ArchiveOctober 2012

By: Metro Canada Published on Wed Oct 31 2012 Mayor Rob Ford is fond of declaring that Toronto is “open for business.” It's one of those political platitudes that doesn't really mean much. It's not clear how Ford's policies have made Toronto any more business-friendly than it was previously. What is clear, though, is that Ford's City Hall is open to lobbyists...

By: Metro Canada Published on Thu Oct 25 2012 Here's an idea — free to a good home — for any level-headed councillor who wants to make a point about the Toronto Transit Commission's bizarre decision yesterday to request more staff reports on the merits of Scarborough subways, even though council made a firm decision on the matter earlier this year. First, spend some time...

By: Metro Toronto Published on Wed Oct 24 2012 What to do with the Gardiner? Let’s start by returning to a plan to demolish part of it. This really shouldn’t be a hard decision. With the expressway in worse shape than we originally thought, and with the easternmost part of the highway underused and overbuilt, why aren’t staff at the city and Waterfront Toronto moving forward with a previously...

By: Metro Canada Published on Wed Oct 17 2012 Good news! After a long few months in which he expressed only a handful of opinions on policy, Mayor Rob Ford is fired up about an issue again. But it's not what you'd expect. It's got nothing to do with next year's operating budget. It doesn't really relate to Toronto's ongoing housing crisis. And it sure doesn't...

By: Metro Toronto Published on Mon Oct 15 2012 Let’s keep this simple. To build the transit network we need in the Greater Toronto Area, governments are going to have to increase revenues via the taxpayer. That means things like road tolls, parking fees and sales taxes. Most people these days accept that reality. Recently we’ve seen campaigns from leaders like John Tory and the Greater Toronto...