Jim Flaherty, the federal minister of finance, said on CBC radio the other day that he was endorsing Rob Ford for mayor because he thinks it is time that Toronto got its financial house in order.
I am tempted to tell Jim Flaherty, in capital letters, to keep his big mouth shut and not to meddle in the affairs of this town, where he neither lives, nor works, nor holds municipal office.
I will restrain myself.
I will merely point out that if Toronto is in financial trouble, it is in large part because of the role Jim Flaherty played as the bloody cleaver in the hands of Butcher Harris.
The specifics:
Jim Flaherty was in the Harris government when amalgamation was rammed down our throats. We were told it would save a lot of money. The reverse has been painfully true.
Jim Flaherty was in the Harris government when Ontario Housing — a portfolio in a state of utter physical disrepair — was dumped onto this city without the corresponding compensation.
That costs us $300 million a year.
Jim Flaherty was in the Harris government when the Eglinton subway was cancelled and the hole filled in, and worse, when overall transit funding was slashed.
That costs us $250 million a year.
Jim Flaherty was in the Harris government when welfare rates were cut by 20 per cent, and when this city was saddled with the cost of social services administration.
That costs us $150 million a year.
I could add that Jim Flaherty, as a member of the Harris government, played a part in other cuts to ambulance, police, roads and public health.
But why pile on?
Let’s just say Jim Flaherty has participated in policies that have cost this city $7 billion in total since amalgamation.
If our financial house is not in order, why might that be? Could it be, perhaps, that Jim Flaherty has had a grip on Toronto’s neck for a very long time?
Is it not — and I do not choose these words lightly — both hypocritical and cynical to criticize us because we have been unable to catch our breath?
More recently, Jim Flaherty is the finance minister in a federal government that every year takes billions more from this city in taxes than it sends us in return.
And most recently of all, Jim Flaherty helped to saddle this city with the costs associated with the G20 fiasco, and yet his government refuses to act quickly to compensate all those small businesses that lost money each and every day Toronto was turned into an armed camp.
Has Jim Flaherty’s pal Rob Ford — and Ford is a millionaire, by the way — pushed to have the federal government speed up the compensation process and help the little guy out of a jam?
I didn’t think so.
Here’s something even more curious:
Rob Ford — he is Jim Flaherty’s man — says he doesn’t want any more immigrants in Toronto because we can’t take care of the people we have.
You might not think that such a remark is code for something pale and nasty, but if I were a recent immigrant, I’d be offended.
Better to remember that Jim Flaherty is the finance minister in a federal government that has power over immigration matters, and yet the federal government is unwilling to provide the support Rob Ford says this city does not have.
Makes my head spin.
Let me get back to my original point in its simplest form: If Toronto is to get its financial house in order, why did Jim Flaherty pillage the house in the first place?
