Ford Nation’s grim future

R. Michael Warren, Opinion, The Toronto Star:

After eight months in office some people think that Mayor Rob Ford is punching above his weight — a considerable feat. Others feel he has picked all the low-lying political fruit and his implosion is imminent. His boycott of Pride Week was widely criticized.

But what about his personal constituency, the “Ford Nation”? Who are they and what is Ford doing for them? More to the point, what is he doing to them?

They will no longer have to pay a vehicle registration tax. But this modest relief pales into insignificance when you consider the consequences of Ford’s rejection of the Transit City light rail plan, and his insistence on subways.

The Pembina Institute, which studies sustainable energy solutions, says that Ford’s subway plan will:

• Serve 30 per cent fewer low-income residents despite costing 40 per cent more.

• Mean no rapid transit access for the residents of northwest Toronto, who have the lowest incomes in the city.

• Leave rapid transit for northeast Toronto residents in limbo for years.

They conclude by saying, “Mayor Ford’s full $12.4 billion plan, which includes the Sheppard subway, will cost about $4 billion more than the original LRT plan and serve 25 per cent fewer Torontonians.”

Ford pushed a politically compliant premier, and a captive transit commission, to spend most of the province’s funding on burying the Eglinton crosstown LRT. The result? Thousands of Ford’s core constituents will remain car dependant, and stuck in traffic for decades.

Ford’s first budget shouldn’t give his supporters much comfort either. Their taxes will not increase this year. But what service cuts, tax increases and labour conflicts lie ahead for next year?

Few realize that it was the $286 million operating surplus left by former mayor David Miller that made Ford’s tax freeze possible. That money and much more will have to be found to avoid the projected shortfall of $800 million next year.

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