There are not too many things in the world that I hate more than protests and demonstrations. I have commented before that I truly doubt that anyone's mind will really be changed by a rally, a protest, or a demonstration; rather, it is the protester that probably is the only one that feels that they are making an impact. Perhaps what I hate even more is a protest about something that is not relevant to our country. And a protest that ends up inconveniencing the general populace. This can be anything from greedy union members who are on strike and decide to block entraceways or roads, to any number of social commentary issues, which has its protesters shutting down traffic and such. I should be very clear here - I don't just dislike protests for stuff I couldn't give a rat's ass about, but I also don't like protests for issues which matter to me (ie. I am a staunch opponent of abortion, but I don't believe anti-abortionists should block traffic or whatever, to make their point).
So you can imagine that even though it had no direct impact on me per se (other than taking up some newspaper headlines which I had to wade through while reading), today's Tamil protest that shut down key parts of the city's business core in Toronto, gave me a bit of a irritation. Ok, a lot.
First, as everyone can tell you, there are two sides of the story. The Tamil community are protesting because of claims of genocide in the Sri Lankan civil war. They say that kids are being killed and so forth. What you are not hearing is the other side - I am neither Indian nor Tamil, but I do have a friend from Sri Lanka (Sihanese) who gave me a quick rundown of the history. Ever heard of the Tamil Tigers? The Tamil community loves these guys. But ask any intelligence agency and they will tell you that these guys are terrorists. I didn't need to ask anyone to know that - it is clear in the heinousness in crimes committed by Tigers in the Toronto and Vancouver areas (and elsewhere) to know this. Moreover, much of the fundraising and support for these terrorists comes right from the Tamil community. Canada and 30+ countries considers the Tigers a terrorist organization. Yet, the protesters today, freely wave Tamil Tiger flags (which has a picture of a Tiger on it, with rifles and bullets in the background).
But let's say that I didn't know either side...I still would be absolutely irritated that they decided to inconvenience the public to try to make their side known. Honestly, I am so glad, for so many reasons, that I don't work in downtown Toronto. I am clearly a heterosexual male, but I would probably choose to be gay rather than working in downtown Toronto ever again. It is a cesspool of the worst the city has to offer. Traffic is terrible, people are rude, the streets smell, everything is overpriced...no thanks! Anyway, I do know a lot of people work there and make a living in doing so, whether they like it or not. The business district of Toronto is an important part of the city, so for any group's protest to cause traffic chaos is simply not thinking of the overall good of the city, especially if they are a citizen of it.
Furthermore, and this is perhaps my biggest beef with today's protest, is that what is being screamed and bantered about is not even taking place in Canada! Like, can anyone who was inconvenienced today really do anything about it? Better that they go on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and scream to the government bureaucrats who may have a remote chance of listening (which is doubtful, since Canada doesn't really have much, if any, influence or presence in that part of the world). But as it stands, all this kind of thing does is just irritate people, in that it makes non-Tamils wonder about where these people's loyalty lies. I was not born here, but am a proud Canadian and Canadian issues always come first; things in my ancestral homeland play a (distant) second. By not adopting this way of thinking, one wonders where my loyalties lie and why I don't just move back to my ancestral homeland if I am so concerned about matters "over there". Now, some people may say that well, if people don't protest and cause inconvenience, then perhaps segregation may still be in play. But even then, that's a different kettle of fish, since segregation happened on American soil, so it was an American issue. The Sri Lankan civil war is not a Canadian issue, so the average Canadian cannot effect the outcome or doesn't care (or likely a combination of both).
One can also slag folks like me who disagree with such things as being xenophobic, but isn't that the politically correct language nowadays - that for those who don't think that people should hyphenate loyalities be branded a bigot or racist. I am a visible minority immigrant, so it's kind of hard to make that charge stick on me - I just call it like it is. And I call today's protests an exercise in counter-productivity. You will not get people's support by deliberately pissing them off with an issue that is not a Canadian one.
Ultimately, this again makes me wonder why people even bother coming to this fine country if their minds and hearts still reside in their previous homeland. Don't people come to Canada for a better life? My parents sure did. It's fine to be interested in matters from around the world, but don't forget, you are a Canadian first. For all the energy expended at raising "awareness", these people better be damn well standing on one of the overpasses along the Highway of Heroes the next time a Canadian soldier who died on the battlefield is repatriated and show equal, if not more concern for the country that they now call home.
Showing posts with label toronto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toronto. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday, February 18, 2008
Black-Only or Afro-Centric Schools - Are You Kidding Me?
Ah, leave it up to the liberal establishment in Toronto to float an idea that reeks of racial preference and reverse discrimination under the guise of "increased tolerance" and "racially advantageous education". If you haven't heard by now, Toronto has approved the start-up of a racially segregated school. Yup, you heard that right, and nope, we're not back in the 1950s in the American south, ladies and gentleman. In 2008, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, there will be the establishment of an essentially all-black school. I suppose afro-centric is the proper politically correct name, but since this isn't the Toronto Star, black-only school is more than sufficient to describe what will undoubtedly be a inevitable failure. I don't agree with much with the very liberal premier of Ontario, one Dalton McGuinty, but I have to say that I am in full concurrence with him in his uneasiness and opposition to such a school being put in place.
Unfortunately, such an issue can not only be a contentious one, but has an extremely high risk of polarizing people racially. From what I've seen and heard, not unlike many race issues, we see a clear divide in how members of racial groups (in this case, the reaction is generally broken down along historical Black/White lines). However, despite what the media may report, not all Black folks are keen on this idea.
Earlier last month, my wife and I had the opportunity to accept an invitation to have "brunch" with one of my wife's clients. I don't know them very well, and to be honest, didn't really want to go, but she insisted, so I went, mostly to serve as an example to my son that you can't always do what you really want to do. The family is part Haitian/part African (for the sake of this discussion, it would be safe to simply say that they were Black). Anyhow, we show up and the food is not ready. For a brunch, we didn't eat until 3PM. While to me it is generally not generally a significant detail as far as social interactions go, I did chuckle to myself, as this late lunch sort of underscored a prevalent societal stereotype about Black folks - that late is OK (of course, I'm always late, so it may be an Asian thing as well). Anyhow, we thought it would be an oppotunity to get to know this family better. Between trying to make conversation over the large Samsung LCD TV that was blasting away the soundtrack portion of some clearly pirated DVD, we found out that we weren't the only ones that were invited to this late brunch. In fact, there are lots of people invited. Fantastic, I thought, it's going to be a freaking house party now, as if the CD player blaring in the background, trying to compete with the aforementioned DVD, wasn't loud and irritating enough.
Their friends showed up, and not surprisingly, they were all Black. The conversation turned to world current events and then proceeded to focus back on local Canadian issues. It was a pretty interesting conversation, with some very knowledgeable and articulate folks there, not the least of which was this news junkie, who like me listened to talk radio and had an opinion on almost any current event. To no one's surprise, after some ice-breaker topics, the subject shifted quickly to the (at the time) proposed all-Black school in Toronto. The fellow turned to me, and with other eyes turned my way, he asked what I thought of the idea. Now, what the heck would you say to a group of Black folks huddled together to discuss such a topic, particularly if you were the only non-Black there (my wife was there as well, but didn't say a whole lot and was subtly tapping my foot with hers as code to say that it's time that we went home)? Of course, I am not one to be shy with my opinions and since I figured that I am not exactly bursting with politically correct diplomacy skills, I may as well state my honest opinion, and if I do get attacked (figuratively or physically), there were several exit routes I could have taken. So I told the group how I thought it was such a terrible idea, not because it was contrary to some contemporary utopian view about how everyone should simply get along and ignore the differences between us, but that the idea did not have my support because it was essentially a weak, bailing-out type of response, which is not uncommon in today's lack-of-responsibility and throwning-in-the-towel mentality. People nowadays do not deal with challenges very well, whether it be societal, financial, emotional, physical, etc. People as a whole have also generally abandoned long-coveted virtues such as hard work and paying your dues, to use an overused cliche.
Here's the rub, essentially, I continued to tell them. The idea of this school was floated, in part due to some Blacks (in mostly urban centres) not performing as well academically, in relation to their non-Black counterparts (White, Asian, etc.) Now, there are people, like that sociologist (what's his name? Russell or something?) who make claims that Black people are as a whole less intelligent than Whites, and especially Asians, due to brain size, etc.) I don't give that guy's argument much credence, because over time, I have seen more than my fair share of Black nerds out there, just as much as I have seen White nerds, though hardly competitive with the amount of Asian nerds out there. Still, I don't think any of this is due to any racially-contributed gifting of natural intelligence. Have a look at where these Black kids come from? Fact is, many of them in urban areas come from single families, the vast majority of which are headed up by a Black woman who has to work to support her kids that she more than likely had out of wedlock. The father is nowhere to be seen. No one can debate this - it's just a fact. Now, these kids grow up with essentially an absentee mother (who, to her credit is working) but there is no one at home to stress the value of education and academic achievement. Contrast that to the amount of White families who have a mother and father in the house (I know this is changing, but the incident of two-parent White families is considerably higher than Blacks) and contrast that particularly with Asian families who almost certainly have a mother and father at home and are culturally achievement-oriented. That's why you see Asians excel at school. Culturally, they have no choice, since any slacking at a young age would be met with spanking or worse, a paternal beating (netiher of these are kosher in today's sensitivity-trained politically correct environment). So having all these Black kids, who are underachieving, in their own school will do nothing but perpetuate mediocrity.
Now, there are the racial and social aspects. Some parents claim that their kids would perform better socially with people who are the same as them. I won't dispute this claim, since I am pretty certain of its validity. Growing up in an all-White school, I think I would have gained more social skills at an earlier age, if there were more people like me at the school. Instead, I was a bit of an outcast, carrying my Chinese food-based drink and wearing my Hong-Kong inspired clothing to class, where I was met with jeers and worse. However, if I were to do it again, I wouldn't do it any differently. Reason why is because despite my being ouside of my own comfort zone, I did realize at an early age (grade four) that by going into a shell and keeping to myself, I wasn't going to make matters any better. Sure I wanted to fit in, but moreso I wanted to desperately show that I wasn't much different than they were. I believe through my efforts, I have diffused future racists from developing. Could you imagine if there were more Asians in my school? No doubt I would have gravitated towards them. We would have formed our own clique. Probably ate lunch together and avoided the rest of the White kids. What would that do? I'd certainly feel more comfortable and to a degree, safer. But make no mistake, I would have perpetuated all the stereotypes that others already had about Asian kids. I have always maintained that mentality, from childhood throughout adulthood. My disgust over a city like Toronto which claims to be multicultural and "tolerant" (which is as much of a hogwash term - I had a stronger word, but this is a family show - as I've ever heard), while they in essence practice a sort of isolationist politic by allowing ethnic ghettos to develop and remain self-sustaining (like it or not, places like Chinatown, Greektown, Koreantown, Little Italy, etc. are in essence all segregated ethnic ghettos) is something that constantly leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Being a born-again Christian, I find it absolutely abhorrent that Christian believers have chosen to segregate themselves in various ethnic churches, under the guise of cultural limitations). The former pastor of the church that I currently attend once told me that he was faced with a decision long ago - shall they do the right thing and stay in the increasingly Asian community that they found themselves and partner with other Asian ministries, or shall they pick up and leave. At the time, the church's demographics were heavily white and middle-age/elderly, and when the church decided that the right thing to do was stay put and partner up with an Asian church, 20% of the congregation left. My former pastor impressed upon me while a homogenous church will likely grow faster than a heterogenous church, is catering to one's self-absorbed sense of comfort and ease the right thing to do?
My opposition to an all-black school carries the same tenets of arguments that I espouse for other ventures that try to cater to a castle-type of mentality. It is no surprise to anyone that I hold a very strong view against things like homeschooling, which are really segregationalist schools for White parents who hold either religiously fundamentalist views, or who have a fortress mentality to child-rearing. In either case, it's not much different than the all black-schools argument. I suppose you can take me to task and argue that there is no difference between black-only schools and private schools. In private schools, however, there is generally no overtly sinister intention - that is, there isn't any racial overtones, though it may be argued that subtly, some parents by sending their kids to a private school are in essence keeping their kids away from urban minority youth. Private schools are also not funded by any level of government, whether it be municipal or provincial. The old adage applies - it's your money - you do whatever you want with it - as long as I'm not paying for your private school or segregated school, I don't really care.
It is funny that this whole thing has cropped up this year. Last year, in the Ontario election, Progressive Conservative leader John Tory was roundly criticized for his position on allowing faith-based schools to be provincially funded. While I disagree with Tory's position (in which he has since backtracked), I find it funny that there seems to be a modicum of support for an all-Black school, while there was vocal opposition to a provincially funded all-Christian or all-Jewish or all-Muslim school (all of which I oppose, as well as the currently government-funded Catholic school system in Ontario).
Some of the other problems with a all-Black school include an unhealthy focus on race. Yes, February is officially Black history month (not sure who decided this, but I neither observe nor support it), but you would think that with all the struggles that Black civil rights leaders have fought to achieve, that the best that the community can come up with is a all-Black school. There are more than Black people in a city like Toronto, in academia, is there really a racial distinction when it comes to core subjects like math, science, reading, etc. - which brings me to my next point: in the global economy and in today's business world, one has to be prepared and able to work with a diverse employee base. I mean, I have worked with people who are of all races, and have worked with gay peple as well as an individual who had a horrific sex change. Did I enjoy all these interactions? Absolutely not. Did I agree with these people's personal views? No. But I have to work with them. And, I believe that in learning and interacting with different people during my academic and educational days, it well prepared me in dealing with a diverse group of people, some of which I don't agree with and even some that I may not particularly like. In perpetuating a Black school, I believe its students would not be as well prepared to work in the workplace when they graduate (except for working for B.E.T. or something like that).
Last week, it was revealed that a Barrie police inspector circulated a email that essentially played up the stereotypes of Black people, in the context of the all-Black school in Toronto. Many were offended by the email, which posed mathematical problem solving scenarios based on drive-by shootings, drugs, or prostitution. I can't say that I was necessarily offended by this, but I do thing that another negative by-product of such a school is to create more racists, or possibly bring racists that were in the closet out in the open. I can forsee Whites glad to see Blacks no longer attending the same schools as their kids. Add to that the fact that these all-Black schools are essentially a double-standard: if several Whites came together to propose an all-White school, would that have much traction? Likely, the societal condemnation would be fast and swift. In my view, having an all-Black school is no different than an all-White school or an all-Asian school. It is essentially a poor effort to address a symptom of a larger issue.
Unfortunately, such an issue can not only be a contentious one, but has an extremely high risk of polarizing people racially. From what I've seen and heard, not unlike many race issues, we see a clear divide in how members of racial groups (in this case, the reaction is generally broken down along historical Black/White lines). However, despite what the media may report, not all Black folks are keen on this idea.
Earlier last month, my wife and I had the opportunity to accept an invitation to have "brunch" with one of my wife's clients. I don't know them very well, and to be honest, didn't really want to go, but she insisted, so I went, mostly to serve as an example to my son that you can't always do what you really want to do. The family is part Haitian/part African (for the sake of this discussion, it would be safe to simply say that they were Black). Anyhow, we show up and the food is not ready. For a brunch, we didn't eat until 3PM. While to me it is generally not generally a significant detail as far as social interactions go, I did chuckle to myself, as this late lunch sort of underscored a prevalent societal stereotype about Black folks - that late is OK (of course, I'm always late, so it may be an Asian thing as well). Anyhow, we thought it would be an oppotunity to get to know this family better. Between trying to make conversation over the large Samsung LCD TV that was blasting away the soundtrack portion of some clearly pirated DVD, we found out that we weren't the only ones that were invited to this late brunch. In fact, there are lots of people invited. Fantastic, I thought, it's going to be a freaking house party now, as if the CD player blaring in the background, trying to compete with the aforementioned DVD, wasn't loud and irritating enough.
Their friends showed up, and not surprisingly, they were all Black. The conversation turned to world current events and then proceeded to focus back on local Canadian issues. It was a pretty interesting conversation, with some very knowledgeable and articulate folks there, not the least of which was this news junkie, who like me listened to talk radio and had an opinion on almost any current event. To no one's surprise, after some ice-breaker topics, the subject shifted quickly to the (at the time) proposed all-Black school in Toronto. The fellow turned to me, and with other eyes turned my way, he asked what I thought of the idea. Now, what the heck would you say to a group of Black folks huddled together to discuss such a topic, particularly if you were the only non-Black there (my wife was there as well, but didn't say a whole lot and was subtly tapping my foot with hers as code to say that it's time that we went home)? Of course, I am not one to be shy with my opinions and since I figured that I am not exactly bursting with politically correct diplomacy skills, I may as well state my honest opinion, and if I do get attacked (figuratively or physically), there were several exit routes I could have taken. So I told the group how I thought it was such a terrible idea, not because it was contrary to some contemporary utopian view about how everyone should simply get along and ignore the differences between us, but that the idea did not have my support because it was essentially a weak, bailing-out type of response, which is not uncommon in today's lack-of-responsibility and throwning-in-the-towel mentality. People nowadays do not deal with challenges very well, whether it be societal, financial, emotional, physical, etc. People as a whole have also generally abandoned long-coveted virtues such as hard work and paying your dues, to use an overused cliche.
Here's the rub, essentially, I continued to tell them. The idea of this school was floated, in part due to some Blacks (in mostly urban centres) not performing as well academically, in relation to their non-Black counterparts (White, Asian, etc.) Now, there are people, like that sociologist (what's his name? Russell or something?) who make claims that Black people are as a whole less intelligent than Whites, and especially Asians, due to brain size, etc.) I don't give that guy's argument much credence, because over time, I have seen more than my fair share of Black nerds out there, just as much as I have seen White nerds, though hardly competitive with the amount of Asian nerds out there. Still, I don't think any of this is due to any racially-contributed gifting of natural intelligence. Have a look at where these Black kids come from? Fact is, many of them in urban areas come from single families, the vast majority of which are headed up by a Black woman who has to work to support her kids that she more than likely had out of wedlock. The father is nowhere to be seen. No one can debate this - it's just a fact. Now, these kids grow up with essentially an absentee mother (who, to her credit is working) but there is no one at home to stress the value of education and academic achievement. Contrast that to the amount of White families who have a mother and father in the house (I know this is changing, but the incident of two-parent White families is considerably higher than Blacks) and contrast that particularly with Asian families who almost certainly have a mother and father at home and are culturally achievement-oriented. That's why you see Asians excel at school. Culturally, they have no choice, since any slacking at a young age would be met with spanking or worse, a paternal beating (netiher of these are kosher in today's sensitivity-trained politically correct environment). So having all these Black kids, who are underachieving, in their own school will do nothing but perpetuate mediocrity.
Now, there are the racial and social aspects. Some parents claim that their kids would perform better socially with people who are the same as them. I won't dispute this claim, since I am pretty certain of its validity. Growing up in an all-White school, I think I would have gained more social skills at an earlier age, if there were more people like me at the school. Instead, I was a bit of an outcast, carrying my Chinese food-based drink and wearing my Hong-Kong inspired clothing to class, where I was met with jeers and worse. However, if I were to do it again, I wouldn't do it any differently. Reason why is because despite my being ouside of my own comfort zone, I did realize at an early age (grade four) that by going into a shell and keeping to myself, I wasn't going to make matters any better. Sure I wanted to fit in, but moreso I wanted to desperately show that I wasn't much different than they were. I believe through my efforts, I have diffused future racists from developing. Could you imagine if there were more Asians in my school? No doubt I would have gravitated towards them. We would have formed our own clique. Probably ate lunch together and avoided the rest of the White kids. What would that do? I'd certainly feel more comfortable and to a degree, safer. But make no mistake, I would have perpetuated all the stereotypes that others already had about Asian kids. I have always maintained that mentality, from childhood throughout adulthood. My disgust over a city like Toronto which claims to be multicultural and "tolerant" (which is as much of a hogwash term - I had a stronger word, but this is a family show - as I've ever heard), while they in essence practice a sort of isolationist politic by allowing ethnic ghettos to develop and remain self-sustaining (like it or not, places like Chinatown, Greektown, Koreantown, Little Italy, etc. are in essence all segregated ethnic ghettos) is something that constantly leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Being a born-again Christian, I find it absolutely abhorrent that Christian believers have chosen to segregate themselves in various ethnic churches, under the guise of cultural limitations). The former pastor of the church that I currently attend once told me that he was faced with a decision long ago - shall they do the right thing and stay in the increasingly Asian community that they found themselves and partner with other Asian ministries, or shall they pick up and leave. At the time, the church's demographics were heavily white and middle-age/elderly, and when the church decided that the right thing to do was stay put and partner up with an Asian church, 20% of the congregation left. My former pastor impressed upon me while a homogenous church will likely grow faster than a heterogenous church, is catering to one's self-absorbed sense of comfort and ease the right thing to do?
My opposition to an all-black school carries the same tenets of arguments that I espouse for other ventures that try to cater to a castle-type of mentality. It is no surprise to anyone that I hold a very strong view against things like homeschooling, which are really segregationalist schools for White parents who hold either religiously fundamentalist views, or who have a fortress mentality to child-rearing. In either case, it's not much different than the all black-schools argument. I suppose you can take me to task and argue that there is no difference between black-only schools and private schools. In private schools, however, there is generally no overtly sinister intention - that is, there isn't any racial overtones, though it may be argued that subtly, some parents by sending their kids to a private school are in essence keeping their kids away from urban minority youth. Private schools are also not funded by any level of government, whether it be municipal or provincial. The old adage applies - it's your money - you do whatever you want with it - as long as I'm not paying for your private school or segregated school, I don't really care.
It is funny that this whole thing has cropped up this year. Last year, in the Ontario election, Progressive Conservative leader John Tory was roundly criticized for his position on allowing faith-based schools to be provincially funded. While I disagree with Tory's position (in which he has since backtracked), I find it funny that there seems to be a modicum of support for an all-Black school, while there was vocal opposition to a provincially funded all-Christian or all-Jewish or all-Muslim school (all of which I oppose, as well as the currently government-funded Catholic school system in Ontario).
Some of the other problems with a all-Black school include an unhealthy focus on race. Yes, February is officially Black history month (not sure who decided this, but I neither observe nor support it), but you would think that with all the struggles that Black civil rights leaders have fought to achieve, that the best that the community can come up with is a all-Black school. There are more than Black people in a city like Toronto, in academia, is there really a racial distinction when it comes to core subjects like math, science, reading, etc. - which brings me to my next point: in the global economy and in today's business world, one has to be prepared and able to work with a diverse employee base. I mean, I have worked with people who are of all races, and have worked with gay peple as well as an individual who had a horrific sex change. Did I enjoy all these interactions? Absolutely not. Did I agree with these people's personal views? No. But I have to work with them. And, I believe that in learning and interacting with different people during my academic and educational days, it well prepared me in dealing with a diverse group of people, some of which I don't agree with and even some that I may not particularly like. In perpetuating a Black school, I believe its students would not be as well prepared to work in the workplace when they graduate (except for working for B.E.T. or something like that).
Last week, it was revealed that a Barrie police inspector circulated a email that essentially played up the stereotypes of Black people, in the context of the all-Black school in Toronto. Many were offended by the email, which posed mathematical problem solving scenarios based on drive-by shootings, drugs, or prostitution. I can't say that I was necessarily offended by this, but I do thing that another negative by-product of such a school is to create more racists, or possibly bring racists that were in the closet out in the open. I can forsee Whites glad to see Blacks no longer attending the same schools as their kids. Add to that the fact that these all-Black schools are essentially a double-standard: if several Whites came together to propose an all-White school, would that have much traction? Likely, the societal condemnation would be fast and swift. In my view, having an all-Black school is no different than an all-White school or an all-Asian school. It is essentially a poor effort to address a symptom of a larger issue.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I'm Glad I Don't Live In Toronto
Every year, something happens to confirm that we made the right choice seven years ago not to buy a home in Toronto. Whether it was the garbage strike a few years back where the entire city had no garbage pickup and intersections were littered wtih hundreds of rotting garbage bags in the middle of the summer, whether it was the TTC (public transit) shortages / stoppages or strikes (if I lived in Toronto, I would have to take public transit, and you know my opinion on public transit already, as seen in a previous blog entry), the ridiculous left-wing socialist mayor that is currently in office, the ridiculous amounts of "tolerance" events that goes on in the city and the eroding of traditional family events, the constant contruction on roads which never seen to be fixed, the countless road closures (including more than regular closures of major parkway/arteries into and out of the city), not to mention the amount of crime that goes on in the city - well, all this has just re-affirmed to me that it's much better to live in the suberbs, even though the 'burbs have their own share of problems, albeit significantly fewer than Toronto.
The latest item which has simply re-affirmed my gladness that we never decided to live in Toronto is the ridiculous new taxes that David Miller, Toronto's socialist mayor has decided to impose. On the forefront are two new, very controversial taxes, one being an increased land transfer tax, and the other being an additional drivers' licence renewal tax of 60 bucks on top of the provincially set $74.50 (though humourously I don't think they consulted the province since they refuse to help Toronto collect the extra 60 bucks). Also planned was an additional tax on alcohol, but that's been pulled for now. I also read that they had proposed a tax on cigarettes (good!) and amusement parks (???).
The mayor and his supporters claim these taxes are supposed to help offset a budget shortfall (I think whenever this happens in politics, it's an indication that the government is not working within their means or that they are not aggressively looking at cuts - how governments get themselves in debt, I will never understand) - anyway, I would take this rationalization seriously if it weren't for the fact that Toronto council recently voted themselves a pay raise. And that the city has put really dumb-ass things in their budget, like commissioning something like $300,000 - $400,000 to do a manual count of how many trees there are in Toronto. I'm not kidding here.
I'm no economist, but I've always believed heavier taxes drive people away from spending (resulting in less taxes collected through sales) and so your economy suffers as a result. Increased taxes discourage spending and companies will be forced to let go of staff since their sales will drop, reducing in less jobs and higher unemployment.
Now, as a suberbanite, this news makes me chuckle, but in a way, it's not bad for me. People who were planning to buy houses in Toronto will likely think twice, and that will make our suberbian regions much more attractive, thus driving up our housing prices (which are very high to begin with, but as a guy who has no plans to sell his house anytime soon, I'm basking in the increased investment value in my home as it is, and its certain continual rise in value).
The additional driver's licence renewal tax is ridiculous at best. What this will do is simply get people to register their vehicles outside of Toronto. Who is going to go to two places to renew their drivers' licence, anyway? Sheesh...
The thing is, this is not a big city thing. Others large cities in Canada have their budgets in order and in fact cities like Calgary have a nice surplus to work with (OK, they're in oil country, but...). Ultimately, this is not about having more money; rather, Toronto elected (and re-elected) a mayor whose philosophy is spend and tax, so what do you expect? I suspect that had Jane Pitfield been elected (and while I was not eligible to vote in last year's municipal elections, as I am not a resident of Toronto, I still supported Jane Pitfield and financially contributed to her campaign), things would be much different. Now I realize that Toronto's mayor has to deal with a not-too-swift Ontario Premier to get money for the city, but the previous mayor, Mel Lastman, as controversial as he was, was able to get money for the city much more successfully than this guy. I am hoping that my Torontonian friends who are fed up with this would not take it lying down and consider moving into the land of the 905 region where at least many towns and cities are run much more reponsibly. I look to see you there!
The latest item which has simply re-affirmed my gladness that we never decided to live in Toronto is the ridiculous new taxes that David Miller, Toronto's socialist mayor has decided to impose. On the forefront are two new, very controversial taxes, one being an increased land transfer tax, and the other being an additional drivers' licence renewal tax of 60 bucks on top of the provincially set $74.50 (though humourously I don't think they consulted the province since they refuse to help Toronto collect the extra 60 bucks). Also planned was an additional tax on alcohol, but that's been pulled for now. I also read that they had proposed a tax on cigarettes (good!) and amusement parks (???).
The mayor and his supporters claim these taxes are supposed to help offset a budget shortfall (I think whenever this happens in politics, it's an indication that the government is not working within their means or that they are not aggressively looking at cuts - how governments get themselves in debt, I will never understand) - anyway, I would take this rationalization seriously if it weren't for the fact that Toronto council recently voted themselves a pay raise. And that the city has put really dumb-ass things in their budget, like commissioning something like $300,000 - $400,000 to do a manual count of how many trees there are in Toronto. I'm not kidding here.
I'm no economist, but I've always believed heavier taxes drive people away from spending (resulting in less taxes collected through sales) and so your economy suffers as a result. Increased taxes discourage spending and companies will be forced to let go of staff since their sales will drop, reducing in less jobs and higher unemployment.
Now, as a suberbanite, this news makes me chuckle, but in a way, it's not bad for me. People who were planning to buy houses in Toronto will likely think twice, and that will make our suberbian regions much more attractive, thus driving up our housing prices (which are very high to begin with, but as a guy who has no plans to sell his house anytime soon, I'm basking in the increased investment value in my home as it is, and its certain continual rise in value).
The additional driver's licence renewal tax is ridiculous at best. What this will do is simply get people to register their vehicles outside of Toronto. Who is going to go to two places to renew their drivers' licence, anyway? Sheesh...
The thing is, this is not a big city thing. Others large cities in Canada have their budgets in order and in fact cities like Calgary have a nice surplus to work with (OK, they're in oil country, but...). Ultimately, this is not about having more money; rather, Toronto elected (and re-elected) a mayor whose philosophy is spend and tax, so what do you expect? I suspect that had Jane Pitfield been elected (and while I was not eligible to vote in last year's municipal elections, as I am not a resident of Toronto, I still supported Jane Pitfield and financially contributed to her campaign), things would be much different. Now I realize that Toronto's mayor has to deal with a not-too-swift Ontario Premier to get money for the city, but the previous mayor, Mel Lastman, as controversial as he was, was able to get money for the city much more successfully than this guy. I am hoping that my Torontonian friends who are fed up with this would not take it lying down and consider moving into the land of the 905 region where at least many towns and cities are run much more reponsibly. I look to see you there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)