The rest of Ontario shouldn't pay for Toronto's transit? Says who?

Premier Kathleen Wynne took centre stage last week for what was supposed to be a huge important transit funding announcement. It was a bit of a bust. The premier reiterated that her government wants to build transit and told us all to wait for funding details that’ll come when the budget drops on May 1.

OK, fine. We’ve been waiting for years. What’s another few weeks?

But something Wynne said during the otherwise mostly substance-free announcement stuck with me. Discussing her plan to keep revenues raised inside the GTA separate from the money raised in other parts of the province, she made a point about fairness. “Funding will be fair,” she said. “London or Sudbury will not pay for projects in Toronto.”

I hate that.

I mean, I get it. From a purely political point of view, I get it. Her point about fairness speaks both to a pretty strong anti-Toronto sentiment that exists in parts of Ontario and to people who believe their tax dollars shouldn’t be paying for a subway train they’ll never use. From both those angles, Wynne’s statement makes sense. She wants to get re-elected, after all.

But I hate the logic all the same because it has the potential to be so destructive. This notion that money raised in one part of the province shouldn’t go to projects in another is exactly the kind of thing that creates harmful and persistent divisions between people.

If we grant that people who won’t personally benefit from a publicly funded project or program shouldn’t have to pay for that project or program, where does that logic lead us? Should people without children not have to pay for public schools? Should people who aren’t old not pay for seniors’ care? Should people without cars not pay for road maintenance?

And, no, it’s not a question of one part of the province subsidizing another. Ontario is an economic and social unit — we’re all intertwined in this super-complicated thing called society.

You may never ride a new subway line in Toronto, but even people in northern Ontario will feel the benefits of a GTA economy that isn’t hobbled by worsening congestion. Similarly, I’ll probably never drive on an upgraded rural highway, but I’m OK with my tax dollars paying for it because it’s likely that highway will create new opportunities for people and for business.

This is pretty basic stuff. The government of Ontario should fund the infrastructure projects that will have the greatest economic or social impact, regardless of location. If they’re not doing that, and instead insist on a strategy where money raised in one area can only be spent in that area, it ultimately raises the question: Why even have a provincial government at all?