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OPINION
Toronto
Mayor John Tory thinks it's OK
Ken
Westcar March 20 2019
Relative to other
municipalities Torontonians pay some of the lowest
property taxes in Ontario. A $450,000 home in Oxford
County can pay similar property taxes to a $1.5m home in
Toronto. Mayor John Tory has committed to keep Toronto
property taxes low and increase them only according the
rate of inflation. But crumbling Toronto infrastructure
presents a huge challenge to the city budget so it's
much easier to skimp on services such as garbage
disposal to help pay for it. This means not tackling
Toronto's garbage problem with a local solution but
trucking it out to other municipalities including
Beachville in Oxford County because it's "cheaper" to
dump it there.
"Cheaper" for whom? There's
this obscure thing called "externalities" that
politicians and businesses like to ignore, especially
when it suits their purpose. The externalities of
shipping up to 17.4m tonnes of Toronto garbage to
Beachville are increased air and water pollution,
greater demand on emergency services and Highway 401
traffic congestion. These costs are borne by all Ontario
taxpayers and the environment instead of those who
create the garbage in the first place. If you live in
Oxford County, you would be more affected than anyone
else. If you believe this to be morally and ethically
reprehensible think of that 17.4m tonnes sitting on a
vulnerable aquifer in Oxford County. There are many
reasons to believe this poorly conceived, but highly
profitable for Walker Environmental Group, dump poses an
extreme environmental risk over the longer term.
But neither Toronto, nor
Walker Environmental Group really care about this. They
only care about the money they can save or make by
externalising costs to someone else. In this case the
residents of Oxford County and those living on the
Thames River watershed. So, next time you hear about the
great job Mayor John Tory and Premier Doug Ford are
doing keeping Toronto property taxes low remember that
it's at your expense. Tell Toronto and provincial
politicians that asking you to pay for Toronto's garbage
disposal is unfair, immoral and unethical. Join
OPAL in saying "no". |
