Mayor John Tory said during the election campaign that he supported the Strong Mayors Act that reallocates powers formerly exercised by city council to the mayor, including the power to set the city’s budget. Now he gets what he wants and he’s right in the soup.
On Dec. 8, Bill 39 was officially voted into existence by the provincial government in Queen’s Park.
The legislation states that the head of council shall, in accordance with the regulations, prepare a proposed budget for the City. Any changes city council makes to the mayor’s budget can be vetoed by the mayor. Provincial regulations will probably be restrictive, given how Premier Ford has treated Toronto in the past.
Mayor Tory’s problem is that the city is at least $800 million short of the balanced budget required by provincial law. With Bill 23, the More Housing Built Faster Act, Toronto could lose a further $200 million a year in development charges, so the mayor could be looking for about $1 billion in new money and/or budget cuts.
During his eight years as mayor, John Tory has consistently taken the approach that the property tax increase should be at or less than the rate of inflation. He has consistently asked that city departments reduce spending, except of course for the police service, which has been rewarded with a budget increase every year. After eight years of reductions, city departments are suffering, and the city is in a state of decline.
Toronto is seeing more informal housing — people sleeping in tents — even as condo towers are built in record numbers. Economic inequality is a serious problem, and the city seems powerless to deal with it.
Mayor Tory has made appeals for financial help to the provincial and federal governments. The provincial penchant is to reduce revenues, as in cancelling driver’s licence fees, at a cost of more than $1 billion a year or reducing gas taxes, costing another billion, or giving money away, as in grants of $200 per pupil to parents at a cost of almost $1 billion, rather than using its budget surplus to fund hospitals, affordable housing, education or municipalities.
It would be very surprising if Premier Ford agreed to provide more than $100 million to Toronto. That won’t go far.
The federal government has no direct relationship with municipalities that are a provincial responsibility, and it can easily rebuff the mayor’s cries for help. If the feds respond positively to Toronto, can it deny other cities that are in a similar financial bind?
What is Mayor Tory to do? He could form an alliance with other Ontario mayors to pressure the province. But that’s not his style: he acts on his own, hoping that his personal skills and being a nice guy will win the day.
Worse for the mayor, there are many new councillors who will not agree to further chopping away at city services. There’s a raft of new energy on council including Amber Morley, Jamaal Myers, Alejandra Bravo and others along with the steady hands Josh Matlow, Gord Perks and Shelley Carroll ready to define the financial issues and challenge the mayor. Fireworks? Who knows.
A strong mayor subject to provincial control will not stem the decline. The city has neither the money nor the power to find a way out. To avoid the more obvious decline of what has been a successful city we will need some direct action by councillors and by residents.
John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto. His most recent books are How We Changed Toronto and Crisis in Canada’s Policing.
