Growth plan, big move: employment data missing

NRU
April 5, 2017
By Leah Wong

The provincial reviews of the Growth Plan and the Big Move provide an opportunity to ensure transit investments are directed to the right places in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. However, planning researchers say the proposed amendments fail to take into account the region’s changing employment patterns that influence travel patterns and transit use.

Speaking to participants of a Clean Economy Alliance webinar Tuesday, Neptis Foundation executive director Marcy Burchfield said a coordinated vision for employment growth in the region is missing from the proposed Growth Plan amendments.

“The current amendments are lacking in addressing a regional approach to employment,” said Burchfield. She added that much of the planning for employment in the region has been driven by municipalities.

To ensure transit investments are targeted to the right places, a more coordinated approach to planning for employment is needed.

Employment locations are the “other side of the trip” for many transit users, Burchfield noted. As well having transit access is necessary to get people out of their cars.

Metropole Consultants principal Pamela Blais told participants that the review of provincial land use and transportation plans offer an opportunity to gauge whether or not proposed transit will effectively connect people to their jobs.

“There are huge changes going on in the region in terms of employment,” said Blais. “We are losing those low-skilled, routine jobs...in manufacturing...And there is huge growth in skilled and highly-skilled jobs in nonmanufacturing sectors.”

The changes in employment have led to the creation of “employment megazones,” located near expressways, and “suburban knowledge-intensive districts,” clusters of highly skilled firms in suburban areas, Blais said. More jobs have been added to these areas than in the urban growth centres outside the City of Toronto.

While there is regional transit to Toronto Pearson Airport - one of the megazones - Blais said there isn’t adequate service to the nearby knowledge districts. As a result travel to these locations is primarily by car.

So far, there has been no indication that the province will try to gain a better understand of the employment trends as part of the reviews, Burchfield said. By understanding what is happening with employment, the province can better plan its regional economy to meet other provincial priorities such as reducing carbon emissions.

The linkage between priorities is a key part of The London Plan (UK), which Blais said is the best example of a regional plan that integrates economic, land use and environmental issues into one set of policies. As well, there is ongoing research to track the plan’s implementation, with a monitoring report released annually.

In the Greater Golden Horseshoe, however, there has been “a staggering lack of evidence for the planning we are doing in this region,” Blais said. She noted that while the province created performance indicators as part of the review, most of the focus was on consultation.

“There has been no work completed to get ahead of the game on things such as changing employment patterns and ensuring that transit investments will get the best results,” said Blais.