I’m a semi-consistent reader of The Grid, a weekly Toronto paper that is best considered a more centrist alternative to NOW Magazine.
Edward Keenan, Senior Editor of The Grid, writes a regular column called Notebook. It’s easily my favourite part of the publication.
9.5 times out of 10, I’m be nodding my head in agreement with his opinions on everything from Toronto city politics to… well, city politics.
From his latest article, Karen Stintz: the great right hope -
After years of under-delivering on her political promise, [TTC Chair Karen] Stintz is attempting to take charge of Canada’s largest infrastructure project and lead council on its implementation. Given the antipathy of leftists and some centrists to the mayor, and given Stintz’s own centre-right credibility, she seems to be the person best positioned to lead a council consensus on this and other issues where the mayor has shown he’s completely unwilling to entertain debate or compromise.
My favourite piece from Keenan is his article about the 2012 city budget. In it, Keenan explains how Ford screwed over the city by fabricating a budget crisis as the pretext to slashing municipal services:
Step One: Ford got elected promising he could cut taxes by eliminating “gravy”–wasteful spending and inefficiency–and “guaranteeing” there would be no service cuts whatsoever. He claimed extravagance by his predecessors had created billions of dollars in waste that could easily be eliminated to save money for citizens.
Step Two: Upon taking office, he cut taxes to the tune of about $320 million, which created a giant budget hole that had not previously existed.
Step Three: Pointing to that budget hole, he proclaimed there was a crisis in the city’s financing, so we would need to drastically cut services. He blames the fact we cannot afford these services on his predecessor’s years of excessive spending.
I moved to Toronto during the municipal election in which Ford was elected.
I didn’t know anything about the candidates, or what the city’s issues were, so I didn’t vote.
Nothing will stop me from voting in the next election, to keep Ford from serving another term.
