Harris has seen the enemy
TheStar.com – comment/editorial – Harris has seen the enemy
June 29, 2008
There is something egregious about Mike Harris co-authoring a study that has declared Toronto is in decline. Or, as the former premier himself put it in last week’s news release heralding the Fraser Institute-sponsored report: “While most other major cities across Canada have experienced growing incomes and job creation, Toronto has become a national laggard.”
Harris blamed, in part, local taxation levels.
It is as if former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. were to describe the Leafs as a team in decline and to blame bad free-agent signings and trades.
After all, it was Harris who downloaded social services onto municipalities, including public housing, thereby forcing Toronto to hike taxes. (The swap was never revenue neutral, as he used to claim.) It was Harris who saddled Toronto businesses with a disproportionately high property tax for education, thereby helping to spur the exodus to 905 municipalities. And it was Harris who killed provincial funding of transit, thereby forcing Toronto to raise the money on its own.
In other words, Harris is blaming himself
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Debates, Governance Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
78 Responses to “Harris has seen the enemy”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
What I read here was incredibly helpful, making a complicated subject feel approachable and engaging. I appreciate that no corners were cut — everything important was covered properly.
A well-deserved bookmark; I will be referring back to this more than once. The depth here is impressive without ever becoming unnecessarily technical or dense.
Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, awesome blog!
Does it look like we’re in for a big ride here?
I’ve read several good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to make such a magnificent informative site.
Greetings… your blog is very interesting and beautifully written.
Thank you for all the information was very accurate, just wondering if all this is possible.~
I shared this article with several colleagues because it explains the topic so well, everyone found it useful and several mentioned they would be returning to the site.
Outstanding content that covers the essentials while also diving into nuances most other articles overlook, this level of thoroughness is exactly what readers like me look for.
Easily, the post is really the greatest on this laudable topic. I concur with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your future updates. Saying thank will not just be sufficient, for the wonderful c lucidity in your writing. I will instantly grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. Solid work and much success in your business enterprise!
If most people wrote about this subject with the eloquence that you just did, I’m sure people would do much more than just read, they act. Great stuff here. Please keep it up.
What made you first develop an interest in this topic?
Thank you for sharing this very good post. Very interesting ideas! (as always, btw)
Your posts provide a clear, concise description of the issues.
The post is absolutely great! Lots of great info and inspiration, both of which we all need! Also like to admire the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your website!
Hey very cool site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
There is perceptibly a lot to identify about this. I consider you made some good points in features also.
This will be helpful for my family.
If you don’t mind, where do you host your weblog? I am looking for a very good web host and your webpage seams to be extremely fast and up most the time…
I am glad to be one of the visitors on this great site (:, appreciate it for putting up.