Even if senior levels of government provide special help, sooner or later we will all end up having to pay
Mayor John Tory, seen here during a news conference on Feb. 29, 2020, says Toronto desperately needs help to bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.Everyone is getting a bailout these days: workers, students, farmers, small businesses, big businesses. Canada’s biggest, richest city is hoping to join them.
Running a budget deficit is out, too. Cities aren’t allowed to and Mr. Tory doesn’t want to ask for special permission, because deficits would just kick the can down the road. So he would like to see the provincial and federal governments come to the rescue. For weeks now, he and other mayors across the country have been beseeching senior governments for help.Cities, he says, can’t possibly be expected to cover the cost of the trouble they are in.
Some emergency aid is clearly in order. Higher governments seem to understand that. At first, Ottawa wondered why provincial authorities, normally so keen to keep the feds off their turf, would come asking for help with cities, which fall under their oversight. Provinces wondered why Ottawa wasn’t stepping up. That round of fiscal fencing seems to be ending. Both levels are making encouraging noises.
Someone will have to pick up the tab. The idea that senior governments have some sort of magic credit card is a comforting fantasy. Even they will face a bill for all their spending, as necessary as most of it is. Cities won’t be exempt either. Even if they get their emergency funds, the transfers they get from above are bound to shrink as higher governments wrestle with their debts.
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