So: garbage. We’re going to contract out garbage collection. At least west of Yonge Street, anyway. There is nothing really to say about this topic because it’s mostly a benign move, following in the footsteps of a bunch of other cities in the GTA. It’s not particularly dangerous or daring or dastardly. We don’t need to sound the ideological alarm. This is okay.
The only thing that makes this move at all interesting to me is that it seems primarily motivated not by money or customer service, but by revenge.
Here’s how the mayor phrased it this morning, as reported by David Rider and Daniel Dale for the Toronto Star:
“We are doing this so we’re not going to go through another 40-day garbage strike like we did last year,†the mayor said. “We’re going to save millions of dollars, and we’re going to reduce the size of government. That’s what people elected us to do.â€
via Ford moves to privatize garbage collection – thestar.com.
I’m not a politician or anything, but making major policy decisions because there was a strike that annoyed you a couple of years back seems short-sighted. It’s the same line of argument he used for declaring the TTC an essential service.
Also, has “reduce the size of government” taken the place as “stop the gravy train” as the mayor’s preferred slogan? It’s not as catchy.
Tags: garbage