Difficult to understand the municipal politics in Toronto right now, but it seems that the answer to the city's budget crisis is to shut down everyone not wielding a hockey stick.
My rather mercenary mind sees this as a benefit to communities such as Niagara-on-the-lake, Stratford, Huntsville, Collingwood or Burlington whose cultural tourism would benefit greatly from the proximity of Toronto's refugee artists, actors, photographers, musicians and all attendant professionals including the culinary specialists attuned to feeding creative types and their audiences.
For example. I envision BIFF not TIFF - the Burlington International Film Festival.
Think of the financial benefits to Burlington and its neighboring towns with facilities which could become world class creative platforms?
If I were in municipal politics in a well-placed Ontario town I would be out there wooing the Toronto disenfranchised. I would be calling upon all my area financiers and other stakeholders to put into place a cultural economic strategy that would place my town on the world map.
This just seems like a one-time opportunity to rebuild communities wrecked by the decline of the motor and other industries.
I say, "Why not step out of the box?"
