Spurred by yesterday’s Ontario Throne Speech that called on the feds to share GST revenue with Canada’s cities, McCallion dared Flaherty to take her on in the court of public opinion over the issue of paying to maintain and build our roads, bridges and public transit.
“I will challenge him to a debate on this," McCallion told The Globe and Mail.
She also told the Toronto daily newspaper that Flaherty “does not seem to get the message” that cities need federal funds for the upkeep of the country’s infrastructure.
Yesterday’s Throne Speech urged Ottawa to share the equivalent of one percentage point of its goods and services tax with municipalities.
“Hurricane” Hazel also has made it clear she is ticked off by Flaherty’s recent comments that mayors could better manage their own spending. He told reporters the mayors should “stop whining .. and do their job.”
McCallion tells anybody who will listen that Flaherty “downloaded on us” when he was Ontario’s finance minister.
“I challenge him to come out to Mississauga and show us where we are not efficient and have not set money aside,” she told The Globe and Mail.
McCallion pointed out that, while Mississauga is debt free with $600 million in reserves, the city can’t afford to use property taxes to pay for the upkeep of the infrastructure.
