Toronto Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti wants city to become its own province

A city councillor believes other levels of government are not doing enough for the cash-strapped city and he wants Toronto to become its own province.

"We're getting stiffed by two levels of government on a regular basis," Coun. Giogio Mammoliti told the Toronto Sun. "It may be time for us to start thinking about acting on our own and becoming a province. I know people think it is a joke but we can't run this city on eight cents on the dollar."

He believes if the city were a province it would benefit from transfer payments from Ottawa and be able to have enough money to save programs that may go on the chopping block.

Mammoliti is not the first to bring up this idea. Former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman put forth the initiative in 1999, but later said it would be impossible under the Constitution.

Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Bill Murdoch also suggested the idea last year, but for a different reason. He says it makes sense because it will finally give people in rural Ontario a voice.

"The province is run totally by the mentality that is coming out of Toronto," Murdoch told the Brantford Expositor a year ago. "The government of the day can't get anything done because they are overruled by Toronto . . . Talk to the Toronto MPPs, they haven't got a clue as to what goes on up here."

With more than 2.5 million residents, if Toronto did become its own province, it would be the fifth largest, behind Alberta and ahead of Manitoba.

The Ward 7 councillor and former mayoral candidate says the increased amount of money that would come from Ottawa could go toward affordable housing, child care and infrastructure.

Mammoliti says Toronto makes the bulk of the money in Canada and only gets eight cents on the dollar in return to pay for the many services.

(Getty Images)