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Less than a year ago, Toronto Councillor David Shiner wrapped up his successful return to city hall by taking down his municipal election signs.
With today's official kick-off to the Oct. 10 provincial vote, he's set to post a fresh batch of election signs - this time for a seat in the Ontario Legislature.
The former city budget chief is counting on local issues - the city's fiscal future and transit funding among them - to knock off one-term Liberal incumbent David Zimmer in Willowdale.
"There is a real disappointment that Toronto does not get the respect it deserves from the provincial government and there is nobody in the provincial legislature standing up for Toronto," said Mr. Shiner, a Conservative and one of his party's top prospects to end its four-year political shutout in Toronto.
"We can't form a government without seats in Toronto," said Conservative campaign director John Laschinger. Along with Willowdale, the party's priority ridings are Don Valley West, where Leader John Tory is running against Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Scarborough-Guildwood.
But in Willowdale, the Liberals' Mr. Zimmer is quite happy to run on his party's record in Toronto. He points to a fivefold increase in annual provincial funding to $668-million (about half in one-time grants) to the city since 2003 and to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's announcement last month to upload the full cost of the Ontario Disability Support Program and the Ontario Drug Benefits by 2011, a long-time demand by Toronto and other municipalities.
Still, with education, crime and health taxes already grabbing the headlines, those keen to nail down the parties on the rest of Toronto's fiscal concerns - full uploading is worth a staggering $729-million this year - will have to strain to be heard above the din.
That's why several different groups are keen to make some noise about Toronto at the voter's doorstep.
"Toronto must remain a great global city, but its status is very much in doubt," said Carol Wilding, president of the Toronto Board of Trade, which last week laid out its five-point wish list (including a full upload of all social services and housing costs now paid in part by local taxpayers) and called on citizens and business people to "Vote Toronto." As part of its campaign, the board also provided a forum for the top three party leaders, wrapping up with Mr. Tory this week, to speak to their members.
Meanwhile, a coalition of union and social activists launched their own campaign, also non-partisan, to raise the profile of Toronto issues among voters, promising an "army of volunteers" to canvass door-to-door in eight hotly contested local ridings, including Willowdale.
"Cities like Toronto can't build themselves into great cities on six cents of the overall tax load," said environmental activist Katrina Miller, a leader of the Fair Deal for Our City campaign, noting only six cents of every dollar of tax collected by all governments stay here. "We want candidates to know they have to fix this unfair burden the moment they walk into office."
Liberal cabinet minister George Smitherman (Toronto Centre-Rosedale), who leads his party's "TO-23" strategy to hold its 18 seats in the city and, ambitiously, snag the remaining five held by the NDP, doubts voters will make their choices based on the city government's needs.
"Every voice from city hall has its own focus and priority," he said.
New Democrat Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth), who hold one of his party's five seats in the city (half of its current caucus), said that the other parties "have turned their backs on Toronto" and is skeptical they will act fast to end the practice, unique in Ontario, that requires local taxpayers to finance provincial social services.
So far, the NDP has the most specific promises on Toronto, including full uploading of provincial programs by 2015, a two-year freeze on transit fares and a pledge to pay 50 per cent of operating costs of the Toronto Transit Commission.
City Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a Conservative, praises the efforts now in play by advocacy groups to put Toronto on the front burner.
But even he concedes that keeping them there over the next five weeks won't be easy.
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