped me survive and do well in school.
I am planning a trip to the zoo on Sunday (lol first time since I was in elementary school)
A significant number of children in Toronto don't even have internet access... when tablet devices are all the rage and there's been a lot of talk in the media about the use of the internet in schools, libraries are one of the few places where the less privileged can access the net. I didn't have a computer till I started university (at 22) because I couldn't afford one ... I know how it feels to have less access to information than my peers. Things have progressed so much since then, I can only imagine how much the gap between the wealthy and not is now in schools....
I used to take the TTC at night regularly. There was always a long wait and the bus was always full.
I have lots of gay friends and I work in the sex industry. There are rumors that the hassle free clinic and similar clinics could lose funding which upsets me a great deal.
I don't use most of the services that are vulnerable to drastic cuts anymore... but as someone who has not always been strong enough to live without help, I have compassion for those who need help. I don't understand how anyone could consider Torontonians (or more specifically downtowners) to be selfish. Downtowners seem to be the most vocal in their disapproval of what is happening....
The cuts that have been proposed will have a disproportionately negative affect on those who need the most help. As someone who once received help (and as someone who actually needed that help), I believe it is my duty (and I believe it is the duty of all those who are lucky enough to not need help) to ensure that the less fortunate are taken care of.
I want to stay in Toronto and raise a family in Toronto some day. I'm not interested in short term solutions. I want solutions that will improve our city for the long haul because I really hope that I can stay here for the long haul.
I don't believe Toronto should be paying for social services. That doesn't mean I want those services cut. I just don't think Toronto should be paying for it. Those costs belong to the Province or the Federal level.
Property tax is just the wrong model to fund something like that. You need to fund income replacement from income taxes. Doing it with property tax leads to all kinds of weird distortions--for example, people migrate into the city from wherever it was they lived, and place all the cost on Toronto, when their personal/social problems originated in some small town or suburbs. It makes much more sense to fund these things from a general province or nation wide income tax.
Our tax situation in Canada is fundamentally broken. The Federal level is rolling in cash, while the Provincial and Municipal levels are starving. Given how little the Federal level actually does what we really need is a massive tax cut in our Federal taxes, and tax rises at the municipal and the provincial level. Either that or upload a lot of programs to the Federal level.
Property tax is just the wrong model to fund something like that. You need to fund income replacement from income taxes. Doing it with property tax leads to all kinds of weird distortions--for example, people migrate into the city from wherever it was they lived, and place all the cost on Toronto, when their personal/social problems originated in some small town or suburbs. It makes much more sense to fund these things from a general province or nation wide income tax.
Our tax situation in Canada is fundamentally broken. The Federal level is rolling in cash, while the Provincial and Municipal levels are starving. Given how little the Federal level actually does what we really need is a massive tax cut in our Federal taxes, and tax rises at the municipal and the provincial level. Either that or upload a lot of programs to the Federal level.
Specifically that's why he was elected. He wasn't elected to build NFL stadiums, cut services, or fuck up the waterfront. He was elected over anger at the city unions specifically arising from the garbage strike.
However if you look he has done the opposite. He locked in the TTC workers exorbitant wages FOREVER in by having them declared essential services--there is NO WAY that binding arbitration is going to roll back their wages. So not only did he NOT do anything about their pay packages, he has made it so no future mayor can either. They have jobs for life now, and they're guaranteed their fat paycheques forever, plus cost of living increases. Note that declaring them an essential service means they can't be locked out.
Similarly he doled out a huge wage increase to the police union. Between the police and the TTC that is a very large chunk of the city's budget that he has already locked in to higher wages.
So he has been very counter-productive here. He's made the problem worse, not better.
But Ford asked for 10% reduction in budget and hundreds will be let go with a early retirement package. Rob Ford is not consistent in his handling of the city finance.
In his campaign Ford never indicated where is the gravy but insisted he will find it. So did he actually examine and research the City's operating and capital budget?
What is it that keeps those private sector wages and benefits so low? Or have I missed all the stories about our expanding, thriving middle and working classes? I've certainly seen enough about the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us.
Damn those unions for driving down wages!
The KPMG report is after the election, may be Rob Ford cannot find any gravy himself. Even the KPMG report is not a full and comprehensive value-for-money study( the 3E's economy, efficiency and effectiveness).
Not wanting to get into stuff like tax-theory, on which you wre quite thoughtful, let me just make one relevant point.
There is only one taxpayer. It really does not matter which government provides the services we decide we need and want, we must pay for them; no one else will. If our roads and transit and hospitals and schools and environment are gone to hell we're gonna have to pony up to get them fixed. Doesn't really matter which government collects or does the fixing, that's just management and admin stuff, and Rob'n'Dug have reminded us that's very different from making money.
Don't believe anyone spinning fairytales about taxes going down. There's no one else to cover the costs. Look for the guy who tells you how costs can be better shared.
I like how every interview Rob Ford gives involves him saying "I'm going to do what I was elected to do" (except that he wasn't elected to cut services), and he then usually adds in something like "Even if I have to drag the population kicking and screaming.." Way to be an elected official...
I think I'll run as mayor in the next election. My campaign will be "Free cars for anybody who wants one".. You know to cash in on the stupid vote. Then do what ever the flying fuck I feel like doing for the next 4 years...
I think I'll run as mayor in the next election. My campaign will be "Free cars for anybody who wants one".. You know to cash in on the stupid vote. Then do what ever the flying fuck I feel like doing for the next 4 years...
