High marks for Toronto confirms quality of life amongst best in the world Annotated
Via Spacing Wire Toronto, the press release from the City of Toronto, announcing that T.O. was named by Standards & Poor one of the top 10 cities in the world in which to live. What’s of real interest for other Canadian cities is Mayor David Miller’s insistence on a more innovative & equitable relationship between the city and “senior levels” of government (feds & provinces — interestingly, he calls them states). He calls, among other things, for a 1 percent cut of the GST.
Edit: by “1 percent cut of the GST,” as I put it, I meant that Miller is telling the feds that Toronto should be able to collect a percent of the GST charged to consumers in Toronto (vs. having it all go to the feds). The GST in Canada was at 6%, and it was just dropped down to 5%. In addition to that, the provinces levy a provincial sales tax, in BC at 7% (down from 7.5%, I think?). None of it goes directly to cities or municipalities at this time; it all flows to “senior levels of government,” i.e. feds & provinces.