Torontonians, and those of us who live in the shadow of the behemoth, received the glad tidings yesterday that Mayor David Miller will not seek a third term in 2010, his declarations of the opposite only days ago notwithstanding. More remarkable was his explanation that he is leaving because he has accomplished everything he came to do and that he made the decision nearly three years ago but didn't tell anyone. The scary thing may be that Toronto is being led by a man sufficiently delusional that he believes he's telling the truth.
Did he believe he was telling the truth when he stated the city's controversial sick-leave plan for union members had been eliminated in this summer's negotiation with CUPE workers? Sane observers know there was agreement on a plan to phase it out by about 2030. Does be believe the light rail transit network he has sketched-out will get built in anything near his ambitious and optimistic schedule, in the absence of any commitment from other levels of government to fund it? Does he believe his plan to retrofit Union Station will not suffer the indignity of cancellation as so many before have? Does he believe the green-roofs and similar schemes will survive as collective opposition to their reality mounts and the city's bureaucracy buckles under political pressure?
About the only thing Miller did accomplish on this original agenda was stopping a bridge to Toronto Island, and that he did in his first month in office. It was a temporary reprieve as work on a tunnel substitute will be well underway by the time he leaves office next year.
The rest has been grand plans, producing little or no observable results after seven years. Toronto, moreover, has a sad history of cancelling ambitious plans and we can expect the host of candidates vying to replace Miller to commit to reviewing all of those plans as the city's chronic financial woes explode in 2010. The major reason Toronto is broke is that its residents pay about the lowest property taxes of any city in Canada, but who will promise to fix that problem in an election year?
My first reaction upon hearing the news of Miller's announcement was "oh no!" Until yesterday, there was a consensus that there must be ONE opposition challenger in 2010 to prevent Miller from 'running up the middle' yet again. Now, I fear, every centre to right leaning city politician will believe (s)he can run and win. Meanwhile the leftists and the unions will unite behind a single candidate (I would put money on it being Adam Giambrone) because they understand better the importance of compelled unity. Only if the money-men, who raise the minimum of $1 million needed to mount a campaign for mayor, can unite to prevent more than one serious challenger to the left, can there be any hope of an early return to sanity in Toronto. That hope too may be delusional.
