Feb 22 - Council Budget Marathon

We are in to the second day of debating the Capital Budget. You won't hear much from me but you will hear plenty from councillors not on the Budget Advisory Committee. There is a fair degree of concern about how many capital improvement projects and how many building projects have been deferred.

This is the year that after long neglect, we must take delivery of new 250 new buses to increase service on suburban routes and replace some 24 year old vehicles. It is the first replacement in a very long time. Consequently, we've been fairly stringent about incurring debt elsewhere in the city's capital budget.

I will be speaking later when our BAC strategy for balancing the Operating end of things comes before the Council.

John Barber in the Globe and Mail has a great explanantion of the Business Tax mess this morning. See the Link below.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20050222.BARBER22/TPStory//?DENIED=1&brand