By PATRICK HUNTER
By all accounts, the voters of Toronto wanted – needed – a change, and now we have one. Olivia Chow, a past Toronto city councillor and a former federal Member of Parliament is the new mayor of the City of Toronto.
The fact that Chow led the field, even before she officially launched her campaign, signify that we, the citizens and residents of this city, wanted to see a significant change in how things are done.
We will soon find out.
Chow has demonstrated an eagerness to get started on the job that is encouraging. She could have taken a few weeks to get prepared, perhaps take a vacation, before diving headlong into the job. She has already set in motion her preparation with meetings with the councillors and senior bureaucrats. She has outlined her first three priorities – affordable and supportive housing, economic opportunities and community crisis response.
The right-wing conservative movement tried to paint Chow as someone who would tax the living daylights out of the citizens, as if they would not have increased taxes themselves. As part of the byelection campaign, we have come to know that the City is in deep debt, to the tune of about $1.5 billion. No matter who became mayor, a tax increase would have to be on the list. As I have noted before, taxes are rarely reduced. Perhaps, the only reason that some of the others believed that they would not raise taxes significantly is that they are so much in the pocket of Premier Doug Ford that they feel they may be able to charm more funding out of his government.
The previous mayor, John Tory, decided to surface to give Ana Bailão his endorsement. It seemed to help a bit, giving Bailão a boost in the final vote. On the other hand, Doug Ford decided to stick his nose in and backed the former police chief, Mark Saunders. That didn’t work, which would suggest to me that Ford may be in serious trouble at the next provincial elections.
Politicians are not perfect. They will make promises that they cannot keep. They will make mistakes. The question is: Are their thinking and acting geared to helping the most vulnerable? Yes, there has to be a balance in the economy of any jurisdiction. But why does it have to always be the lowest ranks that bear the burden?
To illustrate my point, bread has to be a staple for all households. For some, it is just about all they can afford. We were just told that the company, Canada Bread, has to pay a fine of some $50 million because they were caught price-fixing the cost of this staple product. It is a private company, and we know that business is in business to make a profit. But who feels it most? It is those who have the lowest income.
Conservative governments operate pretty much on the same principle. They tell you that they are giving multi-million dollar supports to companies to set up shop here so they can create jobs. Part of that is true. However, when CEOs and others at the top of those businesses earn multi-million-dollar incomes, you have to wonder who they serve. Meanwhile the workers who perform the tasks scrape by on a miniscule fraction of those CEO’s incomes.
The Ontario premier said, prior to the byelection, that if we elect Chow, it would be an “unmitigated disaster”. Well, he didn’t get his way. Chow, on the other hand, has been gracious in her response. On election night she noted that she received a “gracious” call from the premier congratulating her on her victory.
The municipality is – as is often noted – the responsibility of the province. Therefore, there has to be a coming together of both levels of government. Since taking office, Ford has acted as if he wanted to take over or eliminate city governments. He reduced the number of councillors in Toronto, for one. He has acted as if the provincial government is poor, crying out to the federal government to increase its transfer payments to the province.
The housing crisis is not going to be resolved overnight. Right now, the city is essentially taking over many hotel rooms to provide housing but that has its limits. Chow wants to build affordable housing on city-owned property. That process will take time. Consideration may be given to converting empty office spaces into living spaces. I cannot believe that will be an easy thing to do.
The next three and a half years could be very interesting. There are a lot of things to do and are being done. Infrastructure work, such as sewerage pipe replacement, road and bridge upgrades and transit expansion are very much on the list, and these are not cheap undertakings.
One can only wish Mayor Chow the best.
Email: pa**************@gm***.com / Twitter: @pghntr
