Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Urban Planner: November 23, 2009
Now that the federal government is teetering on the verge of its first budget deficit in a decade, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is publicly considering the possibility of selling off the CN Tower to help balance the books—and pay for Prime Minister Harper's still-planned tax cuts. The building, until last year the world's tallest freestanding structure, is owned by Canada Lands Company, a crown corporation. Flaherty's musing should not come as a surprise to local residents: as Ontario finance minister, he pushed for the sale of publicly owned assets such as TV Ontario, the LCBO, and Ontario Place. Torontoist's suggestion: sell the iconic concrete hulk to Canadian Tire. At least then the name wouldn't change much.
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Source? :)
The source is linked to in the story. It's a piece from the Toronto Star, which you can read by clicking here.
There's an air of real desperation in this matter. The desperation akin to a young couple forced to sell their furniture to play the mortgage.
Of course, Flaherty is like that, isn't he? Worse than a nosy aunt who wants to know the price of things, he's the one trying to figure out how much he can get for something.
Harper once said something to the effect, "you won't recognise the country once I'm finished with it".
Let's put 24 Sussex up for sale and sell it out
from under him. Maybe that'll smarten him up.
------------
Delicious irony, isn't it? All this bad news coming to a head during the party's convention!
Conservatives, and I don't mean just the party by that name, are now known for cutting taxes and spending themselves into debt.
The 407 for example, cost $100 billion in land purchases over 30 years and $1.6 billion to build. It was sold by the Harris government to a consortium with a 99 year lease for $3.1 billion. To finance tax cuts. The 407 is now estimated to be worth more than $10 billion. And do we really even need to mention the cuts to education and health in the name of paying off the deficit? The Eves government still managed to leave Ontario with a $2 billion deficit.
Why does the myth that conservative politicians are good with money persist?
funny that CBC reported that exchange rather differently:
The finance minister said many Canadians would be surprised to know that Toronto's CN Tower was an asset of the Canadian government.
When asked if the CN Tower was for sale, he quipped, "You wanna buy it?" quickly adding, "No, it's not for sale."
I guess the Star guy had run off to the phone to call his editor after the word "it" had left Flaherty's mouth.
dowlingm: Nice catch. I guess our prized spire is safe after all.
Prudent financial managers my foot.
The Conservatives are looking to heat the house by burning the furniture. This would be a disaster. Even if they can balance one budget with sell offs, this recession is going to last more than a year so what gets privatized after the "easy" sales are completed?
I'm not ideologically opposed to selling off the CN Tower actually (especially since CN appear to be retaining naming rights - hope they're paying for that) as long as the proceeds gets recycled back into infrastructural investment. Selling it to balance the operating budget is a different matter.
Since selling it at any price is seen as a bad idea, does that mean the government should start accumulating more land and businesses across Canada?
Anyone want to bet the Pfizer Pharmaceutical company would be very interested?
"You are now ascending the Viagra Tower at a rate of...."
Or perhaps a joint venture between Pfizer and Church & Dwight (Manufacturers of Trojan condoms).
Yes, Svend. The government should own everything. Even you.
In 2004 I attended a counter-demonstration against a 'Defend Marriage' rally in front of Queen's Park where Flaherty spoke against homosexuality and gay marriage.
Today, at the first Tory policy convention in three years, socially-conservative resolutions were passed regarding the limiting of human-rights tribunals and new charges for the killing of the unborn.
Joe the Plumber should move to Canada.