Port Lands not an answer to Toronto’s problems

Everyone in Ontario has an opinion on what Toronto needs to make it a city worth the name.

It’s anybody’s guess what it would take to make the Big Smoke livable, but tolerable seems to be a reasonable second choice.

Even those of us reluctant to travel south of the airport know about the unbelievable congestion, the homeless problem, housing prices that have driven rents through the stratosphere and home ownership dreams into the dirt.

So any reasonable list of needs would include strategies to ease that congestion, to develop affordable and social housing, a strategy to end homelessness, etc.

Near the bottom of any thinking individual’s list would be the expenditure of huge sums of taxpayer money to prepare the Port Lands for development. In the end this project will mean even more people, more cars and more congestion right near the heart of downtown.

In spite of that, our political leaders lined up in their Sunday best recently to announce their contributions to the massive fund to clean up and redevelop the Port Lands and mouth of the Don River.

This phase, which is just making the land OK for development, will cost $1.25 billion. That cost will be shared equally by the three levels of government.

Standing proud at the announcement was Premier Kathleen Wynne, with her people’s credit card at the ready, to chip in Ontario’s share. It has to be the credit card, of course, because the province continues to be broke.

With a projected debt this year of $312 billion — a number that is growing rapidly — we’d all have been better off if Wynne had stayed home.

Beside her was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with another taxpayer credit card in hand.

Again any contribution has to be with borrowed money because the country now owes something in the neighbourhood of $645 billion. And that debt is growing at a rate of some $3 million every hour.

The other big moneyman at the announcement was Toronto Mayor John Tory.

This guy is trying to lead what has to be one of the most unwieldy municipalities in the world, but he still wants it to grow and grow and grow some more.

The three top dogs arrived at the announcement via water taxi, so apparently environmental considerations are not as high as leaders would have us believe. Otherwise they would have come by canoe with Trudeau on the paddle.

To be fair, the Port Lands project will create jobs. But surely this country needs job created by the private sector, not by government.

Frequently given to exaggeration, Wynne didn’t disappoint when she said, “This is the single largest stretch of undeveloped and underused downtown waterfront in North America. So, we’re not just talking about a national project. We’re actually talking about a project that is important to North America.”

She didn’t mention when contributions will start rolling in from all these beneficiaries.

Tory joined her with this: “Unlocking the Port Lands for revitalization through flood protection will allow us to build new communities to build new housing, including affordable housing close to Toronto’s downtown and close to the jobs and transportation networks that people need.”

Tell you what, if affordable housing is ever developed in the Port Lands I’ll eat every bad word I’ve ever said about Toronto and move into the first unit.

It’s a pretty safe bet I’ll be able to continue to live out my days in the heart of rural Ontario.