Some people consider Torontonians snobs, but snobbery often belies a sad history: bad parenting, low selfesteem, a tendency toward self-destructive behaviour. Toronto is no different: despite our national reputation, behind the cosmopolitan air we put on, we’re a mess. Apparently, years of neglect on the part of senior levels of government have led us to internalize the message that our city isn’t worth a damn. How else could you explain our reluctance to carry a few extra costs—a land transfer tax of up to two per cent, and a $60 personal vehicle registration fee—to help save a city that, just this year, openly fretted about bankruptcy?
This past election, Ontario remembered Mike Harris and the damage his government inflicted on provincial health care, education, and social services. What we seemed to forget was the devastation the Harris government wrought on the province’s largest municipality. In 1998, provincial downloading left our city with a huge financial burden that has only gotten worse: right now we’re facing a $413 million shortfall for next year’s budget. Though we crossed our fingers in the hopes that the GTA—which contains almost half of the province’s population—would become an election issue, in the long run we were hardly a priority. Dalton McGuinty has promised funding for transit and infrastructure, and to upload $38 million worth of provincial programs, but even if he delivers, it won’t be enough to bail us out.
Meanwhile, our reluctant guardians in Ottawa enjoy a $13.8 billion surplus, not much of which they are obliged to share. The constitution stipulates that Canadian cities are a provincial responsibility—a notion that dates back to 1867, when cities accounted for 20 per cent of the country’s population. As of 2001, that figure has risen to 64 per cent. Toronto’s economy makes up 11 per cent of Canada’s GDP; it is a major world city (recognized by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network), and the fifth largest city in North America. Stephen Harper venerates the United States, and hopes to expand Canada’s role on the global stage, but international leaders need international cities to represent them: Toronto would be a wise investment for an ambitious Prime Minister. Perhaps we’re too busy infighting to draft an effective pitch.
The City of Toronto Act, proclaimed on January 1 this year, allowed us our own charter and new powers of taxation. Sadly, we don’t seem to be able to handle our newfound autonomy. This July, when the time finally came to tackle our own problems, City Council voted 23 to 22 to defer the responsibility until after the provincial election. Mayor David Miller made it clear that massive service cuts were the alternative to the relatively benign taxes he had suggested, but when these cuts were implemented, there was a massive uproar. Councillors who opposed the taxes opposed the service cuts with equal ardour; perhaps they simply preferred complaining to carrying their weight. Granted, these cuts—including daylong closures of community centres and libraries, and delaying ice rink openings until after Christmas—have all been reversed, they might have been better received had Miller’s staff made the symbolic gesture of cutting back within City Hall before slicing institutions at the heart of the city community (Councillor Peter Milczyn has suggested as much). But the money has to come from somewhere, and nobody—aside from Kevin Stanton of MasterCard Canada, who donated $160,000 to open ice rinks during December—will be handing it to us. Given that City Hall suffers from what Toronto Star columnist Christopher Hume calls an “overwhelmingly suburban mentality,” maybe a city-wide bake sale is in order.
Toronto is a proud city, but an insecure one. We also have serious identity issues: despite our best efforts, we’ll never be New York. Sophisticated as we might be, we belong to a country with a culture still associated with Bob and Doug McKenzie. Still, we are the cultural and financial centre of this country; we have much to be proud of and plenty to work towards. On October 22, City Council will finally vote on the proposed taxes; hopefully they’ll choose in favour of our city’s future, and hopefully the city itself will bear its growing pains with dignity. If we refuse to make personal sacrifices for our collective improvement, we lose the opportunity to distinguish ourselves as a world-class city in more than name alone.
