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rbt said:
Agreed. Too damn much money goes to things like snow plowing, roadway maintenance, traffic enforcement, ambulance services, etc. for drivers which really should be covered by scaling up Toronto Parking Authority revenues, a parking tax on private lots, and/or vehicle registration fees. We got sewer/water and garbage out of the property tax bucket, roadways should be next to be converted to pay per use.

That said, we can significantly reduce TTC operating subsidies by applying a King type conversion to most major streets in the city; LRT for Dundas/College, and BRT for most other roadways.
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I don't know if I would literally support pay per use on every km, as that would seem intrusive. But I whole-heartedly support tolling the Gardiner/DVP, taxing commercial parking, drastically raising below-market permit parking fees and on-street parking as well.

BRT on any six-lane road, that supports every 10M or better bus service is also highly supportable.

Rather than get caught up on pilots for the streetcar services, I think simply moving to restrict parking in both directions from 6-10am and 3-7pm daily would dramatically improve route performance.

I also think we need further rationalization of stops on surface routes, I'm not suggesting draconian cuts, but we really musn't allow stops less than 250m apart.
 
Northern Light said:
I don't know if I would literally support pay per use on every km, as that would seem intrusive. But I whole-heartedly support tolling the Gardiner/DVP, taxing commercial parking, drastically raising below-market permit parking fees and on-street parking as well.
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My main intention was to point out that "cutting all the nonsense" and "trimming the fat" means different things to different people; then tried to point out "waste" that the Thorns_Embrace probably doesn't see as waste (despite the large hit to city/provincial costs portion of the balance sheet).
 
Northern Light said:
The first part of that statement is one most here could agree with............(ending in the word disappointment)

The rest is your usual.

Believe it or not, you could actually earn the respect of people here if you would state a clear, supportable, evidence-based position now and again.

What gravy? Most provinces by the way, including those more 'conservative' than Ontario fund 100% of public health costs and don't expect cities to pick up any portion of the tab, but I digress.

What nonsense would you like to cut, be specific; then tell us why that item is nonsense, with facts supporting your position.

Either that, or maybe consider not posting here; because it certainly can't be gratifying your ego; and I could do without the grating, repetitive, drone of unsupported poppycock.
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Honestly I just wanted to quickly rant about a politician I supported twice. I really don't have time to make a detailed post about some of the things I believe the city should not be funding. I feel I normally try to support my position with some kind of facts but sadly recently I have not had time for that.


Anyway, I listened to John Tory pre-2014 on his radio show and his rhetoric was a lot closer to mine than his rhetoric now. He is taking the easy way out, and you even admit he is doing a bad job, but maybe for different reasons. The last budget wasn't even balanced properly. Maybe the point of my post with the "gravy" rhetoric is this: if Tory wants to be a tax and spend politician that is his prerogative but I will not be having a Tory lawn sign next election. Maybe I will be on the Goldy 2022 train.(hopefully not)
 
rbt said:
My main intention was to point out that "cutting all the nonsense" and "trimming the fat" means different things to different people; then tried to point out "waste" that the Thorns_Embrace probably doesn't see as waste (despite the large hit to city/provincial costs portion of the balance sheet).
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The concept of priorities is really the most important part of politics outside of elections. Generally there is a small subgroup that care about certain issues but a good politician should be able to pick out what is really important to the general public and what isn't. It is why there was such pushback regarding the snowclearing over the winter, even if I don't think that is high priority for many I used to think that Tory had similar priorities. Imagine if he spent half the effort keeping the snowclering up to par over the winter as he is advocating for public health causes that many people will never use.
 
A friend is registered for one of those online survey sites and got an unusual one today. It was a detailed questionairre about how much do you know about possible cadidates for the Liberal party. Just when it wa about to end, it veers in a surprising direction:

(all paraphrased)

Do you think John Tory would make a good leader for the Ontario Liberal Party? (yes/no/unsure)
Do you think if John Tory were the next learder of the Ontario Liberal Party he could win a majority government in the next provincial election? (yes/no/unsure)
Would you vote for the Ontario Liberal Party in the next election if John Tory was the leader? (yes/no/unsure)
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Someone paid to put this out there folks. They don't add random questions like that for no reason. Someone is trying to suss out if this is actually something that could work.
 
Some interesting numbers on the economic powerhouse that is Toronto...

On Monday Statistics Canada put out a new data series about “local” economies, showing how much our cities contribute to the national economy. The census metropolitan area* of Toronto pumped out $330 billion in 2013, the last year for which StatsCan conducted this exercise. That’s virtually equivalent to the GDP of the entire province of Alberta GDP ($331 billion) and within spitting distance of Canada’s second-largest province, Quebec ($337 billion).

But Toronto ‘s future is underfunded. If you don’t believe me, take the word of City of Toronto’s city manager. And the longer it takes for Toronto to tackle its funding issues the more Canada risks watching its single most important source of economic power slip away. Canada’s macro-economic story unwinds rapidly if that happens. Canada is the 10th-largest economy in the world with a fraction of the population of the other members of the top 10 list, but there’s no guarantees that what got us there will keep us there.

https://www.macleans.ca/economy/eco...s-economy-doesnt-get-the-respect-it-deserves/
 
Videodrome said:
https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...eader-for-ontario-liberals-poll-suggests.html

John Tory as Liberal leader? That is.interesting....
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He should have given the idea of running for PC leader more thought.

He would have beaten Wynne, and I wouldn't have been upset about him leaving the Toronto post if it meant preventing a Ford premiership.

He had the necessary ammunition to win the Toronto vote as a PC leader, being a popular Toronto mayor (you guys might laugh, but he has very high approval in Liberal-land that is Midtown, central Etobicoke, Willowdale, basically all of downtown minus Parkdale, Guildwood, etc.), and having fought Wynne on items such as highway tolls.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I think after four to eight years of having a premier who acts like the mayor of Toronto, the voters outside of the 416 may not want the former real thing. Enough Toronto may be the matra.
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For the most part I don't think the 905 objects to a Toronto focused premier and the economic GTA (Hamilton, Barrie, Oshawa; areas strongly impacted by GTA policy/performance) is roughly half the seats available. Ford won't be refocusing or stepping down (he only knows Toronto politics; nothing else). It would require one heck of a pivot for NDP to sweep rural Ontario.

It's bound to be another Toronto oriented elected in one way or another.

Ignoring Toronto in an Ontario election is rapidly becoming a kiss of death for a campaign like ignoring New York City in New York State elections. The "Province of Toronto" people have effectively gotten their wish.
 
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"After learning PressProgress was posing questions to some of her wealthiest donors, Goldy sent a panicked e-mail instructing her donors not to talk to journalists.


“You owe them zero answers,” Goldy wrote, telling her donors they have “no duty to respond to their solicitation.”


“The media truly are the enemy of the people,” Goldy told her donors."


pressprogress.ca

Meet the Wealthy Toronto Elites Who Funded White Nationalist Faith Goldy’s Campaign for Mayor

Alt-right mayoral candidate’s campaign was funded largely by donors who live in Toronto’s wealthiest neighbourhoods
pressprogress.ca pressprogress.ca
 
Hypocritical leftists: "People need to get involved in the political process."
Also hypocritical leftists: Lets publish personal information of people who donate to small time candidates we don't like."
 
PinkLucy said:
I think all donors to all parties should be public knowledge.
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The only reason it is published is to avoid corruption, for example, a scheme where a developer donated to a campaign in order to get a development improved. It is not done in order to get back at people who donated to losing candidates. For example, if Tory started voting against things that were proposed by Keesmaat donors you would be ok with that? Or councilors ignoring residents who donated to opposing campaigns. Is that fair game?

I actually think what happened with the Faith Goldy's campaign donations is appalling. The complacence audit committee decision was terrible. The reason given was basically if she has nothing to hide she would be ok with having an audit, no hard proof was given. It is similar logic to the "if you have nothing to hide you would allow police to search your house."
Now partisan media is going after donators as a punishment basically. It was not unexpected but I would never do that to another person.
 
It's not just about corruption. There are donation maximums.

If Tory started doing things that fit the definition of hate speech and hate crimes, yes I would be ok with that. Because that's Faith Goldy. There's a reason she was removed from platforms like Facebook. No councillor or MPP or MP can do everything that their donors want, because those wants are often conflicting. But that has nothing to do with supporting someone who supports and promotes hate groups.
 
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