Saturday, December 31, 2022

UPDATED:A Love Affair That Hurts All Of Us

 

If you follow such things (i.e., the news) you will know that our current federal government, echoing the passions of previous ones, has an unmitigated and uninterrupted crush on the corporate sector. The only problem with that protracted affair is that the rest of us suffer the consequences.

Examples abound, including the government's failure to achieve any results from the revelations found in both the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers. But today's post will examine only two recent and egregious demonstrations of our leaders' fealty to their business overlords.

The first is the the holiday disaster widely reported at airports. While undoubtedly much of the chaos is attributable to the weather vagaries imposed by climate change, the corporate contempt for passengers is also there for all to see. And it cannot be more obvious than in the debacle that Sunwing Airlines finds itself in the midst of.

The Canadian government is criticising leisure specialist Sunwing Vacations after an operational meltdown left hundreds of passengers stuck when winter weather disrupted the carrier’s operations earlier this week.

The Toronto-based company, like its US peer Southwest Airlines, has been scrambling to sort through the mess, leaving customers frustrated and angry. Canadian media reports that some of the carrier’s passengers have been waiting to be repatriated from Latin American holiday destinations including Cancun for up to five days.

Hmm, about that government 'criticism'. While I have seen U.S Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at least go on national television to discuss Southwest Airlines' thousands of cancellations, it was only three days ago that our Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra (or his office) managed these anemic tweets:

Canadians are patient when it comes to weather disruptions but they rightly expect their airlines to keep them informed and to manage these disruptions smoothly. I am very concerned with the current situation with Sunwing Airlines.

 This ongoing situation is unacceptable. Canadians must receive the information they need to return home safely. We expect all airlines to keep their passengers informed when it comes to delivering a service that they were paid to do.

Passengers have rights under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations to ensure robust passenger protection in situations like these, and our government will continue to ensure these rights are protected.

Surely, that will put the fear of God into Sunwing, eh? If you click on the above link, you will see the contempt with which this toothless tweet was met by those who responded to it. 

My second example is the pending merger between Rogers and Shaw, a merger that will obviously result in less competition and higher prices for telecommunication services. At least our Competition Bureau tried to block that merger as against the best interests of Canadians, but that veto was overturned by the Competition Tribunal. As well, it has met the approval of Industry Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne.

Those opposing it are groups seeking to represent the interests of ordinary Canadians.

Commissioner of Competition, Matthew Boswell, head of the Competition Bureau, said he was “very disappointed” in the decision and is “carefully considering” next steps.

That could include an appeal of the Tribunal’s decision to the Federal Court of Appeal.

 Critics say the Tribunal’s decision was hastily made and follows a troubling pattern in Canada’s failure to foster healthy competition in one the country’s most powerful sectors.

 “Though the decision is disappointing, it is ultimately a product of Canada’s permissive and outdated merger laws,” said Keldon Bester, co-founder of The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. “It is … disheartening to see the Tribunal rush such a critical decision for Canadians at the request of the merging parties.”

Matt Hatfield, campaigns director of OpenMedia, said the decision was “the last nail in the coffin of telecom affordability in a dismal 2022.”

The buyout results in higher prices and fewer choices, in an already tight telecom market, he added.

Official 'cover' for the merger is the provisional sale made to Quebecor of Freedom Mobile, an arm of the Shaw empire. It comes with the 'expectation' that it will provide sufficient competition to keep Rogers-Shaw on its toes. We'll soon see how that one works out, but the auguries are not good, especially given that Globealive, a telecommunication entity with many companies, had wanted to buy Freedom Mobile for $3.75 billion, substantially more than the $2.85 billion Quebecor has paid for it. Speculation is that that deal wasn't accepted because it would have meant real competition for the Rogers-Shaw behemoth.

So there you have it. As usual, Canadians are being sacrificed on the altar of big business, the only true god worshipped by our government. One can only hope that Canadians ruefully remember their place in the pews the next time they go to the polls.

UPDATE: Oh, perhaps we can all rest easy now that Industry Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne has articulated his expectations for Quebecor for its purchase of Freedom Mobile to be allowed:

Videotron would have to agree to keep Freedom’s wireless licences for at least 10 years and the minister would “expect to see’’ wireless prices in Ontario and Western Canada lowered in line with the company’s Quebec offerings.

“What remains before me is the separate request to transfer spectrum licences from Shaw to Quebecor. Promoting competition and affordability in the telecom sector is one of my top priorities. That position has not changed,” Champagne said.

However, there is no word as to why he has not investigated the refusal to sell Freedom Mobile to  Globealive, despite the company offering almost $1 billion more than did Quebecor. (See above discussion.)

But Champagne's statement makes for nice window dressing, doesn't it?

Friday, December 30, 2022

Would I Lie To You?

If your name is George Santos, the answer is a definite yes.

While TizzEnt sees Santos as an indictment of the Republican Party, Congressional-elect also seems to be an indicator of the sad state of politics in general in the U.S., given that many in his district feel he did nothing very wrong, and would vote for him again.


 

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

A Moral Failing

 


It has been said that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. By that metric, we are all coming up far short.

Although I have seen a recent uptick in people wearing masks in stores, the sad fact is that the majority shun such practices, despite the fact that masking is one of the layers of protection we have to help shield both ourselves and others from illness. Another fact is that 2022 saw the most deaths from Covid-19, both in Ontario and across the country.

Nationwide, 19,035 people died of the disease in 2022 — up from 14,606 deaths in 2021 and 15,307 in 2020.

How can this be, given the great strides made in combatting the disease through vaccinations, treatments and prevention methods? In addition to the spread of Omicron, there are other reasons for this year's lethality.

Ethicists and medical professionals point out that, as 2022 wore on, COVID seemed to join a long list of illnesses, such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and rhinovirus, that society has learned to live with as long as the worst effects are confined to specific populations.

In COVID’s case, that’s the medically frail and the elderly.

“I think unless it’s in your house or your social circle, you kind of forget that these people need — deserve — our attention and care,” said Dr. Miriam Mottiar, an Ottawa anesthesiologist and palliative care physician, noting that in her practice she still takes care of people who are dying of COVID.

“It’s very sad for me and my colleagues, but it’s doubly sad, because it feels like if our society managed to mask, a lot of these deaths would be preventable, because we would have lower levels of COVID in the community. So I think there’s sadness, but there’s regret as well.”

The elderly and the frail are two groups we seem as a society willing to sacrifice.

It’s not often we see a lot of medically frail, elderly people standing in line at our local hardware store or grocer. So perhaps it’s understandable why, no matter where you go these days, masking seems to be a rare thing, as does social distancing.

Maxwell Smith, a bioethicist and assistant professor at Western University, says part of society’s increasingly tepid response to COVID comes down to the adage: what is out of sight is out of mind.

Because we apparently exist to serve the economy, governments now issue only weekly updates of hospitalizations and deaths, meaning that Covid is now in the background, joining the other viruses we have learned to live with.  And because it is less likely to now victimize the privileged, its threat-level has been downgraded.

[Maxwell says] that a common pattern in the history of infectious disease is for severe outcomes to shift to marginalized or disadvantaged sectors of society, while those privileged enough to not experience the worst outcomes move on.

“Now that (COVID) is sitting in those populations and the most privileged among us don’t feel threatened anymore, there’s very little tolerance to have collective measures put in place,” Smith noted. “We sort of just say, ‘Well if those people are vulnerable, let them take care of themselves,’ knowing full well that this will continue to disadvantage those groups. I think that is at play here.”

No one enjoys wearing a mask. Indeed, as one who has a beard, I find a certain itchiness creeps in after wearing one for long durations. That, however, is of minor consequence when one considers the protective effects both for the wearer and the general public. And I claim no special virtue here, given that I am largely, but not totally, motivated by an instinct for self-protection. 

Sadly, however, in the name of freedom, far too many are willing to risk their health and that of others. This, clearly, is not a good way to conduct our lives. It can only be seen for what it is: a moral failing.

 

 

 


Tuesday, December 27, 2022

The Soul Of Wit

As Hamlet character Polonius famously (and ironically) said, Brevity is the soul of wit. And I can think of few wittier than editorial cartoonists, whose illustrations, when they hit the mark, are succinctly brilliant.

My favourite is Theo Moudakis, whose work appears regularly in the Toronto Star. Today's edition sees some highlights of 2022 from the master. Here are three of them:




Undoubtedly, there will be more than enough political antics and betrayals to power Moudakis and his cadre of fellow pundits through 2023.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

A Time To Reflect


While I doubt the new year will see me lose any of my outrage over the political machinations of our elected 'representatives', this is the season for reflection and hope. In that vein, I offer you the following. It reflects my own perspective, one that was not always easily achievable in my younger days of work stress and providing for a family. 

In the years since my retirement, I think I have come to understand the meaning and purpose of life: to be as kind and helpful as possible to others. Indeed, we can never know the ripple effect of even a bit of kindness, gentleness, a small gesture, or simply the affirmation we give when we listen openly to another.

Beware of your ‘destined mood,’ Dec. 17

Cathrin Bradbury’s article is storytelling at its best because its characters teach us by their lived experience; instead of letting the human failings of your neighbours make you mean and nasty, you should assert independent thinking to be kind and tolerant.

Character is not fate. Destiny is determined by choice.

This choice of “personality to be” is wonderfully illustrated in the Indigenous American tale told by a grandfather to his grandson about two wolves living within each of us. According to the grandfather, they fight because each one values different qualities of being human. The angry, mean, cynical, and predatory wolf wants to dominate the happy, kind, hopeful, and peaceful one.

Provoked by suspense, the grandson asks who is the winner of this clash between human traits.

The grandfather replies that it depends which wolf you feed.

The story illustrates that our behaviour is a direct result of the choices we will make along the way.

During this fractious time of gaslighting by populist leaders imposing their phony sovereignty over others’ democratic rights, it’s good to be reminded about peace on Earth to persons of good will.

The root word of both good will and beautiful mind is the Greek “eunoia.”

There is a beauty in choosing to do good. Peace on Earth to those who choose to do good this Christmas!

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto 

Friday, December 23, 2022

People Will Remember

 

H/t Moudakis

A cynic and pessimist by nature, I rarely attribute any lasting, long-term results arising from protests. In the case of the Greenbelt Corruption and Destruction, however, I have to admit to being guardedly optimistic.

People are not quickly forgetting this desecration of environmental stewardship, democracy, and ethical, principled government.


‘Dougtator?’

I don’t understand why anyone is surprised by the Ontario Conservative government. It was long evident that Premier Doug Ford has no use for democracy, consultation or voters once they have cast their ballot. He stuffed his cabinet with toadies and sycophants, and now has a free hand to show his true colours. “The people” are viewed as a cost centre and a liability — not owners and stakeholders in this province. “The people” are expected to let their betters, (millionaire developers) take care of business. “The people” don’t need green space — they just need to shut up and go to work. Like any employee they should do as told and not express an opinion in the “dougtators” presence. Oh and no unions need apply!

Wayne Stansfield, Hamilton

The Greenbelt was a controversial topic when it was first introduced, mainly because farmers were never compensated for the loss in their land value, and it has become a matter of considerably more controversy today, as Bob Hepburn has pointed out so well his article, “Keeping developers from cashing in on the Greenbelt” (Dec. 2). It is hard to understand why developers/speculators would continue to buy up property in the Greenbelt when it was not possible for development to occur there. What or who did they know? It is also hard to understand how the entire Conservative government could ignore the input from so many experts, including city planners and experienced environmentalists.. It is time for all of us to become more involved. Try HandsofftheGreenbelt.ca.

Jim Warren, Hamilton. 

Hearteningly, young people are also becoming active in opposing this mess that they will eventually inherit. Western University graduate student Brendon Samuels writes:

On a blustery Friday afternoon in December, a group of students, faculty, staff, elected officials and community members gathered at Western University for a student-led demonstration about Bill 23, the “More Homes Built Faster Act.”

... students recognize that Bill 23 has little to do with building affordable housing, and instead focuses on removing essential processes for land use planning. Bill 23 limits the role of conservation authorities, municipal governments, and the public in reviewing and approving new developments that may impact habitat, biodiversity, farmland and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

While not all of the proposals by SOGS (Society of Graduate Students at Western) are likely to bear fruit, such as their call for a general strike to protest the bill, three of their demands seem eminently achievable. 

... students called on Doug Ford’s government to disclose its secret mandate letters immediately, per its legal obligation. The Auditor General of Ontario’s 2022 value-for-money report warns that the province is failing to provide transparency that it owes to its constituents. How much taxpayer money has been spent by this government fighting legal battles to withhold the mandate letters?

... students call on the Ontario government to answer questions directly and provide evidence-based justification for its decisions and policies related to the housing and climate crises. It is unacceptable that we continue to tolerate blatant lies, deflections and marketing gimmicks from the majority government in response to questions from the opposition in the Legislature.

 Finally, students urge everyone to continue sharing what you are concerned about in Bill 23 and other changes imposed by this government. We must continue to apply pressure and prepare for our next opportunity to vote for real leadership in 3.5 years. We need more effective public education and organizing, with messages designed to reach disillusioned voters and young people especially. Readers, please consider this an open call for spicy Ontario memes.

The environment's well-being, made especially urgent by our climate crisis, should be a matter of real concern to everyone. The fact that people are writing letters and contacting their representatives is all to the good. That young people, with a great deal of present and future skin in the game, are taking up the cause suggests this is a vital issue that, contrary to government bluster and lies, will not go away anytime soon.

 

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

The Fox In The Henhouse


My apologies for titling this post with a cliché, but it seems particularly apt given who is really behind the plan to degrade our greenspace and wetlands, also known as The Greenbelt Grab. 

No surprise: it is the developers and homebuilders.

In a rather telling article, David Wilkes ( President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association) lays bare, perhaps inadvertently, the influence he and his ilk have over the Ford government's decision-making process.

He begins by trying to provoke a sense of outrage in readers, especially the ones hoping to buy a new home. 

When a family buys a new home in the GTA, as much as a quarter of the price consists of fees, taxes and charges imposed by the three levels of government.

More than half of that amount is levied by the municipality in the form of charges intended to pay for growth-related infrastructure, additional local services and new parks.

What does that mean in dollars and cents?

Across the GTA, municipalities collect $116,000 per new housing unit, on average, in growth funding charges. These include development charges, community benefits charges and parkland cash-in-lieu. The rates for the most significant of these charges — development charges — are based on background studies that municipalities are required to produce every few years.

His dishonesty begins by implying that any savings made through his plan, which I will get to in a moment, will be passed on to the homebuyer. Apparently, the market forces we have been taught to believe in will be magically suspended, so great is the builders' desire to bring affordable housing to all.

His plan, which is also an admission of the great sway builders and developers have upon Doug Ford, is this:

Ensuring that residents get the infrastructure and services they need is important. Unfortunately, for more than a decade, GTA municipalities have been collecting far more in growth funding charges than they have been spending, accumulating an estimated $6 billion in reserves. This estimate is based on the financial information returns that municipalities file each year with the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

When challenged about the intended use of these large reserves, municipalities state that the funds are allocated. However, in most cases it is not clear whether the funds have been allocated for the new infrastructure and services for which they were ostensibly collected. Transparency and accountability are missing here. (Emphasis mine.)

The last sentence is especially rich, given that, in concert with the government, developers have operated in an atmosphere that can only be politely described as opaque. But the extent of their  influence is apparent in the following:

Given the accumulation of large reserves of growth funding charges by municipalities and the housing affordability crisis we are facing in the GTA, it makes sense that our industry — and the public — wants transparency and accountability around how these charges are collected and spent.

This is why the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) last month called on the province to audit major municipalities’ collection and use of growth funding charges. (Emphasis mine.)

Like the obedient soldiers they are, the Ford government intends to do precisely that, at least in cities like Toronto and Mississauga. Recently, the Housing Minister, Steven Clark, promised to make Toronto whole if reduced or eliminated development fees compromise their finances.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that he does not believe that the loss of development charges entailed in a housing bill his government passed this week will hurt municipalities and said they can likely make up some of the shortfall by cutting waste.

While Clark promised to make the city whole, he also said Wednesday that the province would be launching a third-party audit of municipal reserve funds.

Ford evinced little but contempt for other municipalities objecting to the loss of development fees, including Mississauga's Mayor Crombie.

Ford said Mississauga has increased its fees on new homebuyers by nearly 30 per cent in the last two years and that makes it difficult for people to buy a home. He also accused Mississauga of not fully spending the development charge revenues it gets now, saying the city is sitting on millions of dollars in development charge reserves.

“I see that Mayor Crombie’s out there handing out flyers and doing this – all I say is get on board, stop being disingenuous, you know, with the people of Mississauga,” Ford said. “It’s just absolutely wrong.”

Crombie said development charges do go into reserves, but municipalities are not simply sitting on the money, rather they are treated like savings going toward future long-term projects, akin to a homeowner saving up for a new roof.

“We do not collect money we do not need, and we do not have unlimited chequing accounts,” Crombie wrote.

“In fact, the funds we collect are often not enough to support new growth – we are often short and have to use tax dollars to cover the gaps.”

The Ford government is wholly incapable of any kind of nuanced thinking; that is the limitation resulting from both inveterate, extreme Conservatives and Doug Ford's cognitive and educational shortcomings. 

And all Ontarians will bear the high cost of those failings.

 

 

 


Sunday, December 18, 2022

A New Marvel

Since it is Sunday, it seems an appropriate time to introduce you to a new marvel - the laying on of pillows:

Mike Lindell spoke at a Christian college and donated My Pillows, which he then called “Prayer Pillows,” and this happened.


H/t Kate

I eagerly await the sequel: the resurrection of the bedsheets.

Friday, December 16, 2022

UPDATED: Look Who's Talking

I know that Donnie Jr. has had a rough time, what with his cocaine addiction, limited intellect, hellish girlfriend and an incompetent narcissist of a father. As well, I suspect his acquaintance with 'real work' is peripheral at best and largely informed by second-hand accounts. 

But only in Amerika will you see the privileged scion of its chief grifter pontificating about life in the 'real world' as he bashes people 'whining 'about losing their jobs. 

Junior says the people just laid off at Washington Post are all Gen Z and Millennials who grew up spoiled rich kids who never had to survive in the real world and make it on their own.

h/t Ron Filipkowski

UPDATE: My friend Gary just dropped me a note pointing out something that had escaped my notice - the bookshelf behind Donnie has no books, only pictures. I wrote back to him that it probably makes perfect sense, given that he is the son of a man who thinks he knows everything. 

What a legacy!

Thursday, December 15, 2022

This Is Not A Parody

 Paging P.T Barnum:


But wait! There's more!

H/t Keith Edwards

If you are considering this as a gift for someone who has everything, please make sure they are in possession of a large bucket or a big bottle of Pepto Bismol first.


Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Truly, We Have Reached The End Times

 As a man, should I be embarrassed to admit I didn't know this was a thing?

I guess we can all rest easier knowing that Big Parma is on the job, ridding mankind of one of its biggest scourges. However, one might want to consider the side effects before using.

One thing I know for sure, I will never ever again think of carrots in the same way.

Monday, December 12, 2022

More Of The Same

 

H/t Moudakis

For those hoping my monomania would end after my hiatus, please stop reading now. The depredations of the corrupt Ford government are too much with me.

And apparently also with others, as these letters suggest.

That’s rich: Ford accusing Tory of mismanaging the revenue (he) already collects. What a laugh! Of course, Bill 23 hurts cities’ finances. Why should I pay for some urban sprawl somewhere that needs roads, hydro, water, and so on?

What I would really like to know is what do Ford and his developer cronies consider “affordable, attainable homes”?

Dollars to doughnuts, it will not be affordable housing except for those than can afford over $1 million for a home.

Developers are out to make money, bottom line, and they don’t make it with “affordable” housing, and that’s the problem.

You can bet that monster homes will be built with four garages, because the only way to get into the city will be by highway.

Georgia Volker, Toronto 

We all know the government of Ontario is not being run the way it was originally designed. All the ministries are made up of professional experts in their fields, so why doesn’t the Ford government use them more?

Would the Deputy Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs want to build houses on Ontario’s No. 1 farmland, which Bill 23 calls for?

Part of the ministry’s mandate is land-use planning. I would imagine that housing would be encouraged on the less fertile lands. Again, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, not to mention the conservation authorities, should be very upset with development plans for the Greenbelt.

It seems to me that the proper way to approach Bill 23 would be for Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark to bring in all the views from affected ministries, such as agriculture and environment, if they haven’t already done so.

I would expect the ministries to work together to find common ground as Minister Clark is dramatically affecting the land-use decisions (that affect) the other ministers.

Greg Prince, Toronto 

Former Ajax mayor Steve Parish is right on, (in saying) development charges are not used as a slush fund by our municipalities; they are used to fund the growth-related component of new infrastructure, such as water and wastewater treatment plants, roads and firehalls.

Without development charges, local property taxes are expected to rise significantly in Ontario.

Ratepayers should not be expected to pay for growth-related infrastructure.

Surely there is a better way to build homes faster than to eliminate development charges and destroy municipal planning departments and our conservation authorities, which are essential.

Telling our municipalities that they need to find new efficiencies to make up for lost development charges is a huge pill to swallow, especially for our smaller cities and towns, not to mention that the math does not equate.

As an alternative to Bill 23, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing should be consulting with Ontario’s municipalities to see where proposed housing densities can be increased under local Official Plans.

Jim McEwen, Bowmanville, Ont. 

Besides threatening clean water, biodiversity, wildlife and Grade 1 farmland crucial to food security, Bill 23 will gut protection for renters because it will no longer require developers to replace affordable units.

By taking away development charges, it puts money in the pockets of developers at the expense of municipalities which will be forced to drastically cut services or hike property taxes.

The argument that the Greenbelt needs to be encroached upon to build much needed housing is bogus; there is enough land within urban boundaries to build housing and create sustainable communities and many municipalities have already created and put forward excellent development plans ready to implement.

Esther Cieri, Toronto 

 

Saturday, December 3, 2022

A Brief Programming Note

 Time for a blogging break. Be back soon.



Ontarians Opine


People are probably getting tired of my monomania regarding the depredations of the Doug Ford government, so this will be my last post on the subject for a while. Indeed, after this, I will be taking a brief respite from blogging to recharge my batteries.

In any event, here are some letter-writers expressing strong views about the provincial government we are currently saddled with, especially their plans for urban sprawl, Greenbelt development and hefty gifts to their developer supporters, aiders and abettors.


Doug Ford’s housing bill has ‘nothing’ to guarantee more affordable housing, says report, Nov. 22

On reflection, I have to say Premier Doug Ford seems to have a gift for being able to make money for his friends on the backs of public crises.

In response to the crisis in long-term-care homes and under the guise of improving the system, he found a way to shovel hundreds of millions of dollars to the very private companies who were responsible for the majority of the deaths among the seniors in care.

Now, in response to the housing crisis, he’s found a way to divert billions of dollars to wealthy developers by eliminating development fees. In both cases, those funds come out of our pockets.

At what point will people in this province begin to understand Doug Ford’s priorities?

Robert Osborne, Toronto

 The Greenbelt grab, Nov. 19

In 2018, Premier Doug Ford told his developer friends (and donors) that he would open a “big chunk” of the Greenbelt for development. He tried to walk that back with the public, but in the premier’s own words, “promises made, promises kept.”

The stench around the purchase of Greenbelt lands by Ford’s friends is starting to become overwhelming. These developer buddies also own way too much land along the proposed route of the new and unnecessary Hwy. 413.

Abandoning his plans to build on the Greenbelt would remove some of the odour from our premier. If he is to continue with this folly, at the very least the government should expropriate these lands so Ford’s friends do not obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Ken Caudle, Brampton

The final letter suggests a strategy that is already under discussion in some jurisdictions, In my view, it represents the best weapon against Ford's destructive and mendacious ways.

Taxpayers ‘are going to be hit’ by costs, Nov. 28

“Instead of debating Queen’s Park,” Mississauga Coun. Carolyn Parrish, “wants cities to emulate the union that pressured Ford into repealing the law that stripped education support workers of their right to strike and imposed a contract on them.”

That’s easy. In response to Bill 23, all Ontario municipalities should declare a moratorium on growth. In fact, it’s the only fiscally responsible thing to do, given they will no longer have the money required to finance the required infrastructure. Refusing to line the pockets of Premier Doug Ford’s developer cronies by handing the bill for Development Charge discounts to their citizens is the right thing to do.

And there’s a precedent: the Town of Collingwood used an Interim Control bylaw to pause development in that community because of the lack of “water and wastewater servicing capacity.”

Municipalities need to take a stand for democracy, the environment and sound planning principles. Bring on the moratoria!

 Susan Watson, Guelph, Ont.

 

Friday, December 2, 2022

Please Pardon My Cliche

But there is only one taxpayer, something Ontario municipalities may need to be reminded of.

 

I say this because I am discerning a possible divide-and-conquer ploy at work by the Doug Ford government. As I have posted extensively over the past several days, that government is doing its damndest to enrich developers by obviously leaking information to them as to what lands would be removed from the Greenbelt. 

However, there is much more to their largesse, a largesse that will cost all of us dearly.

That involves the freezing, reduction and removal of the development charges they pay as they build new houses, that money used mainly to fund the infrastructure to service new surveys as well as build truly affordable abodes. This gift to well-connected developers is being justified with the risible lie that the crisis in affordable housing will be thus mitigated by another fiction, that homebuilders will pass on these savings to those purchasing a new home

It is a measure that will require that municipal taxpayers assume those costs. One estimate places those costs at $5.1 billion over nine years.

And this is where we come to the divide-and-conquer strategy. Because public outrage is growing, not over those costs but the noisome stench of corruption emanating from Bill 23, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steven Clark has extended an 'olive branch' to Ontario's capital, Toronto.

On Wednesday, Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark sent a letter to Tory saying the province would commission a third-party audit of Toronto’s finances to help determine the effect of the legislation, and is committed to ensuring the city is “made whole” if “there is any impact” on its “ability to fund housing-related infrastructure and services because of Bill 23.”

While I suspect the 'audit' will find that there is no need for provincial aid, others want to get in on the 'offer'. Mississauga's mayor, Bonnie Crosby, estimates the shortfall to her city at up to $885 million over 10 years with costs to taxpayers of $300 to $600–a year over the next decade, and that, of course, is on top of whatever other things are budgeted for, like libraries, community centres, etc.

Said Crombie,

... cities need to be compensated for the significant losses they’re set to accrue and said she would welcome an audit of Mississauga’s finances to show that the municipality only collects what it needs to function. 

“I would welcome the opportunity to correct the record and run the province through our numbers. We are fiscally responsible in Mississauga,” Crombie told reporters. 

“I would also welcome a similar commitment [that Toronto received] that Mississauga be compensated for any losses from Bill 23. 

Which brings me back to the beginning of the post. There is only one taxpayer, and while provincial funds would reduce the impact on local ratepayers, they would do nothing to address the inherent obscenity of wasting taxpayers' dollars to subsidize wealthy developers. And all of this ado could have been so easily avoided, given the absolutely unnecessary opening up of the Greenbelt.

The government equally insists that the betrayal of its promise not to develop the Greenbelt was forced on it by the province’s housing crisis. But that is contradicted by a report from the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force, an expert government panel that concluded in February that “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the problem.”

It is further troubling that, according to the government, the Greenbelt carve-outs will produce only 50,000 new homes. The Ford government’s overall goal is to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years; in other words, it can presumably build 1.45 million homes – well within an acceptable margin of error – without rewarding speculation in the Greenbelt. 

Doug Ford has long proclaimed that Ontario is open for business. What he failed to add was that in many instances, the business he is promoting is shady and reeks of corruption and disdain for the citizens of this province.


Thursday, December 1, 2022

J'Accuse


The sad state of Ontario provincial politics should be evident to anyone who reads a newspaper or watches the news. Those who do should also look in the mirror to see if the following applies to them:

Doug Ford has abandoned the people to put politicians first, Cohn, Nov. 19

After reading so much negative publicity about how Premier Doug Ford is trashing our province, I say shame on you to those 57 per cent of voters who were physically able to get out and vote but did not.

You could have made a difference had you done your homework, got involved and realized what damage Ford had done in his first tenure as premier. Perhaps you found the other candidates unappealing, but they may have offered a better choice had you bothered to look into it. Now we have to put up with — and fight — some of Ford’s policies for another four years.

Please educate yourselves about the candidates and get out and vote next time.

Jane White, Scarborough

Let's all try to be better citizens next time around. 

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

The Stench That Cannot Be Ignored

 


H/t Moudakis

A Star letter-writer observes that Doug Ford must think Ontarians are stupid. In that I hope he is wrong, At least, as seen in the report that follows this letter, his political opposition is not letting his depredations of the Greenbelt go unchallenged.

Changes to the way Ontarians live are coming thick and fast from Premier Doug Ford.

From rearranging regional and city governments to take away oversight and responsible decision-making, to cutting health care costs at a time of unprecedented demand, to destroying the Greenbelt he seems to have gone mad with power.

Which begs the question: Is there no way to check this man? Has Ontario become an autocracy complete with its own dictator?

Our premier must think Ontarians are stupid as he works to restrict health care wages, safety protocols and access to medicine to try to drive our health care system to the breaking point so he can tout privatization as the only solution. Of course, he will never admit privatization — with a built-in profit factor — will cost more. So he lies about his motivations and goals to make his strategy more acceptable.

Turning to the Greenbelt, prior to the election he was caught discussing plans to open it to development. He then publicly stated he would never do that. Once he was re-elected, he did just that.

It is said people get the government they deserve.

But does Ontario really deserve Doug Ford?

J. Richard Wright, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Meanwhile, as Richard Benzie reports, Municipal Affairs Minister Richard Clark brazenly tries to deflect attention from the apparent corruption in his government's relationship with well-heeled developers, a corruption the Opposition demand be investigated.

Asked by reporters Monday if “cronyism” was at play, Clark said, “No, it’s a bold action by the government to ensure that we meet our housing target at the end of the day.”

The Tories are facing criticism after revelations party donors stand to benefit from the opening up of 7,400 acres of protected Greenbelt land to housing construction.

 But an investigation by the Toronto Star and the Narwhal found that of the 15 areas where development will soon be allowed, eight included properties purchased since Premier Doug Ford’s election in 2018.

NDP MPP Marit Stiles (Davenport) has asked the auditor general to probe the land deals. She said the Tories are making changes to “benefit powerful landowners” with ties to the governing party.

“Given how suspicious this looks, the least the government can do is be transparent about what has been happening behind closed doors,” said Stiles. “How did the government choose which lands were going to be removed from the Greenbelt?”

Despite his blithe dismissal of accusations of cronyism (I prefer another word: corruption), it is clear something is rotten in the state of Ontario, a fact not missed by Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, who said the Tories are

“absolutely rewarding literally a handful of wealthy land speculators who are going to turn a million into billions.

“This is a huge land play for a handful of people to cash in and the people of Ontario are going to pay the price for it,” said Schreiner, warning of other consequences for agriculture and the food supply.

“People don’t realize that once you start saying protected land can be developed, you can engage in speculation on protected land,” he said.

“So it’s going to make that land unaffordable for farming because farmers are never going to be able to purchase land that is being valued for (potential) development.”

As Rob Ferguson writes, Schreiner has filed a complaint

with the provincial integrity commissioner seeking an investigation into the property deals.

“Over half the parcels of land being opened for development in the Greenbelt were purchased after Premier Ford was elected and some of those parcels of land were purchased as recently as September of this year,” Schreiner said.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test … we need to clear the air.”

Schreiner is right. Ignoring a stench this fetid does no one other than the Ford government and its developer supporters any good.

Ontarians, public morality and justice demand much, much more.