Is Toronto The Centre Of The Universe?.....Certainly Not The Celestial Universe.

 a new comment on your post "Toronto Is The Tail That Wags The Dog":

Evelyn,

For those that have not lived in the GTA, it's hard to imagine that there is anything "out there" beyond the "Green Belt" that Bill Davis imagined way back when.

Toronto and GTA residents may think that they are in the center of the universe, but the reality is - that's not true. In fact Toronto is the scourge of most Ontarians.

Growing up in small town Ontario in the '60s and '70s, a trip to Toronto was a wonderful excursion. Back then the school library got the Globe and Mail and it was a newspaper from the far away place of Toronto. While it was on;y a 2 1/2 hour drive away, it was not our center of universe.

This opinion, while diminished over the years, still holds true outside of the 100 mile radius of downtown Toronto. Mayor Ford is no different to any other Ontario Mayor to them. His perceived power stops when you cross out of 905 and into 519.


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I write a post I think might not  be of much interest but I feel the need to write it

It gets comments.

To my delight.

A hundred  miles from Toronto is north of Barrie. Outside  the GTA. Some  politicians and municipal staff within the GTA are still  very conscious of the impact of Toronto's influence on Provincial decisions.

 the identity of the Mayor is not the key factor. It's the electorate. The number of ridings up for bids. And I do mean bids.

Forty years ago, when the rest of Ontario was pressured into adopting market value assessment, Toronto did not. It's the reason  why a house assessed to-day at half a million dollars pays half the property tax of a house assessed at half that much in the GTA.

It's the reason the Regions surrounding the newly amalgamated city were required to pay  the entire cots of  the city's social services. York Region forked over seventy-five million dollars annually for the purpose.

It has been gradually decreased, But this year , we are still sending $13 million.

It's the reason we had four year terms of office imposed upon us throughout the  rest of the Province.
An election costs too much in Toronto to have it more often than a Provincial election.

Toronto's  corrupt  computer scandal  was the reason for  legislation  permitting municipalities to adopt A Code of Conduct complete with  imaginative creative wording  contravening   the Canadian Charter of  Rights and Freedoms.

Yes Indeeedy.   Toronto withdrew  from membership of the Ontario Municipal Association during the single term  of David Miller because their will was not obeyed. They still get benefits but they pay no dues and the OMA is emasculated by their absence. 

Then of course, we have  silence from Regional Councils where  reports of such  enormity are produced, regional councillors have local staff read them  and advise what they have don't have to worry  about.and ghost write reports on their behalf to the local council.

Still, we have our local  council. A pale shadow of its former self but better than all the rest. Because we can still communicate with the people who elected us. Who knows if we can hang on long enough a generation might return  who understand the value , the principles and the ethics of government for the people, by the people.