Mayor John Tory wants feds to help push Queen's Park on transit and housing funds
The Toronto mayor was in Ottawa to put pressure on the province to match the billions of dollars in transit funds committed by Trudeau’s government.

TheStar.com
Alex Ballingall
June 1, 2017

John Tory is bringing his beef with Queen’s Park to Parliament Hill.

The Toronto mayor was in the capital Thursday to try and project a common front with the federal government — and a host of other municipal leaders — in his spat with Ontario over funding for priority transit projects and social housing. Tory wants Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government to match the billions expected from Ottawa as part of its multi-year infrastructure and housing investment push.

“The problem is that as the federal government comes in the front door, it would seem the government of Ontario is trying to scuttle out the side door,” Tory told the Star.

“You have to put them in constraints to keep them at the table, and they certainly won’t step up and commit to the funds necessary to build those projects. And I wonder why,” Tory said.

The mayor has accused Wynne’s government of shortchanging the city for months, memorably despairing in January that he’s treated like a “little boy” asking Queen’s Park for money, after the province blocked the city’s plan to put road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

Earlier this month, Wynne defended her government’s contributions to transit and housing in Toronto, citing billions spent on projects like the Spadina subway extension. The province is also looking to build Canada’s first defended, which would eventually run from Windsor to Toronto, pledging $15 million for an environmental assessment.

The question of funding has gained intensity as the federal government pledges $186 billion over 12 years for transit, housing and other infrastructure projects. At issue Thursday, when Tory attended the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ meeting in Ottawa, was an effort to create a new finance-sharing scheme for major transit projects.

The idea that Tory supports, along with the mayors of Montreal, Edmonton, Ottawa and other cities, is for the provinces and Ottawa to each fund 40 per cent of a project’s cost, with the relevant city kicking in the remaining 20 per cent.

Tory said he wants to see this “40-40-20” formula for big ticket Toronto transit projects like the downtown relief line, Eglinton East LRT and Waterfront network. The city expects to get some $5 billion from the federal government to build new transit in the coming years, and Tory essentially wants Queen’s Park to match this.

Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi said Thursday that he recognizes the fiscal constraints on Canadian municipalities, who have traditionally paid a third of the cost of large projects. He said he would work with the provinces to find the “appropriate” level of funding they can contribute.

“The work that we want to do as a federal government (and) the outcomes that we want to achieve are not possible if we don’t have a strong working relationship with our provincial partners,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tory also criticized the provincial government for a lack of funding toward social housing in Toronto. The 2017 provincial budget did not include any money for the $2.6 billion repair backlog at Toronto Community Housing, while this year’s federal budget promised more than $11 billion over 11 years.

“We need help, and we need the partnership of all three governments to make sure our most vulnerable residents are housed properly,” Tory said, adding that on both housing and transit, he feels the federal government and municipalities can pressure the provinces to pull out their wallets.

“I think that’s going to have a powerful positive effect. But the outcome, we’ll have to see.”