It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Toronto is a tale of two cities right now: one privately rich and the other publicly impoverished. Opinion by shawnmicallef
People who live in this Toronto, more of them each year, rely on those declining services. These are people who use the library. People who ride the bus. People without backyards and cottages who use the parks like their public living room, but find them in poor condition with washrooms and fountains they cannot count on and senior staff who cultivate a culture of “no” rather than “yes” in our public realm.. This is the Toronto that people, if they have the means, move away from.
That wealthy city is still quite comfortable and insulated from the declining city. As the scion of inherited wealth and social standing, Mayor John Tory lives and has thrived in the former, and despite his affable, avuncular veneer, he doesn’t seem to really understand that this other side is increasingly feeling the pinch, is suffering, or is ready to give up on the city altogether. That, or he’s deliberately ignoring it.
Other councillors have been extremely loyal to eight years of this kind of Toryism and without their support the mayor’s agenda would not pass. Last week Denzil Minnan-Wong, one of the deputy mayors hand-picked by Tory himself, complained to the Star. “I think there’s a feeling that the city doesn’t care anymore and it’s not doing the core services that it used to provide but we’ve come to rely on,” he said.