Rob Ford continues to lie to the public as he wastes more money and increases the deficit
Ford’s financial numbers don’t add up - The Globe and Mail
Rob Ford claimed the other day to have saved the city $70 million in the first six months. In this Globe & Mail story, they reported that most of that was the money from the vehicle registration tax. So, this is not a savings but a loss of income for the city.
In actual fact, Ford has wasted over $533 million in the first 8 months in office, by either cutting income for the city or spending money in wasteful ways (see Rob Ford's Gravy Train sidebar on this site.)
Let's look at the money he has wasted so far (see the Gravy Train link above for the details)
- Cancelling Transit City - money spent so far + penalties (there will be more penalties and costs to come, but this is the minimum money wasted in cancelling Transit City) = $179 million
- Abolishing the Land Transfer Tax = $204 million
- Abolishing the vehicle registration tax = $50 million
- Not raising the property taxes this year by a very small amount = $3.5 million
- Hiring consultants to do the work city staff and councillors already do = $3 million
- Hiring a friend to do work the TTC already does = $100,000
- Overgenerous raise to the police (and then he wants to lay some off! I'm not opposed to giving the police a raise, but he gave them a raise that was above and beyond reasonable, especially in consideration of the cost cutting he plans and the layoffs) = $50 million
- Painting over artwork that was commissioned by the city = $2,000
- Removing the Jarvis, Birchmount and Pharmacy bike lanes (this amount also includes the original cost of installing the Jarvis lane, as this is now wasted. I don't know what the other lanes cost to install) = $469,000
- Taking over management of an arena that is greatly in debt, thinking that they will be able to turn things around and make millions renting it out = $43.4 million
There is more, but these are all I have the numbers for so far.
TOTAL = OVER $533 MILLION DOLLARS WASTED BY ROB FORD AND HIS SUPPORTERS ON COUNCIL
The city is looking at a deficit for next year of over $744 million. Imagine if the above money was not wasted. The deficit next year would be in a much more manageable range.
The Globe article says:
Either Mr. Ford is misleading the public or he simply does not
understand the apples-and-oranges difference between money taken in and
money saved.
I think it is a bit of both. I can sort of understand that Ford disliked the previous administration so much that he wants to tear down things that it put in place/built. But, what I can't understand is why he wants to punish everyone in the city, especially those in his old ward in North Etobicoke, by tearing down the good and useful things in the city, by stopping things that would help people, especially in North Etobicoke (Transit City would have brought a lot of much-needed rapid transit to all sections of Etobicoke). What boggles the mind even more is that the majority of city councillors are supporting his plans to destroy Toronto. If I was one of these councillors constituents (luckily, my councillor is one of the few fighting for reason at City Hall these days), I would be giving him/her an earful and voting them out of office next election.
The clincher to the Globe & Mail story is that here we have the Globe & Mail, one of the main corporate media companies, who are staunch Conservative supporters, who usually love this kind of action from a Conservative politician, saying that he has gone too far - that Ford is either malicious or ignorant and that is why he is doing what he is doing.
Wake up Toronto, the city is burning. Talk to your councillors to get them to stop supporting the Ford madness.
Rob Ford claimed the other day to have saved the city $70 million in the first six months. In this Globe & Mail story, they reported that most of that was the money from the vehicle registration tax. So, this is not a savings but a loss of income for the city.
In actual fact, Ford has wasted over $533 million in the first 8 months in office, by either cutting income for the city or spending money in wasteful ways (see Rob Ford's Gravy Train sidebar on this site.)
Let's look at the money he has wasted so far (see the Gravy Train link above for the details)
- Cancelling Transit City - money spent so far + penalties (there will be more penalties and costs to come, but this is the minimum money wasted in cancelling Transit City) = $179 million
- Abolishing the Land Transfer Tax = $204 million
- Abolishing the vehicle registration tax = $50 million
- Not raising the property taxes this year by a very small amount = $3.5 million
- Hiring consultants to do the work city staff and councillors already do = $3 million
- Hiring a friend to do work the TTC already does = $100,000
- Overgenerous raise to the police (and then he wants to lay some off! I'm not opposed to giving the police a raise, but he gave them a raise that was above and beyond reasonable, especially in consideration of the cost cutting he plans and the layoffs) = $50 million
- Painting over artwork that was commissioned by the city = $2,000
- Removing the Jarvis, Birchmount and Pharmacy bike lanes (this amount also includes the original cost of installing the Jarvis lane, as this is now wasted. I don't know what the other lanes cost to install) = $469,000
- Taking over management of an arena that is greatly in debt, thinking that they will be able to turn things around and make millions renting it out = $43.4 million
There is more, but these are all I have the numbers for so far.
TOTAL = OVER $533 MILLION DOLLARS WASTED BY ROB FORD AND HIS SUPPORTERS ON COUNCIL
The city is looking at a deficit for next year of over $744 million. Imagine if the above money was not wasted. The deficit next year would be in a much more manageable range.
The Globe article says:
Either Mr. Ford is misleading the public or he simply does not
understand the apples-and-oranges difference between money taken in and
money saved.
I think it is a bit of both. I can sort of understand that Ford disliked the previous administration so much that he wants to tear down things that it put in place/built. But, what I can't understand is why he wants to punish everyone in the city, especially those in his old ward in North Etobicoke, by tearing down the good and useful things in the city, by stopping things that would help people, especially in North Etobicoke (Transit City would have brought a lot of much-needed rapid transit to all sections of Etobicoke). What boggles the mind even more is that the majority of city councillors are supporting his plans to destroy Toronto. If I was one of these councillors constituents (luckily, my councillor is one of the few fighting for reason at City Hall these days), I would be giving him/her an earful and voting them out of office next election.
The clincher to the Globe & Mail story is that here we have the Globe & Mail, one of the main corporate media companies, who are staunch Conservative supporters, who usually love this kind of action from a Conservative politician, saying that he has gone too far - that Ford is either malicious or ignorant and that is why he is doing what he is doing.
Wake up Toronto, the city is burning. Talk to your councillors to get them to stop supporting the Ford madness.
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