Mayor Ford In Toronto, a Sign of The Times?

With the election of Mayor Rob Ford, the city took a hard right turn politically speaking.  Now what does this mean to the rest of Ontario, organized labour and the rest of Canada.

For too long the most populous cities in this country have been run by steadfast socialists and for far too long they have bled the coffers dry and made the rest of Canada pay for their "love of humanity"  Now comes along a Mayor who is set to take on the big unions in his city, he has put them on notice that there are going to be changes coming and that their sitting at the trough is about to end.  Toronto is run by big labour, the provincal and local governments made their bed with these guys and now it is about to do a full 180.  Ford is standing up to labour and has publicly stated that the people of Toronto will stand for long strikes, if that is what is needed to reign in the expenses brought on by union contracts.  He knows what it is going to take to curb expense and lets face it labour is the problem, it is the super lucrative contracts that previous administrations signed that have come to bite the people of Toronto in the butt.  Something has to give and it is time that labour really looks at itself and figure out that they are the problem.(more on that in my next post)

Now, what does this mean for the rest of the province and Canada?  Rob Ford has listened to the people of his city and it taking appropriate actions.  He will be smeared publicly by big labour, he will be hated by many on the far left but he will stand tall knowing he is doing the right thing by the taxpayers.  The tax base has had enough and they signaled that by voting Ford in as mayor, they want change and change now!  Now with Ontario staring at large debt loads and having to take equalization payments from Ottawa, the taxpayers seem to be ready to do the same on the provincial level.  It looks like the Conservatives will become government and maybe by a large majority.  This means that the changes being taken at the city level can now carry on to the provincial level.  The people are speaking up and it is time for the politicians to hear their voices.

Federally is a different situation, we have had a conservative government for some time but finally have a majority to work with.  They have already set sail on a bunch of changes coming.  They are freezing most hiring, getting rid of the boondoggle gun registry as well as getting tougher on crime.  Now they are starting to look at themselves and try to figure out where cuts can come from to bring down the debt.  Canada is in a great position when compared to the rest of the world but that doesn't mean we should rest on our laurels, we need to keep at it and reduce the debt load that our children will have to pay for.  This means pensions must be looked at as well as the benefits.  This is a large portion of the annual budget and needs to be addressed as they are unfunded in the years to come and myself as a taxpayer do not think I should have to pay for someone's retirement when I have to save my whole life in order to retire.  Typically government employees are paid much better, have better benefits and pension plans than that of an equal working in the private sector.

All in all, this movement that seems to be sweeping the country is not only good for us but also for our children and their children.  We live within our means and should demand that our governments do the same.