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What does the new Council look like?

GraphicMatt said:
"Non-drivers subsidizing drivers" is probably the wrong way to put it - how about this:

Non-drivers cost the government less money.
Click to expand...

I like your original statement better, "Driving is a subsidized activity". I would go a step further, a lot of consumptions are subsidized activities in Canada. That's why taxes should move from income based to consumption based.
 
archanfel said:
You will also need to factor in that a lot of non-drivers also don't pay income taxes or property taxes. I highly doubt if you factored everything in, drivers are subsidized by non-drivers. Unless you count people with a chauffeur as non drivers. :)

I am fine with getting rid of on street parking downtown as long as equivalent number of parking spaces are created off street, or better yet, give private companies the time/permission to create those parking spaces. I am also for road toll and other user fees if income taxes are cut.
Click to expand...

To what "non-drivers" are you referring to? Children?

There are many homeowners who don't drive a car. They still pay for roads through municipal taxes. Add to that, a portion of the rent a person pays goes towards the landlord's municipal taxes.

I think you should get a primer on the tax system. The city does not collect income taxes, so if you are expecting a cut from that level of government, you're plumb outta luck. Parking regulations are enforced by the city and not by the province.
 
gristle said:
To what "non-drivers" are you referring to? Children?

There are many homeowners who don't drive a car. They still pay for roads through municipal taxes. Add to that, a portion of the rent a person pays goes towards the landlord's municipal taxes.

I think you should get a primer on the tax system. The city does not collect income taxes, so if you are expecting a cut from that level of government, you're plumb outta luck. Parking regulations are enforced by the city and not by the province.
Click to expand...

How many home owners don't drive a car? I'd say they are a very small minority. Do you really believe that non-drivers pay more taxes on average than drivers? I'd say it's much more likely that drivers are subsidizing public transit, social housing and welfare payments.

I never said the city collect income taxes. It does spend income taxes via transfer payments. It's not like the city collect vehicle tax either, the province does it for them. If the city can't get the provincial/federal government to cut income taxes, then it better not raise consumption taxes and Toronto showed the politicians what happens if they do.
 
You're making a weird binary distinction between drivers and non-drivers. Someone who lives in Barrie and drives to Toronto for work every day and then drives for all social engagements and household needs is undoubtedly being subsidized by the family who lives on the Danforth who owns one car and uses it only occasionally for short trips to Home Depot or whatever.
 
Back on topic: The Star surveyed (most of) the new Council on five key issues Ford pushed during the campaign: Making the TTC an essential service; Contracting out garbage; cutting funding to pride/caribana/other events; reducing the size of city council; eliminating fair wage policy.

Of the five, it looks like privatizing garbage collection and making the TTC an essential service are the only two that could happen.

Results here: http://www.thestar.com/staticcontent/883047
 
I can't believe that more councilor would agree to contract out garbage collection but not cut funding to events. What does that say especially when jobs and security are at stake. Guess it’s the politically correct thing to say.
 
According to that survey, it seems that Ford is going to continue having a hard time finding support on council. These are Ford's main issues but not his most controversial. If so few councillors support these 5, then there's no way he'd be able to pass getting rid of streetcar routes, and unlikely that he'll get transit city scrapped, and funding for the arts taken away. Even cancelling the Nathan Philips Square renovation seems unlikely to pass given the hints expressed in this survey.

The worst that can happen with Ford as Mayor is that Toronto will lose the momentum it had going during Miller's years.
 
MetroMan said:
According to that survey, it seems that Ford is going to continue having a hard time finding support on council. These are Ford's main issues but not his most controversial. If so few councillors support these 5, then there's no way he'd be able to pass getting rid of streetcar routes, and unlikely that he'll get transit city scrapped, and funding for the arts taken away. Even cancelling the Nathan Philips Square renovation seems unlikely to pass given the hints expressed in this survey.

The worst that can happen with Ford as Mayor is that Toronto will lose the momentum it had going during Miller's years.
Click to expand...

The momentum of lavish spending and higher taxes? Good for Toronto. People voted Ford in to stop the momentum (they have a different name for it), and if Ford could deliver that, he had served his purposes.
 
GraphicMatt said:
You're making a weird binary distinction between drivers and non-drivers. Someone who lives in Barrie and drives to Toronto for work every day and then drives for all social engagements and household needs is undoubtedly being subsidized by the family who lives on the Danforth who owns one car and uses it only occasionally for short trips to Home Depot or whatever.
Click to expand...

And someone who lives in Regent Park is undoubtedly being subsidized by the family who lives on Bridle Path. Not to mention someone who lives in Barrie was not paying vehicle tax in the first place.

I didn't make such binary distinction, I was replying to the claim that "people that don't drive are now subsidizing those that do". That's simply offensive considering how much the city dumps into transit, social housing, welfare, etc... I will readily admit driving is a subsidized activity, but so is public transit, biking, stroll in the city parks, living in social housing, redecorating the mayor's office, art events, etc... The very contempt towards drivers got Ford elected, yet people don't learn at all.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Back on topic: The Star surveyed (most of) the new Council on five key issues Ford pushed during the campaign: Making the TTC an essential service; Contracting out garbage; cutting funding to pride/caribana/other events; reducing the size of city council; eliminating fair wage policy.

Of the five, it looks like privatizing garbage collection and making the TTC an essential service are the only two that could happen.

Results here: http://www.thestar.com/staticcontent/883047
Click to expand...

A lot of the new councillors are undecided on just about everything. After six months running for office, you'd think they'd have developed opinions on these pretty basic questions.
 
SimonP said:
A lot of the new councillors are undecided on just about everything. After six months running for office, you'd think they'd have developed opinions on these pretty basic questions.
Click to expand...
Strategy. You won't get an executive position if you openly state you'll oppose your boss.
 
For the 32 councilors who responded to the survey, I have listed them in order of how closely they follow the "Ford Line" on the 5 questions asked:

Y = Yes, A = Abstain, N = No

5 net yes
YYYYY Doug Ford
YYYYY Georgio Mammoliti

4 net yes
YYAYY Frances Nunziata

3 net yes
YYAAY Vincent Crisanti
YYAAY Denzil Minnan-Wong

2 net yes
YYNYA Paul Ainslie
AYAAY Doug Holyday

1 net yes
YYANA Gloria Lindsay Luby
YYNYN Peter Milczyn
YAAAA Cesar Palacio

neutral
AAAAA Ana Bailao
AAAAA Michelle Berardinetti
AAANY Raymond Cho
AANYA Gary Crawford

1 net no
AAANA Mary Fragedakis
YANNA Chin Lee
AYNNA Josh Matlow
AAANA Mary-Margaret McMahon
NAAAA John Parker
NAAAA James Pasternak

3 net no
NNNYN Maria Augimeri
NYNNN Frank Di Giorgio

4 net no
ANNNN Mike Layton
NANNN Adam Vaughan

5 net no
NNNNN Glenn De Baeremaeker
NNNNN Shelley Carroll
NNNNN Janet Davis
NNNNN Sarah Doucette
NNNNN Pam McConnell
NNNNN Joe Mihevc
NNNNN Gord Perks
NNNNN Kristyn Wong-Tam
 
Interesting that the Nunziata, the councillor 3rd on the list, is also the one out there saying that she's against killing the Eglinton RT. I don't think a single councillor who currently has streetcars in their ward favours eliminating streetcars.

The future of the Sheppard LRT might be questionable, but it seems that both downtown streetcars and some form of the Eglinton line are safe.

Making transit an essential service disturbs me. I used to live in Montreal where transit is an essential service. After they made it an essential service, the strikes went from 2-3 day affairs to 4-6 week affairs. I'd rather have a couple of days of no service, than weeks and months of limited service.
 
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