Priority to Get the Powers and Funding Needed for Toronto to Succeed

Background on this priority

The City’s intergovernmental activity and efforts are driven by three primary objectives. Keeping these broad objectives in mind gives us a yardstick to evaluate whether we’re moving forward and whether we’re making the best possible use of our limited resources.

The first objective is to secure additional powers of government commensurate with Toronto’s size, responsibilities, capacity and significance to Ontario and Canada. This entails an enhanced City of Toronto Act and improvements to other legislation which will:

reduce Toronto’s dependence on property taxes and user fees
allow Toronto to govern its own affairs and respond effectively to a wider range of community needs in a more timely fashion,
give Toronto the freedom to work with the Federal government on issues of mutual interest.

The second objective is to secure access to more financial resources and autonomy so that adequate investments can be made in Toronto’s social and physical infrastructure and so that Council is in a better position to address the priorities of local residents and businesses. Along with Canada’s other large urban centres, Toronto has been actively seeking:

full access to its own property tax base
a share of the Federal and Provincial gas tax revenue to support public transit and transportation
a share of Federal and Provincial taxes (e.g. sales and/or income) that grow as the economy grows, and
new funding arrangements for income-redistributive programs, such as social assistance and social housing. Income tax revenues, not local property taxes, should pay for income-redistributive programs.

The third objective is to secure a seat at the table as a rule, not the exception, when the Federal and Provincial governments are developing policy, program and budgets that significantly impact the City, especially with regards to public transit, affordable housing, infrastructure, child care, immigration, public health and community safety. This objective is both an end in itself and the means to making progress towards the other two objectives. It’s also free. Ultimately, this objective is about respect – respect for Toronto; respect for our city’s diversity; respect for the financial contribution our residents and businesses make to Ontario and Canada’s well-being; and, deep down, respect for the very principle of local democracy itself.

Collectively, reforms that meet these three objectives are known as the New Deal. The New Deal is really about a new relationship between the City and the Federal and Provincial governments. The overarching goal of this new relationship is to match municipal resources and responsibilities by securing:

Increased fiscal tools and resources (more money)
An improved legislative framework (more authority), and
A “seat at the table” of national and provincial change on issues of significance to cities (more respect)