Premier Doug Ford says he agrees that the City of Toronto needs a “new deal” for ongoing funding after holding a meeting with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow Monday, but says he’s not in favour of any new taxes that would help Toronto dig itself out of a fiscal hole.
Ford and Chow held a meeting at Queen’s Park Monday in their first substantive meeting since Chow took office earlier this summer.
Following the meeting, the two said they had agreed to establish a “new-deal working group with a mandate to achieve long-term stability and sustainability of Toronto’s finances.”
“Toronto’s deep financial challenges are no longer sustainable,” Ford said in a statement. “Toronto is a major contributor to Ontario and Canada’s economic success. Governments need to work together to deliver solutions that protect services, avoid new taxes and put the city on a path toward long-term financial stability. I look forward to working with Mayor Chow to build a stronger Toronto and ensure it remains an economic engine for Canada.”
Toronto City Council had recently voted to explore a range of new revenue options to deal with a $1.5 billion shortfall. Some of those options, such as a municipal sales tax or tolls, would require provincial approval.
While Ford acknowledged that Toronto needs a new long-term funding framework, he said he is not in favour of implementing any new taxes.
“I just don’t believe we should be raising taxes in the situation that people are feeling the pressure on increases in grocery costs, increasing gas costs, mortgages,” Ford said.
For her part, Chow said the “City of Toronto really doesn’t care where the money comes from” and said shared responsibility for major expenses like highways, shelters, child care or public transit could also be a way of helping the city without implementing new local taxes to increase city revenue.
However she said “the percentage has to be right. It has to be sustainable.”
Both Ford and Chow said they want the federal government to come to the table to be part of the new deal working group and said they are hopeful there will be an interim report from the group in November.
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