Toronto Mayor John Tory admits things have changed since he was a talk show host.
During his monthly appearance on NEWSTALK1010's The Rush, Tory addressed some old audio of him criticizing then-Mayor Rob Ford and Liberal finance minister Charles Sousa as they were in the middle of funding disputes.
"He (Ford) could save $50 million with his eyes closed if he got at that," Tory said at the time in 2013. "I would say to both of them, settle this, resolve it."
Tory of course is in his own battle with Premier Doug Ford over various cuts, which the city says retroactively totals $177 million for this year alone.
He said things change when you get into government.
"You can sit here in the splendid surroundings of this studio and say all this kinds of things about how easy it is," he said. "When you get into government and actually have the responsibility, it's not as easy as sometimes talk show hosts and commentators make it sound, I'll admit that."
Council recently voted 25-1 to request the province reverse its funding decisions.
Tory and several other councillors have said if the province doesn't change its ways, it could mean cutting services or increasing taxes.
"To suggest that we can go into a budget and find efficiencies is categorically wrong," council budget chief Gary Crawford told NEWSTALK1010 last week. "Very simply it's going to be major or severe service cuts or we're going to have to raise taxes."
The city has slammed the Ford Government's cuts to a variety of programs, but the cuts to Toronto Public Health have arguably been the most debated.
While the city says the cuts amount to $1 billion over 10 years, the province has said it won't come close to that amount.
"You continue to use misleading numbers that falsely raise the threat of Toronto cutting back on certain public health programs and services," Ford said in a letter to Tory April 30th. "I think anyone who has managed a budget would know that there are always opportunities to do things better."
Tory said he most recently saw Ford at a Special Olympics event where he voiced his displeasure at the municipal cuts.
"I said to him that the retroactivity part of this was just brutal," he said.
As for what Tory called for years ago between Ford and Sousa - a formal sitdown between the city and the province to discuss all cuts - he said the city is waiting.
"To date, they haven't even really answered our emails or my invitations given through the media or other ways we've done it on the phone through staff members," he said. "I'm ready willing and able to bring the books and to go through them line by line.