Musings —09.19.2018 11:03 AM
—Keesmaat’s response to changing the size of Toronto council: break up the country!
She picks a fight with everyone, all the time. Not the kind of mayor we need.
Musings —09.19.2018 11:03 AM
—She picks a fight with everyone, all the time. Not the kind of mayor we need.
Advocating that the City of Toronto (which, BTW has a population greater than all the Atlantic provinces combined and produces 1/5th of Canada’s GDP) become its own province WITHIN Canada is not advocating the break-up of the country.
Christian is correct. Keesmaat has lower visibility than a deer in headlights right now. For voter-awareness alone, I would guarantee you (if compensated for his skills) Warren would be 100% on board the Province of Toronto because:
1) Toronto is not getting a fair shake from Ontario,
2) Threatening to leave = more powers for financing projects as part of Ontario or as a super-municipality or as Canada’s 5th largest province,
3) Tory can only counter with, “we can’t get more powers”, logistically we can’t do that (i.e. getting him to imagine the idea in the first place gives Keesmaat hyper-relevance), Tory will have to admit we are beholden to Doug Ford’s agenda. Tory will be exposed as #hyper-bureaucratic #disturbing-lack-of-vision.
4) “Breaking up Doug Ford’s grip on Toronto: Tory’s Lame, Inaccurate Ad” would be the title of this article
ess.
I strange that, considering your preference for Premiere.
I have no problem with Tory and would be happy to see him re-elected, but honestly, the more I see this “separatist” attack on Keesmaat, the more I am inclined to vote for her. First of all, my attachment to Ontario is not the same thing as my attachment to Canada. I’ve lived in four other provinces and I could happily live in a fifth. So trying to make a big deal about how she wants to take us out of our beloved Ontario has no emotional resonance for me at all (especially with the doofus Tories trying to run the province). Secondly, we do need to have a serious discussion about the place of cities in the Canadian constitution. It is ludicrous that a city of three million people has less power than PEI.
Given that the increasing polarizing of our politics here and elsewhere often pits major urban centers against non-urban/suburban areas, the idea is not crazy, but is anyone pointing out that new provinces can only be created if approved by seven provinces with over half the population? Good luck with that, although I suppose you never know. After all, if there is one thing that unites Canadians from coast to coast it’s their abiding love of Toronto.
It could just become a territory, similar to the North. The provinces didn’t have to vote to approve splitting the NWT and Nunavut, an Act of Parliament did so. Though of course this comes with its own set of complications, like whether or not the federal government would consent to carving a Toronto-only territory out of the Province of Ontario, and the near-certain prospect that the province would fight such a move as being illegitimate (because they want to keep control over the city).
Territories are creatures of the Federal government similar to the way that municipalities are creatures of the province, Toronto would really be in a better position.
Why anyone would think the feds would have the slightest interest in this is beyond me. But even if they were, if the problem is that Toronto isn’t getting a fair shake from the province (a.k.a. enough money), what sense would it make to respond by diluting its political clout so dramatically? Isn’t it a pure fantasy to imagine M.P.s from, say, Alberta and Quebec would have Toronto’s back more than those meanies from southwestern and eastern Ontario?
I enjoy a little recreational Toronto-bashing as much as any good Canadian, but really guys, I think I truly have your best interests at heart when I say you don’t want to go down that road.
Did you catch any of Keesmaat’s speech to the Toronto Board of Trade today where she’s supposed to have told the audience she’s the right MAN to lead Toronto?
Yep. No comment.
I am dubious that a Province of Toronto would actually have any financial advantages. Firstly, all health care costs would have to be borne by the city/province. All of the subsidies that the city currently receives from Queen’s Park would end. Additionally, Toronto would be considered a “have” province, and would see the money it pays to the Feds in taxes redistributed to the “have-nots” through equalization. So, it might not be the panacea everyone thinks.
Any so-called “subsidies” the city gets from Queen’s Park would be more (well more) than made up for by not having it’s income taxes redistributed to pay for healthcare and education in Windsor or New Liskeard or Kincardine.