{"id":4033,"date":"2011-12-13T01:32:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T06:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4033"},"modified":"2018-08-04T18:31:12","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T22:31:12","slug":"tuesday-december-13-2011-yesterday-and-today-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4033","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, December 13, 2011 \u2014 Yesterday and Today in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long time ago, Peter Usti\u00adnov described Toron\u00adto as \u201cNew York run by the Swiss.\u201d This was dur\u00ading one of the peri\u00adods when our city was con\u00adsid\u00adered a mod\u00adel for oth\u00aders [see my piece from five years ago<\/span><\/a> about that peri\u00adod]. But it was not the first time. While it has sagged and stag\u00adnat\u00aded at times, there were sev\u00ader\u00adal peri\u00adods when Toron\u00adto has been con\u00adsid\u00adered an epi\u00adcen\u00adter of progress and moder\u00adni\u00adty. Dur\u00ading those peri\u00adods, some able peo\u00adple rose in civic pol\u00adi\u00adtics. Nev\u00ader per\u00adfect peo\u00adple, but at least tal\u00adent\u00aded and rea\u00adson\u00adably civic-mind\u00aded. The sleeze\u00adballs, hacks and pinch-nosed bean-coun\u00adters were at least tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly eclipsed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that we live in a time when the lat\u00adter crowd have total domin\u00adion, it would be salu\u00adto\u00adry to remem\u00adber some exam\u00adples of bet\u00adter ones. This brings me to con\u00adsid\u00ader the inter\u00adest\u00ading career of William Pey\u00adton Hubbard.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>

William Pey\u00adton Hubbard<\/p><\/div>\n

Now he is prin\u00adci\u00adpal\u00adly known as the first promi\u00adnent African-Cana\u00addi\u00adan politi\u00adcian in Cana\u00adda, but that is not what inter\u00adests me. Hub\u00adbard only occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly act\u00aded as May\u00ador. It was his long career on the City Board of Con\u00adtrol and oth\u00ader admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtive posi\u00adtions that made his rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion as the \u201cGrand Old Man of Toron\u00adto\u201d long before he lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly<\/em> became the city\u2019s old\u00adest cit\u00adi\u00adzen in his retire\u00adment. The son of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan slaves who were smug\u00adgled into Cana\u00adda via the Under\u00adground Rail\u00adroad, Hub\u00adbard began with no greater ambi\u00adtion than to be a bak\u00ader. But he read exten\u00adsive\u00adly, and embraced var\u00adi\u00adous reform ideas then cur\u00adrent. One day, while strolling along the Don Riv\u00ader, he saw a swim\u00admer in dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty, and saved him from drown\u00ading. The man turned out to be George Brown, the founder of the Anti-Slav\u00adery Soci\u00adety and the Toron\u00adto Globe. As their friend\u00adship blos\u00adsomed, Brown urged him to enter civic pol\u00adi\u00adtics. Hub\u00adbard ran in an upscale neigh\u00adbour\u00adhood, and quick\u00adly made a name for him\u00adself oppos\u00ading inter\u00adests attempt\u00ading to \u201cpri\u00adva\u00adtize\u201d the water\u00adworks and hydro-elec\u00adtric utilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

He cul\u00adti\u00advat\u00aded and paved the way for Roland Cald\u00adwell Har\u00adris, the self-edu\u00adcat\u00aded engi\u00adneer, to build the most advanced munic\u00adi\u00adpal water sys\u00adtem of its day. Har\u00adris was a man cut from a sim\u00adi\u00adlar cloth to Hub\u00adbard. Har\u00adris had no for\u00admal qual\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtions, but he was pas\u00adsion\u00adate about build\u00ading a superb urban infra\u00adstruc\u00adture. His mas\u00adter\u00adpiece, the Har\u00adris Water Plant, still func\u00adtion\u00ading to this day, has been des\u00adig\u00adnat\u00aded a nation\u00adal his\u00adtoric civ\u00adil engi\u00adneer\u00ading site. His bridge over the Don was a tech\u00adni\u00adcal mir\u00ada\u00adcle of its time, and is the sub\u00adject of Michael Ondaat\u00adje\u2019s nov\u00adel In the Skin of a Lion<\/em>. He habit\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly referred to his work\u00admen in the city sew\u00aders as \u201cheroes,\u201d and was quot\u00aded as say\u00ading that \u201ca city is some\u00adthing into which men put their souls. Paving blocks and hydrants are ecto\u00adplasm. A drain well dug is as glo\u00adri\u00adous as an opera or a picture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anoth\u00ader pub\u00adlic ser\u00advant cul\u00adti\u00advat\u00aded by Hub\u00adbard was Charles Hast\u00adings. After his daugh\u00adter died of cholera from con\u00adt\u00ada\u00adm\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded milk, Hast\u00adings cam\u00adpaigned to make Toron\u00adto the first city in Cana\u00adda to Pas\u00adteur\u00adize milk. As Toronto\u2019s Health Offi\u00adcer, Hast\u00adings orga\u00adnized a pletho\u00adra of reforms that dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly low\u00adered the death rate in Toron\u00adto, in fact giv\u00ading it the low\u00adest urban death rate in North Amer\u00adi\u00adca. Dur\u00ading that peri\u00adod, Toron\u00adto was laud\u00aded by the League of Nations as the exem\u00adplar of urban progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is always dan\u00adger\u00adous to seek heroes in the past, since clos\u00ader exam\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion often reveals some dark or cor\u00adrupt con\u00adtra\u00addic\u00adtion. But this seems unlike\u00adly with Hub\u00adbard, whose long career was renowned from begin\u00adning to end for hon\u00adesty and devo\u00adtion to the pub\u00adlic good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we live in a dif\u00adfer\u00adent time. Nobody is like\u00adly to laud Toron\u00adto as the exem\u00adplar of any\u00adthing. I bumped into a busi\u00adness trav\u00adeller, recent\u00adly, from the Indi\u00adan State of Andhra Pradesh. After dis\u00adcussing Andhra, he asked me, per\u00adplexed, why the urban infra\u00adstruc\u00adture in Toron\u00adto was so back\u00adward. I could only be embar\u00adrassed. How could I tell him that there were no Hub\u00adbards, Har\u00adris\u00ades, or Hast\u00adingses around, and if there were, they would nev\u00ader be per\u00admit\u00adted to do any\u00adthing. This is our cur\u00adrent mayor:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I needn\u2019t go into the putrid details. We all know what kind of an ass this crea\u00adture is. Suf\u00adfice it to say that in every respect, he is the polar oppo\u00adsite of William Pey\u00adton Hubbard. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long time ago, Peter Usti\u00adnov described Toron\u00adto as \u201cNew York run by the Swiss.\u201d This was dur\u00ading one of the peri\u00adods when our city was con\u00adsid\u00adered a mod\u00adel for oth\u00aders [see my piece from five years ago about that \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,927],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ap-blog-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4033"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7643,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4033\/revisions\/7643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}