Vaughan's economic growth 'staggering', Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua boasts

At 4 per cent growth, city outpacing both Ontario and Canada since 2011

Yorkregion.com
February 28, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua’s pride of his city was on full display during his 10th annual state of the city address Tuesday, Feb. 25.

While Bevilacqua didn’t coin a whole phrase such as “Vaughan Exceptionalism” at all, he hovered around it when he boasted about Vaughan’s economic growth rate average of four per cent, outpacing both Ontario and Canada since 2011.

"Vaughan's present and future development efforts embody a higher purpose. They reflect planning decisions rooted in convictions that seek to protect and elevate the exceptional quality of life for our citizens," Bevilacqua said.

His luncheon saw the attendance of about 800 business, government and community leaders as well as consulate generals and some trade mission representatives from 12 countries, including China, which saw a 6.6 per cent growth in its GDP in 2018-- the slowest pace since 1990.

The mayor reiterated how in 2019, “our city issued more than $1.3 billion in building permits -- exceeding the previous year,” marking the fifth year in a row Vaughan delivered more than $1 billion in building permits.

From 2010 to 2015, Bevilacqua told his audience that he is “happy” to report Vaughan’s family income rose by 20 per cent.

“These are staggering numbers anywhere in North America,” he said. “Since 2010, in the spirit of providing great government here in the City of Vaughan, we were able to achieve $30 million in budget savings.”

Sharing all these figures, Bevilacqua urged people to “take a great deal of pride because we as a government, as mayor, as members of council, we can provide the environment for you to prosper.

“We can reduce the red tape or blue tape, whatever colour it is, we can do all that,” the Liberal Bevilacqua said in reference to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s policy on driving business by cutting red tape.

“But at the end of the day, if we don't have people that are willing to seize the moment, people that believe in the city, people that believe in themselves, then these numbers would not be possible.”

Bevilacqua, who became Vaughan’s mayor in late 2010 after serving 22 years in parliament, said there is “always something special” about the people of the city.

“An attitude of gratitude that really permeates throughout our community,” he said.

“Cities that have failed have always been the cities that have not looked at the future, that have not addressed future needs.”

Immigration the main driver?

With a population of only 100,000 people, Vaughan became officially a city in 1991. Later known as the “City above Toronto,” Vaughan’s population reached 288,300 in 2011 and ballooned to 323,281 in 2017.

But it also reaped other honorary titles, such as the first city in the GTA, excluding Toronto, to get a subway in late 2017. Most importantly, it will add under its belt the new Mackenzie Hospital, the first hospital built in York Region in the last 30 years. Vaughan also saw the opening of the private Niagara University last year, which will soon start offering MBA courses besides its current education degrees, according to the mayor.

“Vaughan is just one part of the relatively fast growth in southern Ontario, and especially the GTA, compared to Canada as a whole,” Greg Albo, who teaches political economy in the Department of Political Science at York University, told the Vaughan Citizen in an email.

“This comes especially from international and national migration into S Ontario much faster than the rest of the country,” the associate professor and author Albo said.

In 2019, Canada welcomed the highest number of new immigrants in more than a century when it opened its doors to 341,180 people from 175 different countries.

A good chunk of these immigrants chose the GTA as their new home as that’s where the job density prevails. For example, 106,000 immigrants settled in the GTA in 2018, while just 31,000 made their homes in the rest of Ontario.

“As housing costs are radically climbing in Toronto and also land, a range of employment and residences have migrated to the outer suburban and ex-urban ring around Toronto,” Albo explained. “As the closest jurisdiction, and the province expanding transit access to Vaughan, this has aided development.”

Albo added a critical tone, saying: “A grade 7 class could be put in charge of Vaughan Council, and get the same growth.”

Question on quality of growth?

With all of this growth, professor Albo questions Vaughan’s “quality” of such governance, citing issues pertaining to “densification” or “ecological footprint” for example. Instead, he criticized “low development charges, corporate subsidies, and lax regulatory enforcement of workplaces” for “attracting investment on a negative basis enforcing negative social competition between regions in the GTA.”

While the City of Vaughan is adhering to the Provincial Growth Plan, which itself spurring high density development but also encouraging new homes to be built around public transit to reduce dependency on vehicles, Albo said lashingly, “It is difficult to give Vaughan governance high marks -- even passing marks — when these questions are considered.”

Unstoppable mayor

But Bevilacqua is relentless when it comes to building Vaughan. He told the attendees he is vying to bring a York University medical school into the heart of Vaughan amid education cuts the province is experiencing.

The mayor, who believes affordable housing is an “antiquated term” and touted “diversity housing options,” thanked “early adopters” who began building condos and office towers when others were “doubting” Vaughan’s “ability to absorb.”

Before Bevilacqua took to the podium, Brian Shifman, President and CEO of Vaughan Chamber of Commerce, described Vaughan’s growth as uncommon, and urged people to seize the opportunity.