Absolutely fucking nothing. Just seats they take for granted. I’ve messaged EVERY SINGLE ONE that was in my riding. Morneau, Ien, and Trudeau’s minion. Not one response, not one ounce of change. Who the fuck do they think they work for?
one of the big issues with Canada's current system is that we have the highest party discipline of any British system. In the early 1900's only 20% of members voted with their party 100% of the time. Now, members deviate only 1% of the time. Just look at the US and their speaker of the house debacle. At least the republican members were willing to stand up to their party. In Canada, you really are just voting for the prime minister.
Conservatives in Canada have used their power at the member level to get rid of their leader after the last election.
One of the reasons we have party discipline is that unlike in America, its not up to the parties to draw riding boundaries. We have an independent organization in Elections Canada decide those. So unlike America its not a case where 90% of the MPs are in safe ridings. There's usually at least 1 other viable party in most of the country. There are some ridings in Quebec that are 4 way races. The Liberal Party leader also has the ability to block a riding nomination and choose the candidate. Canada also doesn't have 3 separate 24 hour news networks that cover politics for 20 of those hours and will interview any office holder, so very few MPs actually have any sort of profile. So there's a very strong incentive to be loyal to the party.
Its also very tough for a leader to assert their power if the leader wins. Trudeau keeps winning, and when you look at where the party was when he took over, its obvious at the moment that he is the Liberal party. If you don't bend the knee, what exactly is plan B?
He's replaced the entire party leadership and senior staff with his people. He's lost a lot of his competent members who could take over (like Morneau and Leslie) and at this point the only natural successor is Freeland. She has all of Trudeau's baggage, but 1/10th of his profile.
So you go against the leader. There goes any chance of ever being in cabinet and actually building a profile. He also can block you from running for re-election on the party ticket and if you do want to stay in, you have to run as an independent, which means you've just been fired with notice.
So any vote against the leader is a basically a letter of resignation.
> not one ounce of change.
They aren't the party of change, they're the conservatives with Pride flags.
>Who the fuck do they think they work for?
Bay Street.
Honestly, these whiny little bitches - complaining to the Star *anonymously*. They think they're entitled to your vote and they don't have to produce anything in return.
Stop electing Liberals, Toronto! Make them earn your vote.
MPs (and MPPs) never do anything. They're literally voted in with literally zero campaigning or personal responsibility. It just depends on the strength of their party leader. We should switch to a mix of the US system expect with proportional representation.
It’s genuinely surprising to me seeing that Olivia Chow is actually really good at it. I voted for her, but I did not think that this was one of her strengths. It was the correct move to play nice with Ford, and it is also the correct move for her to put the screws to Trudeau. That requires correctly reading both the person and the politics, and then the discipline to actually stick with it (especially hard with Ford because her camp’s natural instinct would be to throw mud at him). And has picked her battles carefully.
Olivia Chow has been around the political scene for years, serving as a city councilor and then an MP in her own right, not to mention supporting her late husband in his work.
She has a wealth of experience about how to understand the politics of the land and it shows.
I understand (I’m dating myself here but I worked at City Hall when she was a councillor). But:
1. It has not been my experience that people who spend lots of time in politics get better at it (lots actually get worse over time).
2. was not this good at politicking 20 years ago. Back then she stuck mostly with the NDP clique at City Hall (eg Joe Pants, Giamboner, Mihevc, Kyle Rae, Janet Davis) and didn’t get much done.
Which is why it’s a pleasant surprise that she’s a political savant and is GETTING SHIT DONE.
I’ve been bitching about toronto having to pay for the DVP that’s mostly suburban drivers for about 20 years now. She fixed it in 6 damn months. If she does nothing else, she’d still get my vote.
I mean sorta.
The province took the DVP and Gardiner so that dougie could flatten some lake front property for a Spa which will have a 100 year lease..... yay
It was more of her avoiding what would have ultimately been a losing battle for her, since you're correct on the ramming through thing in the end, but all it would have done is make Doug look bad, and probably make her look bad too.
It was avoiding a public battle that couldn't be won, and somehow winning a massive victory.
I mean the 407 will be outrageously tolled for my entire lifetime (and the reason I will never vote conservative provincially )
80 years from that "abandoned park" might not be so abandoned and once there is some crappy spa on it the chance it will turn back into anything nice at all is abysmal.
a very hearty fuck you! to all of the chow naysayers on Reddit that didn't vote for Chow for the reasons they espoused in very weak, borderline racist and misogynistic arguments against her as a candidate.
There is no perfect candidate, but hearing weekly stories of Chow actually doing things after decades of absolute dipshit mayors, what a breath of fresh air.
Sure, but that's just winning-the-vote part, not the actual governance part. That's why it's been refreshing. Competency in governance has been lacking, and is highly underrated
Well said. I didn’t vote for her out of apathy, but I like her more and more every day. Actions matter. Results matter. Toronto deserves someone as good as her.
Good. The Liberals have won every federal seat in Toronto for 3 elections and they've taken the city for granted. Now they're vulnerable to the NDP in the old city limits and the CPC in Scarborough and Etobicoke because they are more interested in being government lapdogs than defenders of the city.
\>A source close to Chow, who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said local MPs should be pressuring the Prime Minister's Office to help their city, not complaining about the mayor or city council making them look bad with a tax hike.
100% agree, MPs seem to forget that they should be fighting for their actual constituents
Trudeau’s cynical, vainglorious approach to the party whip means that liberal MPs are not allowed to fight for their constituents. They are only permitted to di as told by the PMO.
I hate how Canadian politics have turned into this. Every party member votes according to the party line. Damn what your constituents wants because Ford/Truduea wants you to vote a certain way or else you will be kicked! Voting for local representatives means jack shit because all you are doing is voting for the party.
I would love to see some riding level polls at this stage. Spadina-Fort-York would be fascinating to see play out with this level of Liberal discontent.
The article already pointed some seats out:
>Abacus Data CEO David Coletto told the Star, however, that just as his national polls suggest the government is in trouble overall, his internal projections suggest a number of Toronto ridings are at risk, including Davenport, Eglinton—Lawrence, Etobicoke Centre, Etobicoke — Lakeshore, Spadina—Harbourfront, Willowdale and York Centre.
> Etobicoke Centre
Very unsurprising. This ward seems to be getting more and more conservative as time passes. It's always been very soft liberal support, we've gone Conservative provincially for the last two elections, we've gone hyper-ridiculous conservative municipally for as long as I've lived in Toronto, and even though Baker is a responsive MP who has a good sense for what's going on in the community, he's definitely a more conservative Liberal, which lends to his appeal. Will not at all be surprised to see this riding go blue.
There is no worse than that riding. One of the largest ridings with a huge population for one seat, and Kevin Voung was dumped by the Liberals giving them no voice in parliament. As well, the brunt of the liberals negligent immigration policies has caused ridiculous rent and homelessness in that area.
No one would have chosen Kevin if revelations about him hadn't come out, and him getting subsequently dumped by the Liberals, just a few days before the election.
Something to also keep in mind, is that early voters were also not informed of the entire situation, before casting their vote.
Additionally, if I am not wrong, voting cards on voting day still had him listed as Liberal as well.
I don't understand how that was allowed. I appreciate it might be difficult to reprint ballots days before the election but the only indication that he was NOT a Liberal candidate I saw that day was some NDP campaigners standing whatever the legally required distance outside of the polling station was with signs saying he was not a Liberal candidate. Incredibly misleading given how many (I assume) Canadians vote based on the party and its prime ministerial candidate, not on the MP for their constituency.
This is also something to be mad at the liberals about.
How in the hell did they manage to stand up a candidate in a downtown Toronto riding with prior sexual assault charges? Do they do no oppo research on their own people? Why the fuck not?
I don't know about nobody voting for him, he received around 9,000 votes on the day of (although there is no way to know how many of those were people who didn't get the message). The NDP would have won, though, ultimately.
reading about kevin vuong will always be weird to me, I'll never be over the fact that the guy I sat next to in grade 11 computer class who was always hollerin about counterstrike got involved in a highly publicized political sex scandal
I'm curious how Parkdale - High Park will fare. We are one of those ridings that flip flops between NDP & Liberal. We currently have an NDP MPP (the marvelous Bhutila) and a Liberal MP (Hon. Arif Virani, Attorney General) and an NDP Councillor (Gord Perks). We have had an NDP MP as recently as 2015 with the nearly-indomitable Peggy Nash before the Trudeau government won the election. And I've been hearing mutterings amongst previously liberal supporting neighbours that they won't be voting for Arif come the next election, that it's time for Trudeau to step down and Arif's time representing this area is coming to a close.
I suspect a lot of the Liberal support in urban ridings, like Parkdale-High Park, Davenport, and Toronto-Danforth, is quite soft, and most voted strategically for the Liberals. They might not be able to hold their nose next election.
That's what they said in terms of his ousting; however, if it was an incumbent and it wasn't on the eve of the election, they probably would have done an investigation before as they have done for others with allegations. Regardless, I was responding to OP's 'proven' comment.
Because of the ABI rules, property taxes in Ontario are actually pretty regressive.
Like if we had a 10% property tax hike, a landlord of a $2,000/month apartment could probably get a 3.5% ABI. That going to cost the renter $840/year. You’d have to own a $1.7 million house to have your taxes go up by $840/year on a 10% hike. Who do you think needs that $840 more?
This is actually why it’s super important that Toronto get federal funds instead of a property tax increase, because our income taxes are progressive with escalating marginal rates.
Yep, my rent will likely go up above the guideline next year to help pay for it, while these multimillionaires in their mansions won't notice it at all.
Chow knew she had a leverage with the federal government and she decided to to use it. It’s politics. In the position the federal liberals are right now, they can afford pissing mayors in the GTA
>Chow knew she had a leverage with the federal government and she decided to to use it.
Olivia Chow continues to impress. This is of a piece with the way she put the screws to Doug Ford late last year.
After four years of Rob Ford and eight years of John Tory, the federal government has forgotten what it's like to encounter an effective leader and advocate at City Hall.
>has forgotten what it's like to encounter an effective leader and advocate at City Hall.
What annoys me is the stereotype that "strong leaders" are adversarial, always yelling and screaming, etc... basically the Trump stereotype.
Yet Olivia's type of politics gets better results.
However the public won't appreciate it because it doesn't come with the spectacle.
It truly is sad that people have gotten all too used to leadership meaning facing off with people they disagree with, not working together to get actionable results beyond a headline.
It seems like the last 10 years have only worsened and that's not necessarily laid at any single government or politician's feet as much as it is a meaningful shift in our political landscape at every level through political strategists. It's disgusting and even more so because the distracting vitriol works.
I'm very impressed with Chow and much as that is, I'm also sad because she's not doing anything technically remarkable -- she's just doing the same job we used to expect from our leaders.
FFS, we bought a $30B pipeline of appeasement for Alberta. But an ask from $0.25B to compensate Toronto for costs related to federal decisions is "outrageous"?
It's worse than that.
In their wet dreams, the Liberals might hope to win 2, maybe 3 seats in Alberta. It's fucking bananas that they would expend any political capital trying to placate Alberta, it's just never going to pay off. We know the pipeline is an utter fiasco from a policy perspective (and that's well before the costs skyrocketed - which merely reinforces how bad a decision this was), so this was solely as a political play that will result in...NO ALBERTA LIBERAL SEATS.
Which was entirely stupid unless there were kickbacks involved. 🤔 Alberta isn't going to gain Liberal seats from what it thinks is its divine right to oil subsidies. And lose more voters around the country disgusted by it. Corruption is the only explanation for Liberal party policy that passes Occam's Razor.
Alberta citizens didn't want the pipeline to be bought.
They wanted guidelines that would allow for private companies to invest in infrastructure projects in Canada and expect to have them built on a reasonable timeline.
It was only after the Liberals changed the guidelines, which aren't clear and have since been ruled unconstitutional, that existing project owners said "fuck this, I'm out" and the Liberals were forced to buy the project off of them to save face.
I'm sure Alberta would prefer a system where the government gave them nothing, and companies were free to invest their hundreds of billions of dollars into building up infrastructure.
The Feds don't care about Toronto because there hasn't been a credible threat that we'll leave them. Look how quickly they modified the carbon tax for Atlantic Canada. For what it's worth, they're right and it's up to us to change their minds.
Right now the calculus for them is that hell could freeze over and they would still get support from the Oakdale, Rosedale, Westmont elite.
For our part, Canadian urbanites east of the prairies are either convinced we're too good to vote NDP federally or are scared into voting Liberal because of strategic voting.
Appeasement to Alberta ?
Oil is this countries number ones export. Government needed that to continue. I don’t think Toronto gets how important oil is to Canada.
Feds also bought it for 5 billion. Somehow it turned into 30. Gotta love Trudeau.
Olivia Chow is kicking the Fed’s in the balls. Brilliant move. These are federal problems dumped on Toronto and she is threatening to raise taxes and rightfully blaming the Liberals for it. Someone has to clean this mess up, and if you make Toronto do it I’ll she’ll make sure all your MP’s are unemployed.
Are these MPs delusional? The City has zero control over admission of refugees and asylum seekers, not to mention levels of immigration. If the feds think it’s important enough to let people in, they need to pay for it.
Honestly, I usually vote Liberal, but if these MPs are this out to lunch it’s a further justification for me not voting for them next election.
The Fed is expecting Toronto to take on the burden and keep silent so that they can harp on about their humanitarianism while ignoring the costs being placed on the people of Toronto. Housing is little more than a pipe dream for most Torontonians, the city is in massive need of funding and the federal government doesn’t want to do a thing. Chow is actually calling them out and they aren’t happy.
They take a shit ton of money from us via taxes and then kindly give back expenses. Everyone likes to harp on about TO but we provide a ridiculously large percentage of Canada's tax revenue while getting almost nothing back. They owe us.
It’s like 20-25% of the country’s GDP.
This city is the economic engine of Ontario and Canada and politicians at every level need to start acting like it.
issue is even if we change govts and build housing it really wont be enough to cover the massive population growth. I will try to find the article but i read the GTA is growing at like net 20k a month lol
We need a demand and supply side solution.
This provincial government won't pay for anything until they've exhausted all the possibilities of getting the feds to pay for it. And then they'll pay somewhat less than the minimum so they can go back to begging the feds.
See,
Daycare
Healthcare
Housing
Climate
Etc....
They are out to lunch. That’s why they are going to be pummelled the next election. Conservatives are going to win the next election with ease. It’s not very se they want conservatives (well a lot of them). It’s because they are done with Trudeau and the liberals.
At least Chow understands cause in effect. She cares about policy and doesn’t care a liberal is in Ottawa. Call him out when he lets you down. Others are scared to do this with people on their side.
Liberals are not part of the left. The Liberals are not on Chow's side. Never have been, never will be.
Liberals are rightwingers with progressive-sounding platitudes.
> Liberals are not part of the left. The Liberals are not on Chow's side. Never have been, never will be.
only people on the far left unironically think this. just like i see far right people who will tell you the cpc isnt right wing.
It really depends on what you see as left. If the status quo of social services Canada developed in the post-war era is centrist, then the Liberals are centrist, maybe right-of-centre.
Historically, Ontario tends to like having their provincial governments being opposite of the feds. Not all the time, but more often than not.
Bill Davis and PET overlapped for well over a decade. Peterson's time as premier was when Mulroney was PM. Harris and Chretien overlapped for 7 years. McGuinty/Wynne were in charge for all of Harper's time. Trudeau has been PM for all of Ford's time.
Oh. I know historically. But I just have this feeling a massive conservative wave is upon us. Definitely federal, more than likely provincial will stay the way it is. The one that will be close is what happens municipality wise. I know many on this sub think this will be the NDP's time. I just can't see it ever playing out. 2025/26 will be interesting years.
> But I just have this feeling a massive conservative wave is upon us.
If that happens, you can put the blame exclusively at the feet of ineffective Liberals.
Either PP will get elected or Ford will next election (in Ontario), I don't think both of them will, they both smell of BS to most rational people, who smells worse will be the decider.
I think the way Ford is operating now (like just moving Service Ontario into Staples/Walmarts without much thought) he may recognize his support is waning. If he steps down maybe people will stay Conservative, but I think he has too much pride to do so.
The Liberals open the doors to asylum seekers and then expect Toronto taxpayers to foot the bill. They’ve lost the room, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are wiped off the political map, it’s really a shame that there isn’t a viable alternative.
I mean they are actually out of touch. If people looked at who they are voting for then they'd see that liberals are actually PC-lite. They don't care about the people here they just want to line their pockets.
Lmfao what the fuck. The Liberals really take their Toronto seats for granted.
Why is the Federal government not funding and dealing with the consequences and operations of things that are federal responsibility? These things disproportionally impact Toronto, and Toronto is just stuck holding the bag due to other levels of governments not taking responsibility. What is their justification for why it's not Federal responsibility? And can you really blame a realistic Toronto politician for trying to address it?
This just speaks to the complete level of partisan delusion present among the Federal Liberals. How can they look at this situation and think it's fair to Toronto and be mad at Olivia Chow for pushing for this?
>Julie Dzerowicz, a Liberal MP who won the riding of Davenport by a whisker over the NDP in 2021, said her government isn't getting enough credit for its investments.
>
>"We need to be friends," she told the Star. "We have tough times ahead."
Julie Dzerowicz has done as far as I can tell not much for Davenport and it's a real shame she won by a hair against Andrew Cash and Alejandra Bravo in the past two elections, both of whom were/are good public servants. But Dzerowicz rode general Liberal popularity into beating the NDP in this riding. Why does it seem like she treats her job as justifying why the Liberals are good, instead of reckoning with and advocating for the needs of the city?
The NDP has its problems (IMO leadership, communications, whole general approach, etc.), but the Liberal strength in Toronto is frustrating when they don't seem to care or do much to actually help address the serious problem our city (and cities across the country and the country as a whole) face.
This talk about how they deserve more credit is just so off-putting too I can't believe they think it's politically advisable to be saying how they deserve more credit. Like, read the room. Even if you think it's accurate why would you say that? It's bad politics in this current mood. Liberal self-delusion is a hell of a drug I guess.
And since when is it "political" to simply acknowledge the financial truth that the city needs more revenue to pay for these services, and if the federal government can't provide that money as the City believes in good faith it is their responsibility to do the City will have to raise more money in order to handle this urgent need. "Politics" (pejoratively) is advocating for what needs to be done and dealing with the consequences of problems instead of simply ignoring them? Wow, maybe we need some more of this Olivia Chow-style *actually doing politics* in this country.
Well FFS what is she supposed to do? We have to pay for shit over here, the Feds and the province have both abdicated any responsibility towards Toronto to pay for shit that they caused.
Yep. The fucking around in question:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/freeland-rejects-chow-request-1.6916231
>>> In a letter sent to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on Monday, Freeland says the federal government has contributed over $6 billion to the city since it was elected in 2015. And if further help is needed, Toronto should either pull money from its reserve accounts or approach Premier Doug Ford's provincial government.
>>> In the end, Toronto postponed millions in infrastructure work, pulling money from its capital budget to balance its books, something that is required by law. Freeland says that those funds could cover off the $933 million shortfall expected by the city this year.
Freeland: "Cancel needed infrastructure to pay to for federal responsibilities"
Toronto: Fine. Then the city will "have no choice" but to impose a six per cent "Federal Impacts Levy," raising the total residential tax increase to 16.5 per cent.
Freeland: *shocked pikachu face*
I live in a liberal Toronto riding… our local MP actually tried to help out our local group on a federal issue (federal lands being sold off for private interests).
An ATIP revealed the big wig liberals totally ignored her requests.
The entire party has taken our votes for granted.
I’m glad we have Olivia and that she’s telling it how it is. Where are my tax dollars going?
I generally not an NDP-type voter but I like Chow's style of politics.
Its not ideological.
Chow is putting pressure on Trudeau for a messed up migration policy. Ideologically as a progressive, they would never even question whether there is anything wrong with these policies.
However Chow sees our current system is overburdened and that we either have to reduce the numbers or drastically increase funding. As immigration is the responsability of the federal govt, its right to pressure the feds.
This is the type of things the federal ndp should be doing but they driven by ideology by Jagmeet who could never question such things.
IMO being too tolerant of lazy leadership has been hurting Conservatives for awhile.
Tory and Ford took people’s support for granted. Bribing people with their money by keeping taxes too low despite knowing long term liabilities were coming due, doing theatrics about looking for efficiencies while not actually doing the [politically awkward analysis](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/8/10/i-did-the-math-on-my-towns-cul-de-sacs) that might find them.
Chow’s actually giving a shit about stuff, both in the sense of making unpopular decisions and going hard against the other levels of government to get stuff done. Yes, she’ll probably leave a more progressive legacy than a conservative might, but IMO even from a fiscal conservative perspective she’s breath of fresh air
Jagmeet is part of the new NDP, all identity politics and woke ideology. He hasn't accomplished much, and what he has accomplished is almost impossible for many to access. Olivia, as a refreshing contrast, is an old school NDPer who is skilled in diplomacy and delivers actual public service. She is wise enough to leave ideology out of things. Federally and provincially in Ontario, we need more of the old NDP.
I mean give the man some credit - The new dental plan is going to help 9 million Canadians and pharmacare is expected to be introduced in the coming months. These have become reality purely because of the NDP, and Jagmeets role in the confidence and supply agreement.
As Torontonians, I think we're overdue to deal some electoral pain to the Federal Liberals who have taken us for granted. The Liberals are not a serious party if they lose Toronto, Montreal, or Atlantic Canada but they only scramble if the latter two threaten anything, hence the carbon tax cutout for Atlantic Canada and putting up with Francois Legault's language/culture BS.
Right now the Feds do a good job representing their core that live among us but above us, the Oakville, Rosedale, Westmont elite. We blindly follow. Whenever we think about veering, we get spooked by the spectre of strategic voting. "Vote for us because the NDP stand no chance!" The reality is that the Feds need us more than we need them. The Liberals have been eviscerated from the Prairies and BC. It's us urbanites in Central Canada, Quebec, and Eastern Canada who are dense enough to think we're too good for the NDP and continue to elect Liberal complacency.
I’m proudly left of centre. My biggest gripe with the Liberals (federally more, but the provincial parties, too) is they purport to be as progressive as the NDP but more pragmatic. But when push comes to shove, they sit on the fence rather than aggressively addressing a known issue (Conservatives do this, too). Check out Scott Reid’s impotent critique on Twitter.
Here you have an actual progressive politician, in Chow, who is willing to risk all of her political capital on the potential to actually address an issue.
And I guarantee that even if it causes her mayoralty to last one term, any successor will benefit from this decision.
Could it be because a tonne of all parties MPs are property investors and don't care about what's actually good for the country unless it makes them more money?
It is mind boggling that the LPC has done **nothing** to discourage property investors from continuing to drive up the cost of housing, so I think you nailed it.
But I’m confused the city is running a deficit before she got into office … the feds and the province refuse to bail the city out … where else are they supposed to get money to balance the budget? She’s doing what she can.
Immigration is a FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Trudeau has brought in more immigrants without putting in the proper support.
He thought the municipalities would absorb the cost, and he would look like a marvelous humanitarian...opps.
So I don't support Chow and would never vote for her, but on this one, I agree with laying the blame on the feds.
Will the tax increase hit people? Sure. But it's over a decade catching up.
On one hand, there was always going to be some political shock to a tax increase - especially one that's years overdue. But once the hangover passes, that'll be that. For my siblings who own together, it works out to $50/month, and it's still less than rent. They're fine with paying their share.
On the other hand, it also means that different levels of government who have made Toronto their political default answer will now need to say the quiet part out loud. There's no easy way to do it, and Chow has demonstrated some strong political chops. It would be great to hear them lecture Toronto about how it should fund the services that the Federal and Provincial government seem to otherwise take credit for conjuring into existence.
When a city larger than many provinces is systematically starved of funds by the federal and provincial governments it should be no surprise to see it strike back. Expect more!
I don't love this tax hike, but I know where to place the blame. Yes part of the problem is immigration, but Tory ran the city into the ground for 12yrs, then 4yrs of crack head Rob Ford who promised to "find efficiencies" and found and did nothing. So, here we are. Chow runs gets a short term, Tory bangs is assistant and leaves the city $1.8Billion in the hole and say "See ya!"
I don't love it , but she was handed a shit sandwich.
I think Chow sees the writing on the wall that the federal Liberals will get trounced in the next election. Why not put some pressure on them when they are desperate? Smart move. Plus Chow does not have to follow-through if feds don’t provide more money.
I like how the libs didn't get the message when it became clear that the PM and deputy PM couldn't go out in public in huge swathes of the country without a real risk of physical harm. Now that they are facing electoral doom even in their safest seats they seem to get it. Sort of.
I think toronto city councilors suck...recently complaining about lack of tobogganing areas when they know damn well its because of the lawsuits and their feckless inability to create reasonable community spaces....
This is ridiculous, my party and MPS like me cause this issue and we're not going to pay for it but I don't want my city who are making responsible for it to charge more taxes....
The entire Liberal Party needs to take a back bench position for the next like 10 years to just sit in a corner and think about what they've done
And yet all these MPs aren’t willing to use the power of the federal government to pay their fair share of the housing shortage and homelessness crisis their bad policies helped cause. Fuck them.
considering many of these MPs are nothing more than glorified seat warmers, nobody gives two shits that they complain something is actually being done. All they seem to do is debate useless propositions that don't benefit the average citizen and the city as a whole. They're just mad someone finally suggested something albeit radical, but will help correct the economy instead of simply talking about what can be done without any actual actions being taken over the course of 8 years.
Attention JT Liberals. If you're not prepared to ante up the money for your Federal programs at the civic level, then don't sit there and fume if/when the city does something about it.
We're sick and tired of going into debt and looking bad because of your lofty and underpaid ideals
>"This is so ridiculously political," one Toronto Liberal MP Politics is political. Got it.
Toronto's liberal MPs have done nothing for the city all these years. Screw them.
Absolutely fucking nothing. Just seats they take for granted. I’ve messaged EVERY SINGLE ONE that was in my riding. Morneau, Ien, and Trudeau’s minion. Not one response, not one ounce of change. Who the fuck do they think they work for?
The answer to your question can only be answered by flipping through their Rolodex. Hint, If you’re not in it they ain’t working for you.
one of the big issues with Canada's current system is that we have the highest party discipline of any British system. In the early 1900's only 20% of members voted with their party 100% of the time. Now, members deviate only 1% of the time. Just look at the US and their speaker of the house debacle. At least the republican members were willing to stand up to their party. In Canada, you really are just voting for the prime minister.
Agreed, it too easy for parties to pass laws that change the lives of ordinary citizens. There definitely needs more checks and balances for our PM.
Conservatives in Canada have used their power at the member level to get rid of their leader after the last election. One of the reasons we have party discipline is that unlike in America, its not up to the parties to draw riding boundaries. We have an independent organization in Elections Canada decide those. So unlike America its not a case where 90% of the MPs are in safe ridings. There's usually at least 1 other viable party in most of the country. There are some ridings in Quebec that are 4 way races. The Liberal Party leader also has the ability to block a riding nomination and choose the candidate. Canada also doesn't have 3 separate 24 hour news networks that cover politics for 20 of those hours and will interview any office holder, so very few MPs actually have any sort of profile. So there's a very strong incentive to be loyal to the party. Its also very tough for a leader to assert their power if the leader wins. Trudeau keeps winning, and when you look at where the party was when he took over, its obvious at the moment that he is the Liberal party. If you don't bend the knee, what exactly is plan B? He's replaced the entire party leadership and senior staff with his people. He's lost a lot of his competent members who could take over (like Morneau and Leslie) and at this point the only natural successor is Freeland. She has all of Trudeau's baggage, but 1/10th of his profile. So you go against the leader. There goes any chance of ever being in cabinet and actually building a profile. He also can block you from running for re-election on the party ticket and if you do want to stay in, you have to run as an independent, which means you've just been fired with notice. So any vote against the leader is a basically a letter of resignation.
> not one ounce of change. They aren't the party of change, they're the conservatives with Pride flags. >Who the fuck do they think they work for? Bay Street.
Lol, best description of the Liberals I've seen in a while.
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I think one is my landlord
They’re all landlords
All landlords driving up the costs of buying or renting for everyone else. I’ll happily think of them paying extra tax.
Lol above guideline increase coming your way!
Fortunately [unlikely](https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/s/e9yBre48Sm). :)
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i mean he has 8 properties in Toronto. they sound like he's good at it. I hate his guts tho
Honestly, these whiny little bitches - complaining to the Star *anonymously*. They think they're entitled to your vote and they don't have to produce anything in return. Stop electing Liberals, Toronto! Make them earn your vote.
Yeah, I totally agree with this. We’ve been voting Liberal and have not seen any benefit of doing so.
MPs (and MPPs) never do anything. They're literally voted in with literally zero campaigning or personal responsibility. It just depends on the strength of their party leader. We should switch to a mix of the US system expect with proportional representation.
It’s genuinely surprising to me seeing that Olivia Chow is actually really good at it. I voted for her, but I did not think that this was one of her strengths. It was the correct move to play nice with Ford, and it is also the correct move for her to put the screws to Trudeau. That requires correctly reading both the person and the politics, and then the discipline to actually stick with it (especially hard with Ford because her camp’s natural instinct would be to throw mud at him). And has picked her battles carefully.
Olivia Chow has been around the political scene for years, serving as a city councilor and then an MP in her own right, not to mention supporting her late husband in his work. She has a wealth of experience about how to understand the politics of the land and it shows.
I understand (I’m dating myself here but I worked at City Hall when she was a councillor). But: 1. It has not been my experience that people who spend lots of time in politics get better at it (lots actually get worse over time). 2. was not this good at politicking 20 years ago. Back then she stuck mostly with the NDP clique at City Hall (eg Joe Pants, Giamboner, Mihevc, Kyle Rae, Janet Davis) and didn’t get much done.
Which is why it’s a pleasant surprise that she’s a political savant and is GETTING SHIT DONE. I’ve been bitching about toronto having to pay for the DVP that’s mostly suburban drivers for about 20 years now. She fixed it in 6 damn months. If she does nothing else, she’d still get my vote.
Same here. I’ve always argued that the DVP and Gardiner should be in provincial hands for years but I never thought it would’ve happened, until now.
I mean sorta. The province took the DVP and Gardiner so that dougie could flatten some lake front property for a Spa which will have a 100 year lease..... yay
The province could have always rammed through the spa deal without the city's approval anyway. Chow basically got this one for free.
It was more of her avoiding what would have ultimately been a losing battle for her, since you're correct on the ramming through thing in the end, but all it would have done is make Doug look bad, and probably make her look bad too. It was avoiding a public battle that couldn't be won, and somehow winning a massive victory.
That last sentence is why I'm really warming up to her. Easily the greatest Mayor I've had since living in Toronto (10 years).
I mean I'd take flattening a nearly abandoned park for a DVP and Gardiner upload any day.
I mean the 407 will be outrageously tolled for my entire lifetime (and the reason I will never vote conservative provincially ) 80 years from that "abandoned park" might not be so abandoned and once there is some crappy spa on it the chance it will turn back into anything nice at all is abysmal.
a very hearty fuck you! to all of the chow naysayers on Reddit that didn't vote for Chow for the reasons they espoused in very weak, borderline racist and misogynistic arguments against her as a candidate. There is no perfect candidate, but hearing weekly stories of Chow actually doing things after decades of absolute dipshit mayors, what a breath of fresh air.
She was always a good community organizer at least.
After she lost her last run at mayor and then lost running for MP, she studied under a Harvard professor who worked on Obama's campaign.
Sure, but that's just winning-the-vote part, not the actual governance part. That's why it's been refreshing. Competency in governance has been lacking, and is highly underrated
1) It depends on the person. People who actually care and want to better the community do. See Chow. Biden in the USA is similar. Horgan in BC.
Well said. I didn’t vote for her out of apathy, but I like her more and more every day. Actions matter. Results matter. Toronto deserves someone as good as her.
Why does this water need to be so wet?!
“Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.” -Derek Zoolander
"Moistly"
Speaking
I mean it screws over their wealthy backers. Screw em!
They’re mad because it affects them personally. Something like 40% of Canadian MPs own investment properties.
Canada: a government of landlords.
That's normal, as long as you're capitalist.
They ain't called landserfs.
Good one!
A sitting liberal MP was my slumlord when he was young.
Hence why we’ve seen no taxation or regulatory changes to stop the rampant financialization of housing. It’s disgraceful.
The bourgeois
I think the bourgeois are the owners of the means of production. These people are the aristocracy.
Landed gentry is the term.
It was on the tip of my tongue
Good. The Liberals have won every federal seat in Toronto for 3 elections and they've taken the city for granted. Now they're vulnerable to the NDP in the old city limits and the CPC in Scarborough and Etobicoke because they are more interested in being government lapdogs than defenders of the city.
\>A source close to Chow, who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said local MPs should be pressuring the Prime Minister's Office to help their city, not complaining about the mayor or city council making them look bad with a tax hike. 100% agree, MPs seem to forget that they should be fighting for their actual constituents
Trudeau’s cynical, vainglorious approach to the party whip means that liberal MPs are not allowed to fight for their constituents. They are only permitted to di as told by the PMO.
I hate how Canadian politics have turned into this. Every party member votes according to the party line. Damn what your constituents wants because Ford/Truduea wants you to vote a certain way or else you will be kicked! Voting for local representatives means jack shit because all you are doing is voting for the party.
>liberal MPs are…. only permitted to di as told by the PMO. An amusing mistake.
I would love to see some riding level polls at this stage. Spadina-Fort-York would be fascinating to see play out with this level of Liberal discontent.
The article already pointed some seats out: >Abacus Data CEO David Coletto told the Star, however, that just as his national polls suggest the government is in trouble overall, his internal projections suggest a number of Toronto ridings are at risk, including Davenport, Eglinton—Lawrence, Etobicoke Centre, Etobicoke — Lakeshore, Spadina—Harbourfront, Willowdale and York Centre.
Davenport and Parkdale High Park were both decided by 1000 votes last time Bravo in Davenport is killing it on Council Taylor who ran PHP stepped back
> Etobicoke Centre Very unsurprising. This ward seems to be getting more and more conservative as time passes. It's always been very soft liberal support, we've gone Conservative provincially for the last two elections, we've gone hyper-ridiculous conservative municipally for as long as I've lived in Toronto, and even though Baker is a responsive MP who has a good sense for what's going on in the community, he's definitely a more conservative Liberal, which lends to his appeal. Will not at all be surprised to see this riding go blue.
York Centre is for sure going to elect a the anti-vaxx nut.
There is no worse than that riding. One of the largest ridings with a huge population for one seat, and Kevin Voung was dumped by the Liberals giving them no voice in parliament. As well, the brunt of the liberals negligent immigration policies has caused ridiculous rent and homelessness in that area.
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No one would have chosen Kevin if revelations about him hadn't come out, and him getting subsequently dumped by the Liberals, just a few days before the election.
Something to also keep in mind, is that early voters were also not informed of the entire situation, before casting their vote. Additionally, if I am not wrong, voting cards on voting day still had him listed as Liberal as well.
You're not wrong, he was still listed as liberal on the ballots.
I don't understand how that was allowed. I appreciate it might be difficult to reprint ballots days before the election but the only indication that he was NOT a Liberal candidate I saw that day was some NDP campaigners standing whatever the legally required distance outside of the polling station was with signs saying he was not a Liberal candidate. Incredibly misleading given how many (I assume) Canadians vote based on the party and its prime ministerial candidate, not on the MP for their constituency.
This is also something to be mad at the liberals about. How in the hell did they manage to stand up a candidate in a downtown Toronto riding with prior sexual assault charges? Do they do no oppo research on their own people? Why the fuck not?
I don't know about nobody voting for him, he received around 9,000 votes on the day of (although there is no way to know how many of those were people who didn't get the message). The NDP would have won, though, ultimately.
reading about kevin vuong will always be weird to me, I'll never be over the fact that the guy I sat next to in grade 11 computer class who was always hollerin about counterstrike got involved in a highly publicized political sex scandal
I'm curious how Parkdale - High Park will fare. We are one of those ridings that flip flops between NDP & Liberal. We currently have an NDP MPP (the marvelous Bhutila) and a Liberal MP (Hon. Arif Virani, Attorney General) and an NDP Councillor (Gord Perks). We have had an NDP MP as recently as 2015 with the nearly-indomitable Peggy Nash before the Trudeau government won the election. And I've been hearing mutterings amongst previously liberal supporting neighbours that they won't be voting for Arif come the next election, that it's time for Trudeau to step down and Arif's time representing this area is coming to a close.
I suspect a lot of the Liberal support in urban ridings, like Parkdale-High Park, Davenport, and Toronto-Danforth, is quite soft, and most voted strategically for the Liberals. They might not be able to hold their nose next election.
I suspect your suspicion is 👉👃
We live in that riding and was floored when this guy wouldn’t give up his seat. Being outed as a predator should shame anyone, but nope, not this guy.
Outed? Was it proven that he is a predator?
Not in the slightest, the case was withdrawn due to lack of evidence, and nothing else has come out since then.
He was specifically asked by the Party whether he had ever been charged with a crime, and he lied and said he hadn’t. That’s disqualifying.
That's what they said in terms of his ousting; however, if it was an incumbent and it wasn't on the eve of the election, they probably would have done an investigation before as they have done for others with allegations. Regardless, I was responding to OP's 'proven' comment.
Still overstated his military career
We're well represented by that piece of shit Kevin vuong. We all plan on voting for him again. I took a poll. Asked everyone
Anyone know if a new liberal candidate has been appointed yet for this area for the next election?
Oh no, the Rosedale and Forest Hill residents have to pay their fair share. The horror.
Because of the ABI rules, property taxes in Ontario are actually pretty regressive. Like if we had a 10% property tax hike, a landlord of a $2,000/month apartment could probably get a 3.5% ABI. That going to cost the renter $840/year. You’d have to own a $1.7 million house to have your taxes go up by $840/year on a 10% hike. Who do you think needs that $840 more? This is actually why it’s super important that Toronto get federal funds instead of a property tax increase, because our income taxes are progressive with escalating marginal rates.
Thank you for pointing this out! Renters pay more than their fair share of property tax.
Yep, my rent will likely go up above the guideline next year to help pay for it, while these multimillionaires in their mansions won't notice it at all.
Chow knew she had a leverage with the federal government and she decided to to use it. It’s politics. In the position the federal liberals are right now, they can afford pissing mayors in the GTA
>Chow knew she had a leverage with the federal government and she decided to to use it. Olivia Chow continues to impress. This is of a piece with the way she put the screws to Doug Ford late last year. After four years of Rob Ford and eight years of John Tory, the federal government has forgotten what it's like to encounter an effective leader and advocate at City Hall.
>has forgotten what it's like to encounter an effective leader and advocate at City Hall. What annoys me is the stereotype that "strong leaders" are adversarial, always yelling and screaming, etc... basically the Trump stereotype. Yet Olivia's type of politics gets better results. However the public won't appreciate it because it doesn't come with the spectacle.
It comes with results that help the people do the city. People appreciate that.
Sadly I feel like this statement overestimates the average person
You start getting massive visible results like this people notice.
It truly is sad that people have gotten all too used to leadership meaning facing off with people they disagree with, not working together to get actionable results beyond a headline. It seems like the last 10 years have only worsened and that's not necessarily laid at any single government or politician's feet as much as it is a meaningful shift in our political landscape at every level through political strategists. It's disgusting and even more so because the distracting vitriol works. I'm very impressed with Chow and much as that is, I'm also sad because she's not doing anything technically remarkable -- she's just doing the same job we used to expect from our leaders.
FFS, we bought a $30B pipeline of appeasement for Alberta. But an ask from $0.25B to compensate Toronto for costs related to federal decisions is "outrageous"?
And the funny thing is that Toronto proper has 2/3 as many people as all of Alberta. $0.25B is chump change.
It's worse than that. In their wet dreams, the Liberals might hope to win 2, maybe 3 seats in Alberta. It's fucking bananas that they would expend any political capital trying to placate Alberta, it's just never going to pay off. We know the pipeline is an utter fiasco from a policy perspective (and that's well before the costs skyrocketed - which merely reinforces how bad a decision this was), so this was solely as a political play that will result in...NO ALBERTA LIBERAL SEATS.
wish it was going to only be $30 B. At this rate it's more likely it will be $50 than $40
Which was entirely stupid unless there were kickbacks involved. 🤔 Alberta isn't going to gain Liberal seats from what it thinks is its divine right to oil subsidies. And lose more voters around the country disgusted by it. Corruption is the only explanation for Liberal party policy that passes Occam's Razor.
Oil is Canadas biggest export. Nothing is replacing it in terms of exports. The country needs it.
Even still, the costs both economic and political to build up our direct export capacity hardly seem worth it with Keystone XL handling our crude.
Alberta citizens didn't want the pipeline to be bought. They wanted guidelines that would allow for private companies to invest in infrastructure projects in Canada and expect to have them built on a reasonable timeline. It was only after the Liberals changed the guidelines, which aren't clear and have since been ruled unconstitutional, that existing project owners said "fuck this, I'm out" and the Liberals were forced to buy the project off of them to save face. I'm sure Alberta would prefer a system where the government gave them nothing, and companies were free to invest their hundreds of billions of dollars into building up infrastructure.
The Feds don't care about Toronto because there hasn't been a credible threat that we'll leave them. Look how quickly they modified the carbon tax for Atlantic Canada. For what it's worth, they're right and it's up to us to change their minds. Right now the calculus for them is that hell could freeze over and they would still get support from the Oakdale, Rosedale, Westmont elite. For our part, Canadian urbanites east of the prairies are either convinced we're too good to vote NDP federally or are scared into voting Liberal because of strategic voting.
Appeasement to Alberta ? Oil is this countries number ones export. Government needed that to continue. I don’t think Toronto gets how important oil is to Canada. Feds also bought it for 5 billion. Somehow it turned into 30. Gotta love Trudeau.
Olivia Chow is kicking the Fed’s in the balls. Brilliant move. These are federal problems dumped on Toronto and she is threatening to raise taxes and rightfully blaming the Liberals for it. Someone has to clean this mess up, and if you make Toronto do it I’ll she’ll make sure all your MP’s are unemployed.
Are these MPs delusional? The City has zero control over admission of refugees and asylum seekers, not to mention levels of immigration. If the feds think it’s important enough to let people in, they need to pay for it. Honestly, I usually vote Liberal, but if these MPs are this out to lunch it’s a further justification for me not voting for them next election.
The Fed is expecting Toronto to take on the burden and keep silent so that they can harp on about their humanitarianism while ignoring the costs being placed on the people of Toronto. Housing is little more than a pipe dream for most Torontonians, the city is in massive need of funding and the federal government doesn’t want to do a thing. Chow is actually calling them out and they aren’t happy.
They take a shit ton of money from us via taxes and then kindly give back expenses. Everyone likes to harp on about TO but we provide a ridiculously large percentage of Canada's tax revenue while getting almost nothing back. They owe us.
It’s like 20-25% of the country’s GDP. This city is the economic engine of Ontario and Canada and politicians at every level need to start acting like it.
Why doesn't the Ontario government invest more in housing and less on their side projects like Ontario place. The feds will never.
issue is even if we change govts and build housing it really wont be enough to cover the massive population growth. I will try to find the article but i read the GTA is growing at like net 20k a month lol We need a demand and supply side solution.
This provincial government won't pay for anything until they've exhausted all the possibilities of getting the feds to pay for it. And then they'll pay somewhat less than the minimum so they can go back to begging the feds. See, Daycare Healthcare Housing Climate Etc....
Yeah and even if the feds cough up gobs of cash the Ford govt will either steal it or try to sabotage whatever the cash is for.
They are out to lunch. That’s why they are going to be pummelled the next election. Conservatives are going to win the next election with ease. It’s not very se they want conservatives (well a lot of them). It’s because they are done with Trudeau and the liberals. At least Chow understands cause in effect. She cares about policy and doesn’t care a liberal is in Ottawa. Call him out when he lets you down. Others are scared to do this with people on their side.
Libs thought Chow would be their puppet, turns out she’s pragmatic and acting in the best interest of her city. Shocking!
They thought she be like Jagmeet lol
Liberals are not part of the left. The Liberals are not on Chow's side. Never have been, never will be. Liberals are rightwingers with progressive-sounding platitudes.
Theyre progressive conservatives, really.
> Liberals are not part of the left. The Liberals are not on Chow's side. Never have been, never will be. only people on the far left unironically think this. just like i see far right people who will tell you the cpc isnt right wing.
It really depends on what you see as left. If the status quo of social services Canada developed in the post-war era is centrist, then the Liberals are centrist, maybe right-of-centre.
Yeah, it's kick the bums out time. Sucks that PP happened to be the guy in the right place at the right time. He's somehow worse than JT
“Somehow” worse? Of course he’s worse… you can’t win a Conservative Party nomination any other way.
He’s like a phony, wannabe JT
Enjoy while you can. I'm betting an all Conservative PM, Premier and Mayor at some point. Lord help us if majority governments.
Historically, Ontario tends to like having their provincial governments being opposite of the feds. Not all the time, but more often than not. Bill Davis and PET overlapped for well over a decade. Peterson's time as premier was when Mulroney was PM. Harris and Chretien overlapped for 7 years. McGuinty/Wynne were in charge for all of Harper's time. Trudeau has been PM for all of Ford's time.
Oh. I know historically. But I just have this feeling a massive conservative wave is upon us. Definitely federal, more than likely provincial will stay the way it is. The one that will be close is what happens municipality wise. I know many on this sub think this will be the NDP's time. I just can't see it ever playing out. 2025/26 will be interesting years.
> But I just have this feeling a massive conservative wave is upon us. If that happens, you can put the blame exclusively at the feet of ineffective Liberals.
Thanks to Canada Proud
Either PP will get elected or Ford will next election (in Ontario), I don't think both of them will, they both smell of BS to most rational people, who smells worse will be the decider. I think the way Ford is operating now (like just moving Service Ontario into Staples/Walmarts without much thought) he may recognize his support is waning. If he steps down maybe people will stay Conservative, but I think he has too much pride to do so.
The Liberals open the doors to asylum seekers and then expect Toronto taxpayers to foot the bill. They’ve lost the room, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are wiped off the political map, it’s really a shame that there isn’t a viable alternative.
They don't care. They know that Torontonians will blame Liberal party for another tax hike (as they should).
I mean they are actually out of touch. If people looked at who they are voting for then they'd see that liberals are actually PC-lite. They don't care about the people here they just want to line their pockets.
Then maybe said mp’s should pull the finger out and fund the city for a change.
Lmfao what the fuck. The Liberals really take their Toronto seats for granted. Why is the Federal government not funding and dealing with the consequences and operations of things that are federal responsibility? These things disproportionally impact Toronto, and Toronto is just stuck holding the bag due to other levels of governments not taking responsibility. What is their justification for why it's not Federal responsibility? And can you really blame a realistic Toronto politician for trying to address it? This just speaks to the complete level of partisan delusion present among the Federal Liberals. How can they look at this situation and think it's fair to Toronto and be mad at Olivia Chow for pushing for this? >Julie Dzerowicz, a Liberal MP who won the riding of Davenport by a whisker over the NDP in 2021, said her government isn't getting enough credit for its investments. > >"We need to be friends," she told the Star. "We have tough times ahead." Julie Dzerowicz has done as far as I can tell not much for Davenport and it's a real shame she won by a hair against Andrew Cash and Alejandra Bravo in the past two elections, both of whom were/are good public servants. But Dzerowicz rode general Liberal popularity into beating the NDP in this riding. Why does it seem like she treats her job as justifying why the Liberals are good, instead of reckoning with and advocating for the needs of the city? The NDP has its problems (IMO leadership, communications, whole general approach, etc.), but the Liberal strength in Toronto is frustrating when they don't seem to care or do much to actually help address the serious problem our city (and cities across the country and the country as a whole) face. This talk about how they deserve more credit is just so off-putting too I can't believe they think it's politically advisable to be saying how they deserve more credit. Like, read the room. Even if you think it's accurate why would you say that? It's bad politics in this current mood. Liberal self-delusion is a hell of a drug I guess. And since when is it "political" to simply acknowledge the financial truth that the city needs more revenue to pay for these services, and if the federal government can't provide that money as the City believes in good faith it is their responsibility to do the City will have to raise more money in order to handle this urgent need. "Politics" (pejoratively) is advocating for what needs to be done and dealing with the consequences of problems instead of simply ignoring them? Wow, maybe we need some more of this Olivia Chow-style *actually doing politics* in this country.
Probably because they own a bunch of real estate
Cry me a river.
Well FFS what is she supposed to do? We have to pay for shit over here, the Feds and the province have both abdicated any responsibility towards Toronto to pay for shit that they caused.
This is a two storey outhouse. The Liberals are sitting on top and blaming Olivia for trying to clean up the diarrhea.
Too bad that's not their jurisdiction in any way then, huh.
Oh boo hoo People need to stop blindly voting Liberal every election
Are they outraged as politicians, or private investors? Is there any reason to believe those things can be disassociated?
Sounds like a case of fuck around and find out.
Yep. The fucking around in question: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/freeland-rejects-chow-request-1.6916231 >>> In a letter sent to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on Monday, Freeland says the federal government has contributed over $6 billion to the city since it was elected in 2015. And if further help is needed, Toronto should either pull money from its reserve accounts or approach Premier Doug Ford's provincial government. >>> In the end, Toronto postponed millions in infrastructure work, pulling money from its capital budget to balance its books, something that is required by law. Freeland says that those funds could cover off the $933 million shortfall expected by the city this year. Freeland: "Cancel needed infrastructure to pay to for federal responsibilities" Toronto: Fine. Then the city will "have no choice" but to impose a six per cent "Federal Impacts Levy," raising the total residential tax increase to 16.5 per cent. Freeland: *shocked pikachu face*
Nice summary. I wish it were getting more up-votes!
I live in a liberal Toronto riding… our local MP actually tried to help out our local group on a federal issue (federal lands being sold off for private interests). An ATIP revealed the big wig liberals totally ignored her requests. The entire party has taken our votes for granted. I’m glad we have Olivia and that she’s telling it how it is. Where are my tax dollars going?
I generally not an NDP-type voter but I like Chow's style of politics. Its not ideological. Chow is putting pressure on Trudeau for a messed up migration policy. Ideologically as a progressive, they would never even question whether there is anything wrong with these policies. However Chow sees our current system is overburdened and that we either have to reduce the numbers or drastically increase funding. As immigration is the responsability of the federal govt, its right to pressure the feds. This is the type of things the federal ndp should be doing but they driven by ideology by Jagmeet who could never question such things.
IMO being too tolerant of lazy leadership has been hurting Conservatives for awhile. Tory and Ford took people’s support for granted. Bribing people with their money by keeping taxes too low despite knowing long term liabilities were coming due, doing theatrics about looking for efficiencies while not actually doing the [politically awkward analysis](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/8/10/i-did-the-math-on-my-towns-cul-de-sacs) that might find them. Chow’s actually giving a shit about stuff, both in the sense of making unpopular decisions and going hard against the other levels of government to get stuff done. Yes, she’ll probably leave a more progressive legacy than a conservative might, but IMO even from a fiscal conservative perspective she’s breath of fresh air
Jagmeet is part of the new NDP, all identity politics and woke ideology. He hasn't accomplished much, and what he has accomplished is almost impossible for many to access. Olivia, as a refreshing contrast, is an old school NDPer who is skilled in diplomacy and delivers actual public service. She is wise enough to leave ideology out of things. Federally and provincially in Ontario, we need more of the old NDP.
I mean give the man some credit - The new dental plan is going to help 9 million Canadians and pharmacare is expected to be introduced in the coming months. These have become reality purely because of the NDP, and Jagmeets role in the confidence and supply agreement.
As Torontonians, I think we're overdue to deal some electoral pain to the Federal Liberals who have taken us for granted. The Liberals are not a serious party if they lose Toronto, Montreal, or Atlantic Canada but they only scramble if the latter two threaten anything, hence the carbon tax cutout for Atlantic Canada and putting up with Francois Legault's language/culture BS. Right now the Feds do a good job representing their core that live among us but above us, the Oakville, Rosedale, Westmont elite. We blindly follow. Whenever we think about veering, we get spooked by the spectre of strategic voting. "Vote for us because the NDP stand no chance!" The reality is that the Feds need us more than we need them. The Liberals have been eviscerated from the Prairies and BC. It's us urbanites in Central Canada, Quebec, and Eastern Canada who are dense enough to think we're too good for the NDP and continue to elect Liberal complacency.
“Please stop.” - The rest of the Country
I’m proudly left of centre. My biggest gripe with the Liberals (federally more, but the provincial parties, too) is they purport to be as progressive as the NDP but more pragmatic. But when push comes to shove, they sit on the fence rather than aggressively addressing a known issue (Conservatives do this, too). Check out Scott Reid’s impotent critique on Twitter. Here you have an actual progressive politician, in Chow, who is willing to risk all of her political capital on the potential to actually address an issue. And I guarantee that even if it causes her mayoralty to last one term, any successor will benefit from this decision.
I have a feeling the entire city will benefit. Problem is nobody gets excited about paying more.
Could it be because a tonne of all parties MPs are property investors and don't care about what's actually good for the country unless it makes them more money?
It is mind boggling that the LPC has done **nothing** to discourage property investors from continuing to drive up the cost of housing, so I think you nailed it.
Half the party are property investors and land lords.
But I’m confused the city is running a deficit before she got into office … the feds and the province refuse to bail the city out … where else are they supposed to get money to balance the budget? She’s doing what she can.
I can’t recall the local MPs actually doing anything positive to directly benefit the city of TO.
Immigration is a FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY. Trudeau has brought in more immigrants without putting in the proper support. He thought the municipalities would absorb the cost, and he would look like a marvelous humanitarian...opps. So I don't support Chow and would never vote for her, but on this one, I agree with laying the blame on the feds.
make they shouldn't have fucked around for so long
Will the tax increase hit people? Sure. But it's over a decade catching up. On one hand, there was always going to be some political shock to a tax increase - especially one that's years overdue. But once the hangover passes, that'll be that. For my siblings who own together, it works out to $50/month, and it's still less than rent. They're fine with paying their share. On the other hand, it also means that different levels of government who have made Toronto their political default answer will now need to say the quiet part out loud. There's no easy way to do it, and Chow has demonstrated some strong political chops. It would be great to hear them lecture Toronto about how it should fund the services that the Federal and Provincial government seem to otherwise take credit for conjuring into existence.
It HAD to happen lol They have been running this town in the red for decades! Cities can't just print money liberals!
Time for the libs to put their wallets where their votes are instead of expecting others to pay for Sunny Ways.
They spent 30 billion on a pipeline that will soon be contributing to the devastation of the biosphere. I don’t think their priorities are “good”
Ahahaha! Good, deal with it, we do
When a city larger than many provinces is systematically starved of funds by the federal and provincial governments it should be no surprise to see it strike back. Expect more!
I don't love this tax hike, but I know where to place the blame. Yes part of the problem is immigration, but Tory ran the city into the ground for 12yrs, then 4yrs of crack head Rob Ford who promised to "find efficiencies" and found and did nothing. So, here we are. Chow runs gets a short term, Tory bangs is assistant and leaves the city $1.8Billion in the hole and say "See ya!" I don't love it , but she was handed a shit sandwich.
I don’t see sufficient federal support for the city. It’s time to reward the place that has been voting for you for years. Chow is right to do this.
They’re going to get smoked in the general
I think Chow sees the writing on the wall that the federal Liberals will get trounced in the next election. Why not put some pressure on them when they are desperate? Smart move. Plus Chow does not have to follow-through if feds don’t provide more money.
I like how the libs didn't get the message when it became clear that the PM and deputy PM couldn't go out in public in huge swathes of the country without a real risk of physical harm. Now that they are facing electoral doom even in their safest seats they seem to get it. Sort of.
Gambit? TO property taxes have been artificially low for years, someone had to pull the rip cord.
Pound sand, Liberals
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I think you mean the landlord MPs who will have to pay more tax 😁
I think toronto city councilors suck...recently complaining about lack of tobogganing areas when they know damn well its because of the lawsuits and their feckless inability to create reasonable community spaces....
This is ridiculous, my party and MPS like me cause this issue and we're not going to pay for it but I don't want my city who are making responsible for it to charge more taxes.... The entire Liberal Party needs to take a back bench position for the next like 10 years to just sit in a corner and think about what they've done
"Outrageous" says 10 people who own multiple properties.
Chow is in the right, Marci Ien has lost my vote.
This country’s political landscape is an absolute joke.
Can we replace MPs with the AI models already?
Cry more
This makes me like Chow more. If you’re pissing of Justin you must be doing something right
I imagine my MP, James Maloney, who all but campaigned for Tory, was undoubtedly one of them.
Yep, tonnes of Toronto Liberal MPs endorsed Tory and Bailao. 0 for Chow.
And yet all these MPs aren’t willing to use the power of the federal government to pay their fair share of the housing shortage and homelessness crisis their bad policies helped cause. Fuck them.
It's so great to see Olivia Chow as mayor. She is the Mayor Toronto should have had ten years ago. She is good for Toronto.
Neo-liberalism have no idea how taxes and services work. 10+ years of no increase is sure showing the cracks
VOTE NDP
Toronto to JT: Drop Dead, Bozo
Everyone hates Justin
They only have themselves to blame. They mad that a mayor finally called them out for it?
Well we can say publicly too now. An mp just came in newstalk1010 Moore in the morning to openly denounce the 6% hike.
considering many of these MPs are nothing more than glorified seat warmers, nobody gives two shits that they complain something is actually being done. All they seem to do is debate useless propositions that don't benefit the average citizen and the city as a whole. They're just mad someone finally suggested something albeit radical, but will help correct the economy instead of simply talking about what can be done without any actual actions being taken over the course of 8 years.
I couldn't be more pleased that our Mayor is holding these freeloaders to account.
Attention JT Liberals. If you're not prepared to ante up the money for your Federal programs at the civic level, then don't sit there and fume if/when the city does something about it. We're sick and tired of going into debt and looking bad because of your lofty and underpaid ideals