unimaginative2
Senior Member
Hazel's 5-per-cent solution – just try and stop her
JOHN BARBER
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007 at 4:03 AM EST
Mayor Hazel McCallion slapped a surprise 5-per-cent tax hike on Mississauga residents and businesses yesterday, claiming federal neglect has forced her to "offset" recent tax cuts with a new levy to pay for infrastructure.
Her message for Mississaugans expecting federal tax cuts is blunt: "I tell you, we are going to take a hunk of it away."
Added to an already expected tax increase of about 4 per cent, the 5-per-cent "infrastructure levy" will increase 2008 tax bills in Mississauga by 9 per cent, likely making it the most heavily taxed municipality in Southern Ontario.
In 2008, the surprise tax will cost people who live and do business in Mississauga twice as much as Toronto Mayor David Miller's controversial tax package - about $160 per capita versus $80 in Toronto.
In justifying the new levy, Ms. McCallion invited her constituents to blame federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for his failure to fund municipal infrastructure in his recent economic statement. "He's arrogant," she told the Mississauga News. "At least he could have given us a piece of the pie."
Failing that, Ms. McCallion boldly stepped up and carved a slice of it herself, creating the new levy "to offset what the federal government hasn't done."
Her move will likely encourage other Ontario municipalities to raise their own taxes before memory of the federal cuts fades.
The second thrust of Ms. McCallion's new strategy is to make sure that doesn't happen any time soon. "I tell you, I'm taking on Mr. Flaherty," she said, simultaneously announcing a nationwide publicity campaign to promote the municipal cause - with her at the helm.
The new campaign, called Cities NOW!, takes up where Mr. Miller's One Cent Now campaign for a share of sales taxes failed. "Mayor Miller has agreed I should lead the cause," Ms. McCallion said, rightly assuming that nobody will dare call her wasteful and inefficient.
"I challenge Harper or Flaherty or anybody to say how they could do it better," Ms. McCallion said, singling out the latter for special abuse. "What can we expect? When he was minister of finance in Ontario he gave us the gears, downloaded social housing, took away all of our transit. Do you expect anything different from him when he's in Ottawa? I'd love to challenge him to a public debate!"
"I'm not fighting for Mississauga, I'm fighting for the municipalities of Canada," she said.
While Mr. Miller could only envy the clawback "rationale" Ms. McCallion used to justify her new levy - and the fact that she accomplished it in a single stroke, without a whiff of consultation or debate - he welcomed the Mississauga mayor's new national campaign. "We're all in exactly the same position," he said. "This isn't about Toronto, it's about every single city in Canada."
The thinking in Toronto is that Ms. McCallion, like Nixon in China, is uniquely well positioned to carry the day. "When the City of Toronto says something, they criticize Toronto and say it's badly managed, which is utter nonsense," Mr. Miller said. But now even can-do Mississauga is suffering.
"Minister Flaherty may try to marginalize Hazel McCallion. Good luck."
As one of the world's longest-serving, most consistently popular and famously effective mayors, Ms. McCallion has been the single most powerful influence on urban policy at Queen's Park for decades. Both Liberal and Conservative governments cut their cloth to her specifications, rather than risking public confrontation. Mr. Flaherty, who represents a similar suburban constituency, knows that well.
Not only is she threatening the minority Conservatives where they live, with a weapon they fear, she just engineered a brazen tax grab of her own - one for which they, not her, will pay the political price. Nobody can beat this amazing woman. They should give up now.
JOHN BARBER
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007 at 4:03 AM EST
Mayor Hazel McCallion slapped a surprise 5-per-cent tax hike on Mississauga residents and businesses yesterday, claiming federal neglect has forced her to "offset" recent tax cuts with a new levy to pay for infrastructure.
Her message for Mississaugans expecting federal tax cuts is blunt: "I tell you, we are going to take a hunk of it away."
Added to an already expected tax increase of about 4 per cent, the 5-per-cent "infrastructure levy" will increase 2008 tax bills in Mississauga by 9 per cent, likely making it the most heavily taxed municipality in Southern Ontario.
In 2008, the surprise tax will cost people who live and do business in Mississauga twice as much as Toronto Mayor David Miller's controversial tax package - about $160 per capita versus $80 in Toronto.
In justifying the new levy, Ms. McCallion invited her constituents to blame federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for his failure to fund municipal infrastructure in his recent economic statement. "He's arrogant," she told the Mississauga News. "At least he could have given us a piece of the pie."
Failing that, Ms. McCallion boldly stepped up and carved a slice of it herself, creating the new levy "to offset what the federal government hasn't done."
Her move will likely encourage other Ontario municipalities to raise their own taxes before memory of the federal cuts fades.
The second thrust of Ms. McCallion's new strategy is to make sure that doesn't happen any time soon. "I tell you, I'm taking on Mr. Flaherty," she said, simultaneously announcing a nationwide publicity campaign to promote the municipal cause - with her at the helm.
The new campaign, called Cities NOW!, takes up where Mr. Miller's One Cent Now campaign for a share of sales taxes failed. "Mayor Miller has agreed I should lead the cause," Ms. McCallion said, rightly assuming that nobody will dare call her wasteful and inefficient.
"I challenge Harper or Flaherty or anybody to say how they could do it better," Ms. McCallion said, singling out the latter for special abuse. "What can we expect? When he was minister of finance in Ontario he gave us the gears, downloaded social housing, took away all of our transit. Do you expect anything different from him when he's in Ottawa? I'd love to challenge him to a public debate!"
"I'm not fighting for Mississauga, I'm fighting for the municipalities of Canada," she said.
While Mr. Miller could only envy the clawback "rationale" Ms. McCallion used to justify her new levy - and the fact that she accomplished it in a single stroke, without a whiff of consultation or debate - he welcomed the Mississauga mayor's new national campaign. "We're all in exactly the same position," he said. "This isn't about Toronto, it's about every single city in Canada."
The thinking in Toronto is that Ms. McCallion, like Nixon in China, is uniquely well positioned to carry the day. "When the City of Toronto says something, they criticize Toronto and say it's badly managed, which is utter nonsense," Mr. Miller said. But now even can-do Mississauga is suffering.
"Minister Flaherty may try to marginalize Hazel McCallion. Good luck."
As one of the world's longest-serving, most consistently popular and famously effective mayors, Ms. McCallion has been the single most powerful influence on urban policy at Queen's Park for decades. Both Liberal and Conservative governments cut their cloth to her specifications, rather than risking public confrontation. Mr. Flaherty, who represents a similar suburban constituency, knows that well.
Not only is she threatening the minority Conservatives where they live, with a weapon they fear, she just engineered a brazen tax grab of her own - one for which they, not her, will pay the political price. Nobody can beat this amazing woman. They should give up now.
