Royson James at the Toronto Star must have a split personality.

On Wednesday he authored an article titled "Tory's solid fiscal plan", in which he describes the variety of ways that John Tory plans on cutting costs in city government.

Today he authored an article titled "Politicians beguile with city hall myths", in which he undercuts much of the basis on which Tory has framed his plan.

He identifies and discusses the following "myths":

• Massive savings at city hall
• Selling city property
• The city's bureaucracy, especially management, is bloated
• Contracting out garbage collection for savings
• The police force is under-funded
• A new deal for cities is in the cards so budget cuts can be moderated

No one is denying that there are opportunities to save money, and all candidates welcome the chance to do so. However, as John Tory goes around town making big promises on transit, the arts, the environment, and social issues, he may be overpromising. He needs a plan to pay for these things, and vague "waste cutting" magic isn't going to cover it all.

Here's how Royson James finishes up his article:

Joan Anderton, commissioner of corporate services, says the easy cuts and decisions have all been made. For example, since amalgamation, departments such as human resources have been chopped by 30 per cent.

"There comes an end point. You've been to that well. We've had 10 years of cuts. We are at the tipping point. There aren't any quick fixes to be found. They are long gone."

That is about right.

All the candidates are hoping that the city will finally get a fair deal from the provincial and federal governments. However, there's no guarantee of a fair deal in politics. David Miller has begun talking about his back-up plan. Tory's back-up plan is to cut the services that are so important to Torontonians... the same services that he's busily praising at all the debates.

DISCLOSURE: After a serious decision-making process, I joined the Miller-for-mayor campaign a couple weeks ago. However, all comments on this website are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views of David Miller or his campaign.

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