The Shotgun Blog
« Forced Blood Transfusions | Main | Ontario PC Leadership - First Ballot Results »
Friday, June 26, 2009
Toronto Strike Solution
Earlier this week 24,000 Toronto municipal civil service employees walked off of the job. Some of the services that have been interrupted are garbage pickup, city-run daycares, swimming pools, summer camps, museums, some libraries and others.
This has caused a lot of turmoil for Toronto residents; garbage is piling up in the streets, closed day cares are forcing people to stay home from work, etc. Regardless of the reasons that the civil service employees are striking, the core problem here is one of economics; supply and demand.
Since the city are the ones that pick-up garbage, when they go on strike there is no-one left to provide that service. Whether it is city employees themselves on strike or a private company with a city provided monopoly, there is no one ready else to step in cases where there is an interruption of service.
Imagine that there was no government garbage collection service, what would people do? They would do what they do with other services they want, hire a company to provide that service. Just as there is competition with cable providers, in a free market there would be competition with garbage services. You could pick and choose between a variety of providers, especially in a large market like Toronto where there would be several companies competing for your dollar. If one company goes on strike, you can hire another to take over.
Strikes would be resolved much quicker, since company owners know that everyday that goes buy while their employees are off the job, they loose customers; they would have an incentive to resolve these strikes quickly. In the current situation, there is no one else that can step in and take over because it is a government enforced monopoly.
By moving these services into the free market situations such as this would be less likely to arise.
Posted by Freedom Manitoba on June 26, 2009 in Economic freedom | Permalink
Comments
All the strike means is that Toronto stinks more now than the Leafs and the Jays ever did.
I have a solution: burn the city to the ground.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-26 5:11:59 PM
Toronto WOULD employ another non-market solution to this problem: call the army like they did in 1999. Not this time, losers.
Lazy, idle, privileged wealthy people of Toronto: YOU ARE TO BLAME FOR ALL OF THIS. YOU re-elected Miller. YOU will now suffer the consequences. This and the appalling atrocity of racially segregating your schools makes you an international embarrassment.
I call for a boycott of any Ontario goods. Clear the shelves and send them back to the Reich. Send these people into bankrutcy and starvation. Make them truly suffer.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-26 5:44:37 PM
Do what Reagan did: Fire every man and replace them with private contractors for half the price who'll be grateful for the work.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-06-26 6:08:07 PM
They'd do better to ban you, Shawn. You're a troll who contributes nothing but e-wedgies.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-06-26 8:13:54 PM
If someone is being a troll the best thing to do is ignore them.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-26 8:57:18 PM
Scott, you are bang on. The benefits of government monopolies are being felt right now by many people in Toronto. I wonder what would happen if everyone simply threw their garbage out of their car window on the 401? Kind of like a tea party. Call it the Toronto Garbage Party!
Posted by: TM | 2009-06-26 9:28:14 PM
It's not that Toronto has a garbage problem. The garbage has a Toronto problem - they won't deal with it. They expect others to do it for them. Many commentators lament the mass consumption patterns, not the health risks. If only they had a brain cell between them, stupid Ontarians.
I hope this drags on for months and ruins the summer.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-26 9:44:42 PM
Indeed, someone like Lady Thatcher or Ronald Reagan would solve the problem rather quickly. Government monopolies were bad enough, but allowing government workers to be unionised was what created the mess.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-06-27 10:35:39 AM
Simply contracting-out the garbage service is not necessarily the solution as large garbage companies are quite often unionized themselves. One solution might be to negotiate a clause into the contracts to immediately terminate the contract in the event of a strike. This would allow non-union contractors into the picture. Next you must deal with the handling facility which, due to piles of regulation is likely in a monopoly situation and unionized as well.
But first you must have a governance that has a stomach to stand up to the organized criminals of big labour. In the case of Toronto, which more resembles the parliament of a medium-sized country than a municipality, I suspect the labour toadies of the left are firmly entrenched.
All this presupposes a Provincial labour law framework that allows standing up to big labour.
Are we getting the picture - tearing down leviathan is a little more involve than a ten second sound bite ("moving these services into the free market").
No, the good folks of Toronto have the government that they deserve, involved in every aspect of their lives and in the tank of big labour. Pay-up or enjoy the smell!
Posted by: John Chittick | 2009-06-27 11:53:46 AM
To Zebulon Pike:
As a Canadian soldier for many years, it is the type of remarks from people like you that make me resent ever wearing my uniform. I have seen a lot of hatred around the globe over my career, all stemming from a "we versus they" attitude; and I never thought I would have to put up with this from my fellow Canadians.
Toronto is a part of our national fabric, and a rather important one. Although Westerners, Quebecois, and Maritimers alike enjoy bashing Ontario and especially Toronto, it all too often stems from prejudicial and ignorant presumptions that borders on the aforementioned hate. In theatre, I didn't ask if one of my troop leaders came from Toronto or Calgary. I didn't prioritize evacuation of wounded soldiers based on their region of origin.
But I sense you and those like you would. "That child who has been injured in a car accident is from Toronto...let her rot there and die. After all, that six-year-old is a lazy, idle, privileged wealthy kid from Toronto. And while you're at it, take out her 4-year-old brother too. He was also born in Toronto and doesn't deserve to breathe our Western air."
FYI: I am from the West. And Westerners like you embarrass me.
Posted by: Capt (Ret'd) M.E. Smith | 2009-06-27 11:58:38 AM
That's not true, I would not prioritize who would live and who would die on the basis of Toronto nativity. I would save the lives of non-whites from Ontario long before I would any white.
It is called justice. White Ontarians have had easy lives because of their wealth, which has been generated by exploiting non-whites for cheap labor. Time for some revolution.
You old soldiers who still believe in the national unity myth ought to wake up and see the injustices around you. If you truly fought for your country, you'd put every white Toronto person in prison so they could await their turn before the show trials, and their punishment. Sometimes the enemy waves your flag too.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 12:28:23 PM
On the other hand, John, it looks like Torontonians are becoming increasingly disenchanted with their union-friendly mayor. The public sector under his tenure has been one long job action, and I can't imagine the people have infinite patience.
Nor has the premier, for that matter, been able to prevent job action provincewide. He has furthermore presided over the almost complete breakdown of law and order in some places. "Fiddle and Ban" McGuinty has taken a page from Dave Miller's book and chosen to bury his head in the sand while issuing pre-recorded statements blaming the next level of government.
So naturally, ultimately, all of this is Stephen Harper's fault. You may be sure that the voters who elected these governments will look to themselves last for solutions. But perhaps that day is at last upon us. For Toronto's sake and Ontario's, it would be a very good thing.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-06-27 12:32:40 PM
If the military is called in to help clear garbage, I recommend each unit burn their colors and uniforms and disband themselves rather than submit to this disgrace AGAIN - saving the rich lazy people of Toronto from their own incompetence.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 12:38:53 PM
Not worth it.
Posted by: Capt (Ret'd) M.E. Smith | 2009-06-27 12:59:50 PM
This is getting way off topic. This civil strike can happen anywhere, it just happens to be Toronto. Bashing people that live there is not productive, or fair.
@ John Chittick //Are we getting the picture - tearing down leviathan is a little more involve than a ten second sound bite ("moving these services into the free market").//
That actually took me about 2 seconds to say out loud :) The free market is the solution to issues such as these.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 1:09:21 PM
I have some solutions for the garbage:
1) use the subway
2) throw the trash into the lake
3) send it the 905 area
4) just throw it in the street like they normally do.
5) send it to the non-white ghettos around Jane-Finch - who knows, all that garbage might make for good protection against bullets
6) dump it at every police station, firehouse, public library, transit depot, pool, and public school in the city.
7 - and my favorite) dump it at the Univ of Toronto, York U, Ryerson, and every elite private school in the city so that the rich people can deal with it.
A personal message to the Mayor of New York: I apologize for failing to appreciate the quality of public services in the city. They are truly excellent.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 1:27:24 PM
Dumping it at City Hall seems appropriate
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 2:59:50 PM
Indeed, someone like Lady Thatcher or Ronald Reagan would solve the problem rather quickly. Government monopolies were bad enough, but allowing government workers to be unionised was what created the mess.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-06-27 10:35:39 AM
Exactly right Alain.
"Entrenched Unionized Bureaucracy" is another reason voting is pretty much irrelevant. Nothing changes until the bureaucrats are accountible...and maybe even responsible...God forbid! ;)
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-27 3:07:47 PM
Not worth it.
Posted by: Capt (Ret'd) M.E. Smith | 2009-06-27 12:59:50 PM
Agreed. There's no point arguing with hate mongering and racism.
Thanks for your service.
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-27 3:09:36 PM
This is getting way off topic. This civil strike can happen anywhere, it just happens to be Toronto. Bashing people that live there is not productive, or fair.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 1:09:21 PM
Scott any time you mention Toronto, Zeb begins to froth at the mouth and spew hatred. There's almost no point in talking about the Liberal east on this blog as it becomes a reverse racist bunch of garbage very quickly. And all hope of reasonable discourse is lost when that happens.
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-27 3:12:55 PM
Indeed, someone like Lady Thatcher or Ronald Reagan would solve the problem rather quickly. Government monopolies were bad enough, but allowing government workers to be unionised was what created the mess.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-06-27 10:35:39 AM
i agree. i have a hard enough time accepting corporate unions as is (not voluntary unions but legislation protecting their existence).
civic unions are a different animal. i'm forced pay them, and at the same time they coerce me for more. i'm not saying we shouldn't have civil servants (servants... get it?), but the state should mandate that civic unions be made illegal.
and don't give me the argument "we pay taxes too". my taxes pay your wages.
Posted by: shel | 2009-06-27 3:43:28 PM
Given Ontario's bigotry, I recommend depriving the place of any government services. No more international travel, post office, passports, military, etc, until they repent and truly, honestly improve conditions for non-whites. I think that a few months living in the dark with no power or water ought to teach the fascists a lesson.
I also recommend using the military to forcibly integrate Toronto's schools, just like the events at Little Rock Central High School in 1957 when the elite 101st Airborne Division sent its soldiers to enforce federal laws. For shame, Toronto, shame!
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 3:44:04 PM
I also recommend using the military to forcibly integrate Toronto's schools, just like the events at Little Rock Central High School in 1957 when the elite 101st Airborne Division sent its soldiers to enforce federal laws. For shame, Toronto, shame!
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 3:44:04 PM
public schools, yes. private schools, no.
Posted by: shel | 2009-06-27 3:52:48 PM
ESPECIALLY the private schools - 50/50 from now on. The rich white kids are going to have to learn to live with other races.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 3:53:51 PM
ESPECIALLY the private schools - 50/50 from now on. The rich white kids are going to have to learn to live with other races.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 3:53:51 PM
Stalin would agree (then he would get rid of the rich kids).
Posted by: shel | 2009-06-27 4:02:53 PM
Fine by me. Less of those brats infecting the world the better. If only their parents could be brought before show trials, publicly denounced and then punished.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 4:07:31 PM
Fine by me. Less of those brats infecting the world the better. If only their parents could be brought before show trials, publicly denounced and then punished.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 4:07:31 PM
k.
Posted by: shel | 2009-06-27 4:20:11 PM
Zeb- My girlfriend's parents had that experience, in China. It's nothing to joke about.
Posted by: dp | 2009-06-27 4:40:57 PM
Lady Astor, the American-born British journalist once asked Stalin when the mass executions would cease. He replied "When they stop being necessary."
White Toronto deserves it.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 5:15:42 PM
Communist AND racist...batting 1000.
Now I remember why I pretty much breeze right by anything Zeb has to say. Communists and racists are not worth....
Posted by: The original JC | 2009-06-27 5:33:44 PM
@ Zeb //Given Ontario's bigotry,//
Collectivist nonsense. An entire provide full of people aren't one single voice.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 7:14:13 PM
I have no tolerance for racism, so I am not above moderating people that post such nonsense.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 7:28:39 PM
So you tolerate one racism but reject another. How sad.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-06-27 7:47:39 PM
Posts that contain racism or personal attacks will be edited or deleted.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 10:41:48 PM
Less of those brats infecting the world the better.
Posted by: Zebulon Punk | 2009-06-27 4:07:31 PM
Posts that contain racism or personal attacks will be edited or deleted.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-06-27 10:41:48 PM
However, posts that suggest that certain segments of the population should be liquidated are okay.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-06-28 1:30:35 AM
Just a thought ... If Toronto residents are really fed up being held hostage under mounds of garbage, why not simply dump your garbage off in front of those picket lines of striking civil servants? Similarly, why not dump your garbage off at municipal offices, police stations, the mayor's residence, the residence's of City councilors, etc.? Wouldn't that make cleanup easier once the strike is over? (Always think ahead!).
If anything, once opposing sides in this dispute are directly exposed to the rotting refuse they so flagrantly inflict on local citizenry, the smell alone might help remind them that their primary commitment is to the taxpayer!
Personally, and as a rural resident, I have no great love for the hopelessly gridlocked, multi-confused 'Big Smoke' or whatever misery its residents so willfully endure. It could be argued that the smell of rotting garbage is a noticable improvement. It's all part of the "Manhattanization" experiment you sewer rats were all so fond of.
Posted by: Russ | 2009-07-01 10:49:54 AM
Zebulon??? Is that a real name or is here a Klingon? Because I imagine that even in Alberta cities garbage is picked up by the municipality, be it via city workers or a private contractor selected by the municipality. Yes Toronto has what it deserves with David Miller and the NDP.
Yes part of the solution is contracting out some services. But if you listen to Zebulon and leave it up to each individual to take care of their own garbage I'm sure Zebby's place would be worst shit pile in the city.
Posted by: Wally | 2009-07-01 9:33:34 PM
The newspaper says that David Miller lives close to and passes High Park subway station every day on his way into work.
I would suggest leaving your garbage there at High Park subway station but at the Quebec Avenue entrance just north of Bloor Street West so you don't block the buses leaving from the High Park Avenue exit.
Please spread this around.
Posted by: Dan | 2009-07-02 9:10:07 AM
I don't understand what is so difficult about calling anyone of the waste disposal companies TODAY and getting the trash picked up. Many municipalities have private companies taking care of this service. Municipal unions cannot be trusted to ensure that this services continues interrupted. If the private company happens to strike move on to the next one. Eventually unions will choke the companies into losing their competitiveness (like the entire auto industry) and we will evolve into a true capitalist society. SUPPLY & DEMAND! No more socialist crap. Unions are not required in Ontario with the Employment Standards Act in place. Our tax dollars continue to rise and an alarming rate. Lets contract out all possible services currently run by municipal unions and lets reap the rewards of a tax decrease!
Posted by: DG | 2009-07-02 8:05:38 PM
I feel bad for the people of toronto. being held hostage every few years by this union. Someone should post the adresses of its members, you would have some new dump sites.
Posted by: glen | 2009-07-03 1:30:53 PM
As many residents of Toronto face the challenges that the current garbage strike has left them, one man has taken a new approach to a solution. Roofer Dave of Toronto has suspended his regular business tasks, and now offers residents a way to get rid of their trash in a safe and environmentally friendly way. Trash is collected for merely five dollars per twenty pound bag and taken to licenced disposal facilities for disposal (NOT THE CITY TEMPORARY DUMP SITES) Dave's plan is to ease the pain residents are feeling not add to it. According to Roofer Dave, "We are currently working on recycling efforts to divert as much as we can from land fills. We will have more on this as facilities get back to us." Finding Roofer Dave on his route is easy, simply follow @fivebucksabag on Twitter to see where and when he may be in your neighbourhood or contact him through his web site at www.fivebucksabag.com.
Posted by: Rags | 2009-07-05 12:45:56 PM
Have you ever claim car insurance or home insurance even there is nothing bad happen? If not, why would you claim the sick money from the government when you are not sick?
Posted by: ming | 2009-07-05 4:55:32 PM
WHAT YOU WROTE:
"Strikes would be resolved much quicker, since company owners know that everyday that goes buy while their employees are off the job, they loose customers"
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAD WRITTEN:
"Strikes would be resolved much quicker, since company owners know that everyday that goes BY while their employees are off the job, they LOSE customers"
A simple spellcheck, like a simple free market, is not the solution.
Posted by: Zack | 2009-07-06 8:18:54 AM
I been thinking :) oh ohhh
lol
Why dont we call the city of Michigan Mayor and maybe just maybe he can arrange his municiple workers to pick it up for us ( free on board )
Posted by: Graham | 2009-07-08 12:35:27 PM
"Why dont we call the city of Michigan Mayor..."? Is that like the President of the State of Los Angeles?
P.S. And don't try to tell me you were referring to Michigan, ND. Their entire population would fit into seven school buses.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-07-08 12:51:14 PM
I agree. Dump it all at city hall. Let them smell what kind of mess they support. people just have to take it into there own hands, and get together as a community and deal withthe garbage. screw the unions and there government monopolies.
But it is my bet that the people of toronto will still do nothing even as there children get sick and people start to die. all fro 18 sick days. come on sheeple wake up.
Posted by: krista zoobkoff | 2009-07-08 12:53:36 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.