Oh, you haven’t heard? Rob Ford not only wants your taxes to be higher, he’s outright demanding it!
Earlier this week the province announced that they would be cutting $50 million per year in transfer payments, which were intended to level the playing field for Toronto which often ends up shouldering more than its fair share of the whole country’s costs.
Seems like Robbie would be happy with that, no? I mean, apparently the city’s running a healthy surplus so it doesn’t seem like it’d missed much. Plus, isn’t this a perfect example of cutting back on waste?
Yes, it is waste according to Ford. That money is, after all, going to people who are just leeches on the system:
“People are not going to live free at Toronto Community Housing. I don’t care if you two years old, 20 years old or 200 years old, you’re not going to live for free”
Oh, except it’s not waste when it’s the Province that cuts support and not him. No, then it’s quite a different thing:
“A cut of $150 million will put a serious strain on our ability to provide these vital services to the most vulnerable residents.”
Additional transfer payment cuts are coming down the pipe in the not-too-distant future, about which the Fords haven’t made a peep.
I think it’s pretty clear what we can glean from this obvious hypocrisy; Rob Ford doesn’t give a fuck about “vital services” (he wouldn’t even bother to get his facts straight on the issue), or supporting the taxpayers, or arguing with the province to reduce taxes if they’re cutting payments, no, Rob Ford wants tax money to stuff the swollen pockets of his own administration. And that money comes from you and me, the taxpayer, and judging by the fact that Fordo was keen to raise property taxes, it would be no problem to raise taxes elsewhere as long they go directly to him to waste.
Spend $400,000 on an information campaign to close King Street to traffic and potentially make life a little nicer for taxpayers? Outrageous! Blow $3,000,000 on information to justify hacking and slashing the city budget (irony aside), to make life a little more miserable for taxpayers? That’s money well spent!
How’s that for gravy?
I’ve already gone into detail about how Ford, despite his many claims, is not interested in creating jobs for Toronto, didn’t seem too bothered at the thought of hefty pay raises to Council, and has at this point wasted and cost taxpayers vast swathes of money, even if you factor in all of the initiatives he’s put forward to reduce taxes, etc.
Oh sure, you can point the fingers at every level of government with this accusation, and you’d be right. But no level of government is as brazenly and openly hypocritical about it — it’s abuse coupled with insult.
Then, just so you don’t forget what outright dicks both brothers are, frère Doug goes and blames provincial leader Kathleen Wynne for the Catholic School Board’s dismissal of Rob from coaching football, insinuating that she went all the way to Etobicoke on some sort of bizarre personal vendetta against them, all the while taking continuous potshots at her.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Fords have their buddy and logistics guy (i.e. personal driver and helper monkey), David Price, calling into radio shows and newspapers, misrepresenting himself and hollering about how beloved both brothers are and how much “Ford Nation” is standing behind them — this while Ford office staff continue to drop like flies. Yet another example of reality (the truth), versus what the Fords say (bullshit).
The rule of thumb with the Fords seems to be basically this: what we say is the exact opposite of what we do, and if you dare point this out, or any of the other facts surrounding our shady dealings, we will attack you with every fiber of our being.
Ford says he wants lower taxes, meaning he demands higher taxes.
Ford says he wants subways subways subways, meaning he doesn’t want mass transit at all.
Ford respects the taxpayer. Yeah, right.