March 2015
Our problems — too long a waiting list for social housing, encroaching traffic congestion, city hall embarrassments and chaos — pale in the face of global scrutiny.
Royson James, Toronto Star
October 13, 2014
Far too much is written about what is wrong with Toronto. Perhaps this is because Toronto does so many things better than most cities.
Toronto has become a destination of choice for so many from elsewhere that it is bursting at the seams. We certainly have growth issues. We also have an enviable quality of life, a good education system, low crime rate and a good economy. Much of this is envied by others.
Toronto is viewed as stable, resilient and peaceful by those who live in other parts of the world.
We have arts festivals such as Nuit Blanche, The Ex, theatre and so much more available to us that it would be impossible to list everything here.
Condominiums are another thing that Toronto does well. Condos have filled a pressing need when the cost of buying a home is going up and there is a shortage of rental accommodation. More importantly, condo living is a lifestyle choice for many of the over 50% of Torontonians who now live in condos.
Ontario developed a Condo Act to help prevent many of the worst abuses of the condo system. And the province is once again updating the Condo Act to help improve things for condo owners. It won’t be perfect and it will have flaws. This does not take away from the reality that the Condo Act we live under, and the revised version that will hopefully soon exist, is better than what exists elsewhere.
Let us not give up on long standing institutions, such as the Ontario Municipal Board, which plays such an important role in what Toronto has done well in the past and which protects us from short sighted decisions by interest groups with short term goals.
Let us continue to think big and 50 years into the future so that tomorrow’s Toronto is better than the Toronto of today.
