An epic showdown appears likely between the forces of Mayor Ford and the “Taxes for the TTC” elements of council after a key Ford supporter, Gary Crawford (Ward 36) has flip-flopped on the application of such levies. Premier Wynne is waiting to slap them on. Gas, sales, business — all kinds of taxes to help us build that Emerald City of Transit we are to believe is out there somewhere. At least that’s how it sounds when the Premier gets going. The other day she was fretting that a “working mother” couldn’t zoom across the GTA in just a few minutes to get to her job. That would be nice. But you get the feeling the premier was talking about zip lines. For his part, the mayor wants to float the subway dream by opening a gigantic casino. That already unpopular idea got another trashing today, this time from the Catholic Church. The archbishop, Cardinal Thomas Collins, warned of the “grievous suffering” caused by gambling. He may well be right and the sad lineups at the OLG ticket stands sometimes give a glimpse of that. As to transit, of course we need it. But how costly must it be? The transit debate is too much like an election campaign. Many people seem to be staking their political success on sending Toronto to Transit Glory, no matter what it costs.
