Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Kyoto meets reality

The Star's Royson James may be only reporter in Toronto with the patience to keep up with the cash flows between different levels of government. A case in point in his column today:

TheStar.com - Premier may take hit on TTC hike

shows that while the Province is pumping more and more $$$ into the City - supposedly for the TTC - the City is actually using the money for other purposes.

Now part of the rationale for:

1. The disproportionate excise tax on gasoline
2. The disproportionate share of the tax that is provided the Toronto vs. other municipalties

is to help give transit a boost over the ever-hated car.

Instead, the City has decided that it is more important to keep filling the trough feeding its never-satiated unions, rather than to boost transit use. (Personally, I think the money should be used to help reduce commercial property taxes.)

It's seems to me that Canadian are serious about reducing CO2 emmissions - as long as someone else feels the pain. If the ultra-left Toronto city council places more importance on maintaining its unions' gold-plated contracts, what are the rest of us to do?

The misappropriation of the gas tax in Toronto is not the only example where we Canadians are showing our true colours:

a. city council has recently turned down a number of property developments than would have leveraged existing public transit infrastructure.
b. it took but a few months for the Martin government to agree to allow Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to keep their oil and gas revenue - a much faster turnaround than the still-awaited Kyoto plan.

Kyoto seems fine as long as it doesn't mean:

- higher taxes/higher prices
- higher density/bigger buildings in one's neighbourhood
- cutbacks in pay/employment

Is the picture getting clearer?

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