03.16.2010 01:24 PM

I have a better idea

…I recommend that Bill Murdoch create a separate country for himself. He can be King, and the rest of us can put up a tall fence so that we don’t have listen to his crazy crap anymore. Randy Hillier, naturally, will apply to emigrate to Murdochland. (We’ll help him pack.)

That, or we can pray that Little Timmy Hudak keeps these Fred and Barney wannabes around, and thereby loses all hope of ever, ever winning back an urban seat!

6 Comments

  1. James Bow says:

    Actually, the idea in and of itself isn’t a bad one. If we were to take the 416 and 905 area codes of Ontario and break them off into the province of Toronto, and if we couple that with de-amalgamations of Toronto and Hamilton-Wentworth, I think we’d have a better government throughout the Greater Toronto Area. And I think it would actually benefit the rest of the province as well, since Queen’s Park’s agenda would no longer be bogged down by Toronto issues. Really, the challenges of Toronto are the challenges of the GTA, and there is no one voice to act as a competent and accountable regional manager, except for McGuinty himself. Just one problem: he’s elected to be the premier of Ontario, and not just the GTA.

    Of course, full provincehood just isn’t going to fly. You’d need a constitutional amendment for that, and I suspect it would be one of those special amendments requiring unanimous agreement by all the provinces. Not going to happen, especially when you’re asking the western provinces to stand by and allow their powers to be further diluted in confederation through the creation of a “Mini-Me” version of Ontario.

    But something’s got to be done. McGuinty is working very hard working as the de-facto regional manager of the GTA because the provincial government can’t just stand there and let the GTA’s challenges fester. But you already have rural Ontarians feeling as though the provincial government isn’t paying attention to their issues. The polarization of this province along these lines serves no one — especially not Torontonians when the time comes for a new government to take over.

    But there are things that this province can do — like perhaps devolution to regional parliaments, akin to what the Scots now enjoy. Municipal affairs are a provincial responsibility; provincial governments alone determine what cities and counties exist, what their boundaries are, what powers they have, et cetera. They could, in theory, break up the province into five regional parliaments (Southwestern Ontario, Eastern Ontario, National Capital Region, Northern Ontario and the GTA), and give these parliaments taxing powers and very specific responsibilities which are specific to themselves. You’d abolish the regional and county level governments so as to not create a separate level of government, and then you’d let Queen’s Park sit back to focus on truly provincial issues.

    I think this prospect is win-win for all Ontarians, and is doable within the constitutional powers of Queen’s Park. If you’re interested, I wrote more about this subject here: http://bowjamesbow.ca/2010/03/14/how-do-you-solv-1.shtml

  2. James Bow says:

    P.S. As good as Bill’s basic idea is, I don’t particularly appreciate the combative manner in which he presents it. He specifically excludes the 905 region from the proposed province, and then goes on to complain about windmills popping up on rural land (citing that as an example of the “urban mentality” and then saying (and this is a direct quote): “Where are they going to get their power? We’ve got a nuclear plant. We don’t need Toronto.”

    Heh.

    If this is about creating governments that best serve the needs of ALL Ontarians, from Bay Street to North Bay, then the “province of Toronto” includes the 905 area code. Most people in the 905 acknowledge that their economic future is inextricably linked to that of Toronto. Commuters go back and forth across Toronto’s boundaries so much that they’re basically meaningless as a regional boundary. So, if the province of Toronto includes the 905 region, Torontonians actually have TWO nuclear plants, and they get to keep Niagara Falls.

  3. Connoisseur says:

    Warren, Murdoch already lives in a separate country. Have you never been up Bruce / Grey County way? I had to reside in Bruce Cty for 15 yrs and although I’ve been away from there for just as long, I don’t think I’ll ever wash that stink away 🙁 They’re different, yep, they’re different all right…

  4. I used to like this guy. Has he gone crazy or something?

  5. Murdoch says:

    I am NOT related to him! Also-you NEVER wear a tartan tie WITH your kilt. Ever!

  6. MJE says:

    Whenever I get into one of these of debates with my hinterland friends and family, I love to pull out the old Fraser Institute (from a right-wing source no less) report to remind them who actually pays for their rural lifestyle.

    http://www.fraserinstitute.org/Commerce.Web/product_files/SharetheWealth.pdf

    Are you really sure you wnat to kick us out, especially considering how much of the bill we’re stuck paying with

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