William Watson: Fix Toronto by taxing all of us? No, thanks!
It is well understood across the country, though not necessarily in the city itself, that Toronto regards itself as the centre of the universe. In the city, they`re unaware of much of the rest of the universe. There`s just Tee-Oh itself, as most major national media, headquartered there, subtly reinforce. The Canadian version of the famous Saul Steinberg poster of New York would show Yonge Street, Bay Street, University, Spadina, then at roughly the same scale, the Prairies, the Rockies, the Pacific Ocean, China.
How validating to Torontonians, therefore, to learn that no less a world player than the OECD is now interested in such things as how long it takes to get from downtown to the airport, how green the Toronto Islands development is and whether the Leafs will ever improve (well, not actually that last bit). All the attention comes in a new report on Toronto previewed Tuesday in the Centre of the Universe by the Secretary-General of the OECD.
Like most big thinkers these days, Secretary-General Angel Gurria is mesmerized by the idea that cities contribute to economic growth. They are, as the saying goes, the engines, the motors of growth (even if the engine-and-motor economy so important to the Toronto region for so many decades now sputters and dies). Cities are "growth poles." You want growth? Get yourself more cities. Or help them in any way you can. Be good to your cities and they will give you growth. Municipal politicians naturally love this line of argument. University presidents have a similar story regarding the "knowledge economy."
What`s the OECD`s solution for Toronto`s problems? "More strategic planning," says the Secretary-General. The phrase is ambiguous. Does it mean there should be more planning? Or does it mean that the planning that takes place should be more strategic? Strategic planners typically make good money so if you can populate your city with them, you`ll do very well — assuming you can find a tax base from which to pay all those high salaries. Taxing planners to pay planners probably won`t work.
But anyone who has watched Toronto`s evolution over the years will doubt whether insufficient strategic planning is the problem. "Planning is us" might be the city`s motto. Toronto benefits, using that word loosely, from federal planning, provincial planning, regional planning and municipal planning. Now maybe the city`s going to have to clear its plans with the OECD, too. There`s abundant planning. Planning has been a growth industry for years. What`s missing is decision-taking.
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