by Geoff Dale, special to QMI Agency
Illustration by Paul Lachine
Patience wears thin for
stressed-out residents waiting nearly an hour for police to respond to their
frantic calls in an insolvent Toronto.
Retired
city employees in fiscally collapsed London and Montreal bemoan the prospect of
radically cut pensions, as they wander along city landscapes dotted by more
than 78,000 abandoned structures and streets, only 40% of them with adequate
lighting.
What may
seem like bleak scenarios lifted from an apocalyptic sci-fi blockbuster are
real indeed, only they belong in a bankrupt Detroit, not Canada. It was July 18
when the once mighty Motown, crippled by long-term debts estimated at $18
billion to $20 billion US, filed for bankruptcy and Chapter 9 protection.
It will
never happen in this country, say economists, political pundits and former big
city mayors such as Toronto’s John Sewell (1978-80) and Art Eggleton (1980-91).
more............
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