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If you work inside the clamshell at City Hall, it must sometimes seem that the barbarian is at the gates. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier, Doug Ford, has strong ideas about the city where he grew up. Since taking office a year ago, he has rolled over the city government again and again to ram through changes to how Toronto is run.

First, he introduced a law in the middle of an election campaign to cut the size of city council in half. Then, he moved to seize ownership of Toronto’s subways. Then, he threw out a mass transit plan that was years in the making and presented a back-of-the-napkin plan of his own. Now, he wants to rip up the city’s planning blueprints to allow more tall buildings in key spots.

Because of all this, a kind of siege mentality has taken hold in the clamshell. Everything that comes from Queen’s Park is seen as an assault on the city. If it comes from Mr. Ford, it must be bad. In fact, at least a few of the things his government is doing could make life better in the country’s biggest city.

Take his decision to let corner stores sell beer and wine. This should have happened years – decades – ago. The liquor-retailing regime in Ontario is hopelessly out of date. A botched reform by the last government brought beer and wine to some selected supermarkets, but kept tight controls on hours of sale and left most of the trade in the hands of two hulking giants: the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and the Beer Store.

Expanding sales to corner stores will make life a little easier for the busy residents of a round-the-clock city. It will help thousands of small businesses, many of them run by struggling newcomers to Canada. They will now enjoy a big boost to their trade.If the Ford government has to go to court to fight the three-headed private conglomerate that runs the Beer Store, so be it. Visit just about any other big-league city you can think of, from Montreal to Paris, from Beijing to San Francisco, and you can step into a convenience store for a bottle of wine to take to a friend’s place. Why not Toronto?

Now, consider the government’s move to allow more tall buildings at transit hubs. This, too, should have happened long ago. Mass transit works best in dense cities where people live and work close to major lines. Hong Kong’s highly successful transit system has clusters of heavy development around most stops. Toronto has done a very poor job of promoting this “transit-oriented” development. That the Ford government is embracing it is welcome news. Who would have thought that a suburban politician who has often condemned the “war on the car” would turn out to be a champion of tall buildings around mass transit?

For that matter, who would have thought that a populist who heads a government “for the people” would be standing up to the Not in My Backyard lobby? Some of the fiercest opposition to Mr. Ford over this move will come from the residents groups and allied local politicians who see every high-rise as the end of urban civilization. Mr. Ford’s Municipal Affairs Minister, Steve Clark, told The Globe and Mail that “as a politician, it’s very difficult, because I am looking out for those people who don’t live in those neighbourhoods right now, who don’t have that voice.”

It is precisely what a far-sighted government should be doing: thinking of future residents as well as current ones, considering the city’s future shape instead of just trying to freeze-dry its current one. If a booming metropolis such as Toronto is to house all the people who want to live here, it is going to have let builders build – and fast. Building at transit hubs in midtown and downtown only makes sense.

Another sensible move from the Ford government should smooth the process. It is bringing back the Ontario Municipal Board, if not under that name. The last government caved in to pressure from local politicians and stripped the board of many of its powers, giving local governments greater say. That would have empowered NIMBYs and slowed the construction of new housing. Now, the planning tribunal will regain much of its authority to rule on proposed developments.

Those who labour in the clamshell are right to look at Mr. Ford’s ideas with a healthy skepticism. Blind opposition is something else. If they open their eyes and peer out of the shell from time to time, they might just find that, once in awhile, something his government does is actually good for the city.

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