Now that we've finished venting about councillors' refusal to cut their salaries, their perks and all the rest of that nonsense, let's all take a deep breath and remember who's to blame for the mess Toronto is in: we are.
That's right, it's us. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
We're the ones who vote – those of us who bother – for the Denzil Minnan-Wongs, the Dalton McGuintys, the Mike Harrises, the Stephen Harpers and the rest.
We're the ones who reward politicians who tell us the fantasies we want to hear, not the truths we need to hear. We're the ones who have made it impossible for leaders to talk about anything much more substantial than tax cuts.
Aided and abetted by the media, we ask the wrong questions and get angry when we don't hear the wrong answers.
We're the ones who vote for the Mel Lastmans and the David Millers because they promise they won't raise taxes. Then when the spit finally hits the fan, we turn around and scream bloody murder.
Democracy boasts many virtues, but it also has serious weaknesses, including the fact that it allows citizens to vote thoughtlessly and without regard to reality. Indeed, look at who gets elected to see just how irrational, even moronic, the process has become. How else does a George W. Bush end up the most powerful person on Earth?
One of the truths the politicians would like us to forget is that you get what you pay for. Civilization costs money. If the city's going to remove snow, pick up garbage, pay the province's social services bill, fill potholes and so on, it must be able to cover these costs.
Instead of voting for councillors who promise we can remain forever in dreamland, where taxes never go up and roads are free, we should think first and ask whether they are able to do the opposite, i.e., insist we return to the real world. It, of course, is not such a nice place.
Toronto, like all of Canada, is based largely on myths that border on lies. We like to think that the city is among the greatest and the country a respected world citizen. We may be a middling power, but always sensible and responsible.
In fact, we grow increasingly irrelevant. And although Canada still ranks among the most desirable places on the planet, by any measure – productivity, innovation, wealth creation, education, environmental integrity, tolerance – we are slipping. This was confirmed most recently by the Conference Board of Canada in a massive three-volume report that took three years to prepare.
Like all Canadian cities, Toronto is chronically and systemically underfunded. This is built into the very governance structure of the nation, which undervalues urban centres. We have set it up that way.
Toronto isn't just Canada's largest and most important city; it has become a metaphor for a country in decline. Our administratively burdened federation has reached a point of fragmentation where the premiers fail miserably when it comes to dealing with the most urgent issue facing us and the rest of the planet: global warming. This isn't just worrisome, it's immoral.
Because they fear reality, Canadians are terrified of change. The idea of reducing the role of the provinces and empowering cities isn't taken seriously. Yet it's something that must happen if we are to achieve the nimbleness we need to keep up with the wholesale transformation of Asia and Europe.
Instead, we grow slow and complacent, content to rely on resource exploitation rather than the value-added approach of leading economies.
In the meantime, we continue to demand European-style public services on American-level taxes.
As we Torontonians are finding out, it doesn't work that way.
