I’m going to interrupt my regularly scheduled programming of Oxford pictures for a rant.

As all of you all know, I take the 53 Steeles East bus everyday to and from work, and I have noticed for a while now that there are no garbage/recycle bins at any of the bus stops along Steeles from Warden to about Markham Road.

Many of these stops are infested with beverage cups, burger wrappers— you name it. The situation gets worse when people attempt to place their garbage in those free media boxes (i.e. the Big Yellow Box), which means the garbage is never collected.

I am not a big fan of The Fixer, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and make a few phone calls.

I figured that because the bus stops going westbound are north of Steeles, it should be within Markham’s jurisdiction to take care of it. After being transfered several times, I was told that because TTC operates the Steeles route, it is the City of Toronto’s responsibility.

Fine.

I found out that it is the responsibility of transportation services in the Scarborough district—now the “East District”—to look after public garbage bins, and gave them a call. I was told that it was Markham’s responsibility, because it is north of Steeles.

So now what?

My garbage bin dilemma is great example of the problems related to today’s municipal structure— this lack of coordination spreads from all areas such as the provision of capital infrastructure and social services, as well as dealing with growth and environmental management.

You can use pesticides in York Region, but not in Toronto. What good is that for the environment when we reside in the same watershed? My closest library is actually the Alton Towers branch— but I cannot use it because I’m not a Toronto resident. I take the TTC everyday to work, but as a Markham resident, I don’t contribute to transit subsidies. All GTA municipalities essentially function as one economic unit, so why should we be governed separately? It all seems so counter-intuitive.

This is why I’m so keen on better regional planning. I truly believe that a GTA regional governance structure— an superimposed regional council including Toronto, York, Peel, Durham and Halton— will really help to even out the playing field for Greater Toronto.

This idea is nothing new, the Greater Toronto Services Board was created by the conservative government in 1998 “to promote and facilitate co-ordinated decision making among the municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area”, but was disbanded in 2002 after huge criticisms that it was “hobbled by a small budget, (and) a fuzzy mandate.”

Surely there are some tweaks that need fixing for the GTSB, but I believe that the provincial Conservatives were onto something—they simply gave up too soon. If we provided it (1) authority over land-use planning (2) increased taxing powers, (3) oversees all regional services equitably. The third point may be harder than I make it sound, but I won’t go any further, as this topic is a thesis in itself.

As for my garbage dilemma, there continues to be a tug-of-war between the two municipalities and the City of Toronto will get back to me when they have resolved the issue, but when?

Until then, garbage will continue to fill newspaper boxes. It’s a great day for Toronto.

Update- June 13:
City of Toronto got back to me, and informed me that they will be taking care of both sides of Steeles Ave when it comes to garbage bins. But, at this time, the City is out of bins to install, we will have to wait until a new shipment will arrive. She could not tell me a date in which it will be installed.

Developing the Framework for a Greater Toronto Services Board - [mah.gov.on.ca]
Regional planning and transit: adequate funding is the key - [transport2000qc.org]
Neglect breeds sprawl - [eye.net]
Greater Toronto Services Board Act, 1998 - [e-laws.gov.on.ca]