- How much money do we have?

- How much money do we owe? (including Toronto's operating budget)

- How much money is going to come in? (tax revenue)

Once we know those answers, we can Move Forward.

We must;

- Keep Toronto's assets; selling Toronto Hydro is NOT an option, and neither is privatizing the TTC;

- Encourage multiple bids for Toronto's projects, including bids from unions and private enterprise (no more sole-sourced contracts);

- Monitor construction projects more closely; enforcing bid prices and keeping cost overruns to a minimum MUST become a priority.

- Outsource a very few services; it's been proven that, with the right oversight, privatization of garbage collection alone can save millions.

- Find new and radical ways to encourage private-sector "helps"; for a good example, click here to see my 100/1% Plan.

- Encourage our city workers, from emergency services to City Hall, to increase our pride and ownership of Toronto - click here to see how I want to encourage our employees to live here.

These "small" goals are all intended to help us work towards the "big" goal; the reduction of Toronto's more than $1 billion in debts - which cost us more than $400 million in interest alone per year.

We're not here to slash and burn; think "scalpel" instead of "axe". Some politicians are using "scare tactics", worried that Toronto will wind up like Detroit or Cleveland. That can only happen if we waste the money we do have - not by keeping spending money that we don't have.

Unfortunately, when it was pointed out that we don't have the money to build the $88m ice pads in the Portlands, Paula Fletcher said, "We'll let New Council worry about that." We can't keep feeding the alligators while hoping they'll eat us last.

Let's be smart about this - figure out how much money we have, work on reducing our debt (like any smart taxpayer) and then we can figure out what to spend it on.