Mayor Tory pleased with $167 million commitment from federal budget

Thestar.com
March 20, 2019
Francine Kopun

Mayor John Tory pronounced himself pleased with the federal budget released Tuesday, which includes $167 million in additional funding for Toronto, even though it did not address the $45 million hole in the city’s budget

“That ($167 million) is the biggest single sum that is committed in the budget to Toronto; that is our share of the gas-tax money and it will come this year and can be allocated to our transit needs,” said Tory, describing it as a “significant positive investment.”
Mayor John Tory describes the $167 million budget -- Toronto’s share of gas-tax money -- as a “significant positive investment.”

The funding essentially doubles the gas-tax funding in 2019, an election year.
Tory fended off questions about the city’s ongoing $45 million budget shortfall -- councillors approved a 2019 capital and operating budget that relies on $45 million in funding from the federal government towards shelter services for refugees, but whether and when that money will arrive remains unknown.

“The 2019 city budget made it explicitly clear that there was $45 million in ongoing costs to the city to provide shelter services to the ongoing unprecedented influx of asylum claimants,” Tory said at a press conference Tuesday evening, adding that the federal government recognized its responsibility in this area last year, giving $26 million to the city.

He said that while the federal budget did not speak directly to the issue, it is the subject of active discussions with the Government of Canada “at a senior level as recently as today.”

He said the city is also looking for additional funding for anti-violence initiatives.
The federal budget released Tuesday includes a one-time $2.2 billion transfer from the federal Gas Tax Fund to cities and towns across the country to address serious municipal infrastructure deficits and short-term priorities, of which Toronto has many, in particular, an underdeveloped transit system and a shortage of affordable housing.

The move effectively doubles the federal government’s transfers through the gas tax fund for 2019-20 to $4.4 billion nationally.

Municipalities praised not just the money but the fact that it’s coming straight from the Gas Tax Fund, to be deployed by municipalities as they see fit.

“It will be easy, it will be efficient,” said Vicki-May Hamm, mayor of Magog Quebec and president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which counts nearly 2,000 member municipalities, representing more than 90 per cent of the Canadian population.
Tory pointed to other new funds in the federal budget that will benefit Toronto, including a $10 billion expansion over nine years of the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, which provides low-cost loans for construction of new rental housing and $40 million for the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, established to help Toronto meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He said Toronto also expects to get a share of the $300 million for cities to help with the retrofitting of affordable housing and social housing units and praised measures brought in to help first-time home buyers that will reduce the cost of carrying a mortgage and will allow buyers to withdraw $35,000 -- up from $25,000 -- from their RRSPs in order to purchase a home.

A TTC report in January outlined $33.5 billion in capital investment required over the next 15 years to keep the system in a state of good repair and meet expected ridership growth.

The Relief Line subway, Eglinton East LRT, Waterfront LRT, and Mayor Tory’s SmartTrack plan are expected to cost at least $14 billion.