• Like it or not the Big Smoke matters to all of us.
  Friday, June 27, 2008
•     Like it or not the Big Smoke matters to all of us. by Charles Adler June 27    As Oil squirts above 140 dollars a barrel, more oxygen squirts out of the lifeblood of the Toronto area economy. The economy is about a lot of things. But much of it is about Manufacturing and Tourism, Arts and Entertainment, Financial services, Banks, Brokerages, Insurance Companies. All of these industries are being affected by skyrocketing gas prices, high dollars, and the Global Slowdown.   High prices for gasoline are depressing the market for many of the cars and trucks that the so called Big Three or what some are now calling the DETROIT three. General Motors Stock right now is at a 53 year low. The last time it was this low John Diefenbaker was the Prime Minister and Stephen Harper hadn't even yet been born. That's low. And that's not good for the Toronto area economy.   The high gas prices are depressing tourism, because so much of that is coming from Americans who don't want to drive as much or as far as they used to. There are so many other factors that make Toronto an economy that is in decline right now and the Fraser Institute made the case this week with Mike Harris the former premier of Ontario as the point man for that case.      While partisans can argue that the struggling economy in central Canada is his most lasting legacy, facts are facts. And the fact is Toronto is suffering. And the fact is that many people in this country don't take it seriously. So many people have come to believe that Toronto has had it too good for too long that humility is what they need, and if it gets delivered in a Purolator Pack called HIGH GAS PRICES, that's fine. Well I am here to tell you it's not fine. I'm here to tell you this not because I have spent many years in Toronto and have affection for the people that I call friends and do business with. I am here to tell you that if Toronto continues to decline, it will affect the entire Canadian economy. It's a numbers game. The Greater Toronto area encompasses more than 5 million people. It is the core of the south central region of Ontario known as the Horseshoe which now has a population of nearly 9 million people. More than one out of four Canadians lives in that relatively small pocket of Canada and if that pocket is picked apart by the consequences of a global slowdown, I can promise you it will affect even the most comfortable regions of Canada.   You don't have to love the attitudes that come from some snobs in Toronto and some slobs in Toronto to appreciate the fact that Canada is going to be a much sadder place in which to live if Toronto and it's suburbs become an increasingly difficult place to be for individuals, for businesses. I am not trying to do a Chicken Little number on your head if you live in the Toronto area, nor a guilt trip if you are reading or listening to this in a part of the country where the economy is doing well. I am simply saying to you that the way countries work is simple. When a significant chunk of the population faces difficulties it's impossible for the rest not to feel it. Your taxes will go up and your services will go down as will the value of the most important asset you have, your home.   National Wealth in Canada depends on the National Health of the Economies of the places where people live. One out of every four people in this country live within 200 klicks of the CN Tower.   Don't feel sorry for Toronto and Southern Ontario if you don't want to. Don't go to pity. That's useless. But don't root for the demise of the Big Smoke. If that happens it will take what has been a smoking hot economy called Canada and turn it into an igloo.   
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