Preville on Politics
House poor indeed
Posted on February 20, 2008 by Philip Preville
Anyone who feels trapped by their mortgage will want to read the cover story in the March edition of Toronto Life (which, alas, is not available on-line, but is on newsstands now). It’s worth the cover price. I mention this partly to plug my employer, but mostly because, between the magazine’s cover story and the articles in my morning newspaper, I feel like everything I read these days has been lifted from The Journal of Shrinking Living Standards. It’s hard to name a household staple whose costs aren’t rising.
Oil prices closed above $100 a barrel yesterday, which will have a negative effect on everybody’s bottom line (except, of course, for oil companies). The price of wheat is going through the roof, which has me wondering when the $5 loaf will become the standard. Water prices in Toronto recently went up by over nine per cent. Everything about home ownership is more expensive, from structural maintenance to taxes. Milk prices have remained relatively stable—at least in some parts of the country (not so in Quebec)—though we arguably still pay too much for it. It’s nice in theory to have a loonie that trades near par with the US dollar. It makes for a cheap Florida or Arizona vacation, if you can afford one.
Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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Dan Dickinson February 20, 2008 at 9:15 p.m.
If the premise of the article had been, as you said, "It's hard to name a household staple whose costs aren’t rising," I would have found it more valuable. All I learned from reading the article is that being bad at math will get you on the cover of Toronto Life.
CityGirl416 March 8, 2008 at 3:43 p.m.
I recently read the article and can't agree more! I find myself in a bidding war weekly... and I'm not even being cheap offering close to $500/sq ft to live in the downtown core! I'm beginning to seriously re-evaluate what it truly means to be a "homeowner". My parents have always emphasized the importance of having something to call your own, it's all part of growing-up and why make the landlord rich... but I'm not about to sacrifice my youth by being chained to this mortgage leash. Being able to look out a 10 ft bay window with a picture perfect view of the city skyline certainly is nothing short of stunning... but I want to go outside and play too!