Nugget of reality in Rob Ford's comment on immigration?

I am an immigrant.

Toronto's vitality and excitement comes from diversity and "out of many one".

So I do not agree Toronto needs to be an immigrant free zone -- in fact, if that is what Rob Ford actually meant, it is deeply offensive. 

But ... it is true that Toronto has an infrastructure of a city of a million and the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area ("GTHA") is three times that going to four or five times that.

And that growth is inevitable -- and saying we should put a giant wall around southern Ontario's centre is preposterous! 

Put another way, even if immigration to Canada stopped tomorrow people from Pembroke and Halifax and Cape Dorset would still come to the GTHA and continue its growth.

So what is to be done?

We can't stop the growth (and blaming "the immigrants", while a traditional concept, is just silly). So maybe we should try to create the infrastructure a city of 5,000,000 needs.

Regular readers will know I like Rocco Rossi for Mayor -- but regardless of my preferences look to who has a practical plan for public transit. Who has a plan for neighbourhood parks and policing and garbage collection?  Who can suggest ways to limit environmental degradation?

We can't stop growth -- we shouldn't even try to lock the city gates -- but we can try to make growth work and keep the GTHA the place we want it to be.