Help us repair the Gardiner, DVP and social housing units, John Tory demands of province
In a letter to Ontario's Finance Minister Charles Sousa ahead of the spring budget, Toronto Mayor John Tory outlines his budget demands.

thestar.com
By DAVID RIDER
April 4, 2017

Toronto Mayor John Tory’s provincial budget demands include help with repair bills for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, as well as money to help build transit and repair Toronto Community Housing units.

Tory outlines what he expects in a letter to provincial Finance Minister Charles Sousa, released by his office Tuesday morning ahead of the spring budget, that pointedly references Premier Kathleen Wynne’s decision to veto tolls on the city-owned highways after originally agreeing to permit them.

“First and foremost, the city needs the province to become a full partner in cost-sharing of major infrastructure investments going forward,” Tory writes, repeating recent statements that he expects Ontario to match federal funds pledged in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent budget.

“We expect that the province will provide appropriate matching funds for each program, and include the city in any discussions with the federal government regarding how these funds will be allocated.”

Ottawa has pledged nationally, over 11 years, $20 billion for transit and $11.2 billion for housing. Toronto does not yet know its share.

To “maintain Toronto’s economic and social vibrancy,” Tory writes, the city’s most critical infrastructure priorities are:

Building new transit lines including the Eglinton East LRT, waterfront transit and the downtown relief line;
Investing in social housing to attack TCH’s $2.7-billion repair backlog after “years of underfunding;”

“Recognizing your obligation, given the premier’s recent announcements rejecting our tolling proposal, to help us pay to maintain the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway as key regional transportation corridors.”
Tory also urges Sousa to make changes so that Toronto can introduce a previously-announced new tax on hotel rooms and Airbnb-style short-term accommodation.

Toronto’s requests “reflect the needs of nearly 3 million Ontario residents as well as the well-established public financing principle that social programs and large-scale infrastructure projects . . . should not be funded from the local property tax base alone,” the mayor concluded.

After a mid-March meeting with Sousa, Tory told reporters in March the provincial-city relationship cannot be “business as usual” following Wynne’s decision late last year to yank tolls off the table as she faced a revolt within her own caucus and warnings tolls would cost her 905-belt seats in the 2018 provincial election.

A stung Tory said at the time of her flip-flop that he would leverage Wynne’s decision to force Ontario to help fill the resulting gap of billions of dollars in revenue in coming years.

Tory also told recently told Sousa that Toronto could not make it a priority to extend the Yonge St. subway line north into York Region - a political priority for Wynne’s Liberals - until the city has pledges for funding to build a new line to relieve dire crowding on that line.

There is no mention of the northward subway push in Tory’s letter.