All Entries Tagged With: "budget"
Eye Weekly Interviews Mel Lastman
Eye Weekly sits down with former mayor Mel Lastman to get his thoughts on the last seven years and to get his advice for the next mayor of Toronto: You said that council was less self-serving when you were there — what is the next mayor going to have to do to restore the situation? [...]
Torontoist: Parsing The Mayoral Platforms: Finance And Budget
Online magazine Torontoist offers an in-depth examination of the financial platforms for each of the three leading mayoral candidates: Joe Pantalone The Small Wonder is walking a fine line when it comes to finance, because with other candidates fanning the flames of voter waste rage, he needs to at least pay lip service to the [...]
Nickle: New Council And Mayor As Shackled As The Last
Pundit David Nickle figures that no matter who wins in just over a week, change will not be easy to come by: “The reality is that any mayor and council who comes into the job is going to be facing the same constrained set of options as shackled the last. The city’s books never balance [...]
Pantalone Reveals Budget Plan
Mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone revealed his fiscal platform, which includes a pledge to balance the 2011 city budget: “The deputy mayor said the modest tax increase – coupled with a projected $180-million surplus for 2010, land sales and efficiencies – would make it possible for him to balance the books in 2011 without asking the [...]
Soknacki: Rob Ford’s War On Waste
In a guest editorial in the Star, former budget chief David Soknacki offers insight on Rob Ford’s tactics to fight spending as a councillor and why he was often a lone wolf: “If any other councillor found savings, they would typically be brought to budget committee and offered in exchange for funding one of that [...]
Ashton: Seeking Globs Of Budget Fat
Retiring councillor Brian Ashton is wondering exactly where mayoral candidates Rob Ford and George Smitherman will trim the city’s fat: “There is no question judicious and surgical cuts can produce savings. But it suspends common sense to suggest that after nearly 13 years of post-amalgamation retrenchment there are globs of fat left on the bone. [...]
Gee: Rocco Rossi’s Last-Ditch Ploy: Common Sense
The Globe’s Marcus Gee notes that the fiscal plan being offered by mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi is a notable change from previous policy announcements: “It’s a new tack for Mr. Rossi, a former Liberal fundraiser and head of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Coming out of the starting gate, he seemed to be occupying the [...]
Star Editorial: Competing Plans For City Finances
In an editorial in today’s edition, the Star Editorial Board suggests that there are two very different approaches to the city’s finances on offer from mayoral candidates George Smitherman and Rob Ford: “It is telling that on the same day that Smitherman released his detailed financial platform in a high-profile speech followed by intense questioning [...]
‘Time Of Sacrifice’ Coming For Toronto, Smitherman Warns
In a discussion with the Toronto Star’s Editorial Board, mayoral candidate George Smitherman notes that city workers will be expected to do their part to reign in spending: “He points to the huge deficits that Ottawa and Queen’s Park are running, which affects the funding those governments can offer the city, so Toronto needs to [...]
Gee: Can We Trust Rob Ford, A Guy Who Gets His Numbers Wrong?
The Globe’s Marcus Gee offers a list of instances where he says mayoral candidate Rob Ford has his numbers wrong: “When he talks about overspending at city hall, Mr. Ford often cites the controversial new bike lane on Jarvis Street. He says it cost $6-million. The actual cost was $59,000, $6,000 less than the city’s [...]
Thomson Vows To Use ‘Scalpel’
In an online chat with Toronto Star readers yesterday, mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson said cuts to spending will not be done in a dramatic fashion: “I will use a scalpel instead of a meat cleaver,” Thomson said during an online live chat on thestar.com on Tuesday. “Mr. Ford is going to cut everything, from transit [...]
Star Ed: Platform Numbers Don’t Measure Up
The Toronto Star’s Editorial Board reviews the fiscal policies of each of the mayoral candidates and finds them lacking: “That’s not to say they have been silent on fiscal matters. Quite the contrary. There have been promises of tax cuts and service expansions, hiring freezes and asset sales, all spiced with repeated vows to “cut [...]
Goar: Voters In The Dark About Finances
The Star’s Carol Goar notes that it is difficult for anyone to navigate city finances and asks which of the mayoral candidates will (finally) seriously address the issue: “George Smitherman says he can improve services and save money without road tolls or asset sales. It is a matter of “focusing on the city’s core responsibilities, [...]
Ford And Rae Face Off Over Budget Issues
In response to demands from mayoral candidate and fellow councillor Rob Ford that he return the money spent on his farewell bash and that he cancel his trip to an AIDS summit, outgoing councillor Kyle Rae fired back: “Rae shrugged off the criticism. He maintained the farewell party was something his constituents wanted and he [...]
Munro: Furious George Has A Plan (Part I: Transit)
In response to mayoral candidate George Smitherman’s transit plan announcement, well-known transit pundit Steve Munro offers a lengthy and detailed critique of Smitherman’s proposal: “Personally, I was very disappointed in this platform. There are too many vague statements, too much glossing over of major issues, too many examples of bad advice from a policy team [...]
Star Op-Ed: Selling Off Toronto Assets Makes No Sense
In the editorial pages of the Toronto Star, two economists from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Auto Workers lay out the case for why Toronto’s mayoral candidates should think twice about pledging any sale of public assets: “From a balance sheet perspective, simply selling an asset cannot improve the government’s net [...]
Minnan-Wong Not Running For Mayor
As noted on TEN a few weeks ago, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong has decided not to run for mayor, instead filing to run for re-election in Ward 34: “I want to focus on having a better managed city,” [Minnan-Wong] said. “We have to make the city more affordable.” While Mayor David Miller has often said you [...]
