[toaster]

The Toronto boroughs should be allowed to prioritize transit, and be given a budget (based on a combination of geographical size and population) to fund those projects. This is part of the reason why high growth areas in the inner-suburbs (read Humber Bay Shores) don't get transit prioritized. It also makes it difficult to operate other public entities (e.g., education), as it becomes difficult to create and draw lines for multiple school boards within a single city (much different than operating and creating school boards with multiple cities in a single board). There is a reason why the TDSB has more issues with funding than any others in Ontario, considering they all follow the same funding formula.

Also RE: Ottawa, I remember a few years ago when the GTA got a funding announcement (not sure what it was for, but multiple cities were given funding), and when asked why Ottawa didn't get as much, the response from the province was that there were no surrounding communities to provide additional funding to. I think the response of the mayor was that it was because amalgamation was forced on them. Basically, an unamalgamated Ottawa would see more funds allocated to the area, as the total funds received from the province for anything, (transit, infrastructure, etc) would come in several chunks across the different cities, instead of one big chunk for one city (although less $$$ if you totalled what all areas unamalgamted would get).


One good example of annexation I would say would be what Barrie did recently. It was not a political move, it was simply because the city could not continue to grow given the land makeup they had.