Toronto’s Unfinished Business

The local and provincial governments serving Toronto have finally agreed to allocate a significant bit of cash for a grandiose set of architectural and cultural plans which aim to revitalize Canada’s largest city. But even as art lovers rejoice over the influx of public money, observers are quietly noting that the government’s CAN$232 million is a drop in the bucket compared with what’s needed to stabilize the city’s major cultural players. From the National Ballet to the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto’s arts groups are still in need of nearly half a billion dollars of additional investment.