By Paul Oxley

I’m a Torontonian. Having lived in this city for sixty years, I have been witness to many changes here. My first memories go back to the early fifties; in the streets it was a city of immense steam-shovels, belching black smoke and horse drawn delivery services. Then later with the immigration from the late fifties to the present, the face (and faces) of Toronto changed.

Then came our ever-changing city skyline—first commercial towers and now the new condominium skyscrapers. Toronto’s become more cosmopolitan and I have grown to love it even more; long gone are the days of the waspish, ‘never on Sunday’ Toronto of the fifties and sixties.

Some of the latest changes haven’t been so pleasant such as municipal, provincial and federal austerity measures. We’re being told by our civ