[299 bloor call control.]

Miller refutes Harris report declaring city's demise

Allison Hanes, National Post Published: Friday, June 27, 2008


Toronto Mayor David Miller fired back yesterday at former Ontario premier Mike Harris, who this week put his name on a study declaring that Toronto is in economic decline and suggesting city hall and municipal taxes are to blame.
"Former premier Mike Harris has had his impact on the city. We've seen it," Mr. Miller said yesterday. "And I've spent the last five years working very strongly with Premier Dalton McGuinty to repair that damage."
Toronto is still dealing with the legacy of downloading by Mr. Harris's Conservative government in the 1990s, Mr. Miller said, when social services previously administered by the province were made the responsibility of cities without adequate funding.
"We've started to address the backlog that was given to us when it was downloaded," he said.
"We addressed one today. We're putting $75-million into Toronto Community Housing," the mayor said, referring to money from the sale of Toronto Hydro Telecom that is being put into major repairs to city-owned housing.
A day earlier, Mr. Harris defended his record as Ontario premier and said looking backward is "unproductive."
"If you want to be mired in the past, listen to me argue about how Toronto got far more uploaded than was downloaded -- $2-billion of taxes, property taxes, school and other things, but that's not a productive debate," he said.
The report by the Fraser Institute, a conservative think tank, said that Toronto is slipping as the centre of the business universe in Canada.
Signs of the slide, it said, include a median income failing to keep pace with that other Canadian cities and a bleeding of management jobs from Toronto.
After refusing to respond to it on the day of its release, Mr. Miller yesterday dismissed the report, which was co-authored by Mr. Harris and Reform Party founder Preston Manning.
"It's been a very long time since I've bothered to read reports from the Fraser Institute," the mayor said. "They didn't give me a courtesy of a copy so I haven't had a chance to read it.
ahanes@nationalpost.com

 

[Glen]

You fail to realize that for each and every new rider on the TTC actually INCREASES the cost of operating the system, since each and every rider is being subsidized. This is why the agency is continually strapped for cash in the face of increasing ridership.

Same with residents to the city. Every new household worsens the city's operating budget (if service levels are to be maintained).

Not a great position for a city to be in.

 

[lordmandeep]

It just shows how left wing fiscal policy works.

 

[bar1967]

Just when I thought it was safe to take the pins out of my Harris voodoo doll ...
JOHN BARBER

jbarber@globeandmail.com

E-mail John Barber | Read Bio | Latest Columns
June 28, 2008

It was only recently that I gazed absently at my dusty cubicle trophy shelf, only to feel a pang of shame at the sight of a coloured stick-pin still protruding from the puffiest part of my prized Mike Harris voodoo doll. Enough is enough, I thought, plucking it out and reweaving it into the handy fabric patch sewn onto the side for the purpose of excess stick-pin storage. Give the guy a break.

Soft-hearted liberals are no less squishy in victory. Our revenge is forgiveness.

And an error, as it turns out. The reviled one's return as co-author of a think-tank report on Toronto's decline demands more than pins in response (although I have seen to that). He and his co-author, Preston Manning, should know that the minority of Torontonians who do not ignore such emissions are outraged by them.

Toronto is screwed, says the guy who screwed Toronto. "It's only common sense," he adds.

Like many survivors of Mr. Harris's Attila-like rampage, Mayor David Miller did his best to ignore the report when it first emerged on Wednesday. But his resolve was short-lived. "Former premier Mike Harris has had his impact on the city and we have seen it," he said a day later. "I have spent the past five years working very strongly with Premier Dalton McGuinty to repair that damage." Noting that the Fraser Institute "did not give me the courtesy of a copy," Mr. Miller cleverly retained the privilege of not having to read the thing. If he bothers, he would find that it amply fulfilled his expectations.

Much of what Fraser Institute data-manglers put in the mouths of the two "fellows" originated in a valueless opinion poll, one that has as much credibility as the notorious sampling showing a majority of Americans approved the bombing of Sweden, "should the sanctions fail." But even the hard data they rely upon to prove their claim that Toronto is declining, taken from the two most recent censuses, in fact shows nothing of the sort.

The immediate problem is that the Fraser fellows don't know the difference between jobs and residents. They present data on the jobs held by Toronto citizens and naively equate that with jobs in the city.

The bigger problem is that they have no conception of how cities work - labour markets in particular. The result is that their claim about Toronto losing valuable jobs falls apart at first sight.

What the fellows show us, with the aid of Statistics Canada, is that Toronto residents have fewer managerial and professional jobs than they once did, especially in the select categories that are most indicative of an economy's overall health. They conclude, erroneously, that Toronto itself has fewer such jobs.

One look at the skyline disproves that notion. In the real world, developers cannot build fast enough to meet demand for offices to accommodate exactly the kind of professionals the Fraser fellows say are leaving town. Vacancy rates are at historic lows. Even the submarkets are hopping.

Because they sloppily equate the location of jobs with the residences of workers, the fellows can't see reality. All they have proven with their data is that professionals in Toronto are retiring and staying put. Meanwhile, the GO Trains are choking with young professionals from beyond city limits, with home addresses in places that didn't exist a generation ago.

It stands to reason such workers would gain a bigger share of the pie over the years - even when the pie is growing. Despite all the charts and the rhetoric, there is nothing in the Harris report to indicate whether the labour market is growing or shrinking in either Toronto or its suburbs.

Nobody will dispute the fellows' point that median incomes in Toronto are dropping relative to those in the rest of Canada, especially the oil-fuelled provinces. But typically, they missed the significance. Torontonians are either rich or poor, increasingly so. That's the Harris legacy.

Shall we send these sorry fellows to summer school and ask them to return in the fall with something that makes sense? I say no. They will only humiliate themselves and anger us once again. Surely we've had enough of that.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080628.BARBER28/TPStory/National/HYOntario

 

[urbandreamer]

I often wonder if John Barber ever steps outside his cubicle?

The man is just as clueless as Mike Harris!

Both need to examine this chart to see where Toronto is headed:

http://stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=$INDU&p=D&yr=3&mn=0&dy=0&i=0&r=5543

 

[freshcutgrass]

Even with rapidly increasing ridership and lots of more money from governments, the TTC is always short of money.

All transit agencies are "short of money". As the most cost-efficient, least subsidized, least indebted, high choice ridership transit agency in NA (and maybe even the world), coupled with our good ridership, safety record, and service levels, makes for a fairly enviable transit system...in NA for sure...and even by some european standards.

The TTC is just playing the game by the rules forced on them by the province (the feds were never in the transit game until recently).

First, the province said they are no longer funding, so cost-efficiency was the name of the game...ok, the TTC complied and became incredibly cost-efficient. Since they can't run any debt, and are relient on city taxes to fund operating and capital projects, they had no choice but to cut service and raise fares, as well as shelve capital projects. That of course worked for cost-efficiency, but killed ridership.

Then the rules changed again. Now the province and the feds said they were going to start funding transit, but based on ridership growth. So fine...the TTC made their new priority ridership growth, by doing the opposite of what they were doing before...increase service and capital projects. Bingo...it worked...but cost-efficiency went down obviously.

So don't put the blame all on the city and TTC...they managed to play the game quite successfully, considering they had little choice, and didn't make up the rules.

 

[TrickyRicky]

What really scares me is not the corpse of Mike Harris being re-animated by the right and left to lend legitimacy to themselves it is the language of Miller in the short piece 299 just posted. I'm not interested in the agenda of the Fraser report but the report at least attempts to, however fairly or unfairly one believes the conclusions to be, address a serious issue of real concern.

I'm perhaps overly harsh on Miller because he has been so disappointing to me. I originally thought here is a man who could have some strategic vision and leadership qualities. My perception unfortunately is that he instead turns out to come from a long line of politicians who see society as a big orange whose purpose is to squeeze as much juice out of to satisfy their own agendas. To extend the analogy we need someone to tend the tree not harvest the juice.

 

[Felino]

All transit agencies are "short of money". As the most cost-efficient, least subsidized, least indebted, high choice ridership transit agency in NA (and maybe even the world), coupled with our good ridership, safety record, and service levels, makes for a fairly enviable transit system...in NA for sure...and even by some european standards.

The TTC is just playing the game by the rules forced on them by the province (the feds were never in the transit game until recently).

First, the province said they are no longer funding, so cost-efficiency was the name of the game...ok, the TTC complied and became incredibly cost-efficient. Since they can't run any debt, and are relient on city taxes to fund operating and capital projects, they had no choice but to cut service and raise fares, as well as shelve capital projects. That of course worked for cost-efficiency, but killed ridership.

Then the rules changed again. Now the province and the feds said they were going to start funding transit, but based on ridership growth. So fine...the TTC made their new priority ridership growth, by doing the opposite of what they were doing before...increase service and capital projects. Bingo...it worked...but cost-efficiency went down obviously.

So don't put the blame all on the city and TTC...they managed to play the game quite successfully, considering they had little choice, and didn't make up the rules.

Thanks for the overview freshy.

Perhaps this isn't the place to say this, but I would like to see the TTC and the province or even the federal government pitch in and create a mega system with numerous subway lines, etc...

I'm dreaming, huh?

 

[MisterF]

No the TTC is a better service through billions in upgrades and expansions. Even with rapidly increasing ridership and lots of more money from governments, the TTC is always short of money. Sure they require even more money and such.

However, what did the TTC to solve this problem?? They give the workers such a generous deal that would workers in a communist state jealous.

Now, the TTC wants money to solve their financial shortfalls by increasing fares again.

That has been the Miller way of doing things in this city.

Ottawa's having exactly the same issues, as is every transit system with increasing ridership, especially those with minimal funding. Must be Miller's fault

It just shows how left wing fiscal policy works.

I do not understand why doesn't the city lower business taxes and just put it on homeowners.

They already are.

http://www.toronto.ca/finance/tax_policies.htm

 

[Lone Primate]

Unions...

his relationship with Unions is one of the "other reason" why the city faces financial issues and we receive such crappy TTC service. I like the fact he has really done wonders for the downtown but he has no gone way to far to the left.

I don't blame the unions so much; they're largely just ordinary people working together to get a better life. I blame the union leaders who paste up pie-in-the-sky demands that the workers then assume are fair, governments who haven't got the guts or principles to say "no, that demand is utterly absurd, so strike," and the people who pressure governments to cave when strikes are inconvenient and then turn around and bitch about "someone" letting the unions get away with murder. It's a perfect storm of gutlessness and self-interest that feeds on itself round and round and round.

 

[lordmandeep]

Of course, I know a few people in the TTC and they are hardworking good people and they have told me they are well off and don't need much else.

However, the Union bosses makes us believe they are like dwarf slaves working in a gold mine.



I know it may sound crazy to you people, but if your in a fiscal crisis, do you cut back spending a little. If your short of money, you don't spend money on things that are of no benefit..

Is there anywhere in the 8 billion dollar budget that is useless or wasteful. Is there way to do things cheaper.. Is it possible to lower expenses but having lower pay increases.

I agree the city need more money from other governments but I think we can do much more ourselves to resolve these issues.

Ottawa's having exactly the same issues, as is every transit system with increasing ridership, especially those with minimal funding. Must be Miller's fault

True, but are transit agencies in other cities allowed to take their city hostage??

 

[Hydrogen]

True, but are transit agencies in other cities allowed to take their city hostage??

Well, if you're gonna have to frame it like that, then it's obvious you never lived in Montreal.

I know it may sound crazy to you people, but if your in a fiscal crisis, do you cut back spending a little.

So tell us where to cut back.

Just a tiny bit curious: are you paying municipal taxes? In Toronto?

 

[lordmandeep]

Just a tiny bit curious: are you paying municipal taxes? In Toronto?

Well I live in Brampton but I frequent the city very often, and care a lot about it.


About which cuts???

-Outsource some works for cheap
- hold off on some projects that are not needed
- Hire fewer people and keep wages down
- More symbolic but get rid of free perks for council

 

[doady]

Not all fiscal problems can be solved by reducing spending. And Toronto already made huge cutbacks during the Mike Harris days, which is why the TTC has become the second-most efficient transit system in North America. Not bad for city run by socialists.

 

[MisterF]

Well, if you're gonna have to frame it like that, then it's obvious you never lived in Montreal.

Funny that you mention Montreal. Their transit system is among the more efficient ones (57%), though not as efficient as the TTC (75%). Conservative Atlanta has one of the lowest for a big city (32%), and Ottawa, which lordmandeep seems to think is less dragged down by unions, is somewhere in between (43%).

link

Not all fiscal problems can be solved by reducing spending. And Toronto already made huge cutbacks during the Mike Harris days, which is why the TTC has become the second-most efficient transit system in North America. Not bad for city run by socialists.

The TTC is second to none in North America when it comes to operating efficiency, and if you include regional commuter systems, GO Transit is on top. So Toronto leads the continent for both local and regional transit. You're right, not bad for a city run by socialists.