By Jessica Bell
The Conservative’s budget was released on March 23. Overall, the budget increases spending by one per cent, far below the 6.8 per cent rate of inflation. We will be seeing cuts. Here’s the lowdown.
Health care
Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion
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Tags: Annex · Editorial · Columns · Opinion
Doug Ford abandoned us. That’s what a 200-page decision reviewing Ottawa’s invocation of the Emergencies Act says. Written by Commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau and published by the Public Order Emergency Commission, this report points the finger for last year’s Freedom Convoy riots squarely at the premier, whose failure to act, it says, led to some members of the public feeling emboldened.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
By Jessica Bell
The first official Toronto budget under the new strong mayor reign has revealed an unpleasant truth. This is a fantasy budget built on a house of cards. Even with a seven per cent planned property tax hike, the federal and provincial governments need to hand over $1.4 billion to the city for the budget to balance in 2023. And even if they say yes to Toronto’s official funding request, the city will still cut services.
Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion
By Terri Chu
There’s a lot to love about the Annex: cultural vibrancy, a wide variety of local independent businesses, walkability and trees.
Can you imagine this place without the big, beautiful maples? The streets would feel empty and dystopian.
In 2018, and during our last municipal election, Doug Ford’s Conservatives slashed the size of city council in half to 26. This created outsized wards that are too big to manage and a population that feels disconnected from elected representatives. Burned out councillors are also a symptom, and we’ve seen a few—Joe Cressy and Mike Layton, for example, just walked away. Voter turnout is down to 30 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots, and the province under Doug Ford continues to further erode the power and relevance of local government in Ontario.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
By Sue Dexter
“What I can’t support is change being rammed down our throats without a single second of public consultation.” John Tory after the province slashes council in half, 2018.
“Trust me.” John Tory on receiving unprecedented minority rule powers, after no public consultation, 2022.
By Dianne Saxe
Thank you all for selecting me as your city councillor. I would like to thank the Gleaner for inviting me to regularly update residents on what is happening in Ward 11 and at city council.
By Jessica Bell
On Dec. 8, I stood with Reverend Maggie Helwig, Bishop Andrew Asbil of the Archdiocese of Toronto, and over 100 local residents to observe the installation of a cage around the Panhandler Jesus statue outside the Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields on College St.
I always enjoy getting the Annex Gleaner and have appreciated your Grading our Greenspace for many years…good for the neighbourhood and good for the parks department.
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Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
Back in 2018, Doug Ford spoke his truth and it was caught on camera. The reaction to that video was so swift and forceful that the premier was forced to make a promise: he would never touch the Greenbelt, he said. If we’ve learned anything about Doug Ford since then, it’s that saying one thing and doing another is standard practice, and promises are meant to be broken. In breaking his promise on the Greenbelt, Ford is inflicting incomparable damage on this province that extends from the land to our trust in democratic systems.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
By Chrystia Freeland
I know that it has felt like one thing after another since COVID first reached our shores. We turned the economy off, and then we turned it back on again. Vladimir Putin illegally invaded Ukraine. And now we are all dealing with the impacts of global inflation at the checkout counter and the gas pump.