Let it Bleed is back and changing lanes.

One thing I'd like to accomplish over the next few months is making LIB a focal point for local conservative politics.* I whipped up the following piece a few weeks back and it never really went anywhere (probably because it still needs work), but in an effort to get this puppy fired up again, here it is. Oh, and if you know any local pols who would be interested in a smidgen of internet exposure, let me know.

A little over eight months remain until one of the most important dates on the Toronto calendar: November 13. The fact that the date doesn’t seem familiar to most Torontonians is indicative of a major problem: it’s the next municipal election. It’s a sad fact that the level of government which most directly impacts our daily lives is also the one which receives the least attention from voters – less than 40% of eligible voters turned out for the last election.
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Of course, in order to accomplish this, dedicated conservatives are needed. And they’re out there: but attention is often focused on Queen’s Park and Ottawa, rather than Nathan Phillips Square. So perhaps the first step in the process is that conservatives need to convince themselves of the value and prestige of city politics – and the positive impact that they can deliver for people on a daily basis.

The conservative message of smaller, more focused and therefore more competent government is one that Torontonians need to hear – and one which can improve the experience of living in this great city. But it’s up to conservatives to get that story out there. And with elections looming, there’s no time like the present to get started.

Bob’s is most decidedly right. I live and work in this city and the choices we make come November 13th (municipal election date) are going to impact the quality of every day life in this city, up front and personal, in a ways we have not seen before as the City of Toronto has received new powers of taxation unheard of before in Canadian municipal politics from the province. Frankly, the idea that a municipal sales tax of say 5% be jacked on to the cost of services sold within the municipality of Toronto on top of the provincial and federal sales taxes in order to finance an already unsustainable and ever burgeoning municipal budget should be one that makes the blood run cold.

Last week we saw the provincial government earmark $1.2 billion for the City of Toronto for infrastructure repair and at city hall all hailed this as a good beginning. But think about this; just why is Toronto’s infrastructure been serially neglected by successions of municipal councils that it needs such an infusion? One should be asking oneself just what have municipal politicians been financing in lieu of basic spending on infrastructure repair. We could start with the free crack kits and go from there.