Toronto coordinating with other GTHA municipalities on economic recovery: Tory

CP24.com
April 22, 2020
Joshua Freeman

Mayor John Tory said Monday that Toronto will coordinate its economic recovery efforts with the other municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. 

Tory met Tuesday with the mayors and regional chairs of the GTHA to discuss their common goals as they look toward the region’s eventual economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We've been hit hard but that's why it is so important that we keep moving forward and come back as soon as possible and as strong as possible,” Tory said.

He said the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area is projected to lose 355,000 jobs because of the pandemic, along with $894 million in lost wages and $3.7 billion in revenue losses for businesses.

“This will be felt right across the GTHA but it also threatens the provincial and national economies,” Tory said. “As mayors, we agreed today that we are determined to deliver this recovery and the GTHA municipalities will be working together to successfully and smoothly reopen our vital regional economy when the time comes.”

Cities are reeling from direct revenue losses associated with the pandemic, as well as business and income losses among residents. Tory has said repeatedly that municipalities will be looking to higher levels of government for help through the crisis.

He said Tuesday that he and his counterparts discussed how best to achieve “significant, necessary financial support from the other governments to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and protect our ability to contribute to the recovery.”

Tory said the mayors also agreed that the municipalities would share information about their financial positions so that they can better advocate to higher levels of government.

“A strong recovery needs strong cities and strong regions. Our regional economy is very integrated, so this opportunity to work together and stand together will hopefully produce a better overall result,” the mayor said.

However Tory stressed that the municipal leaders also agreed that any reopening of the economy must be done on the advice of medical and public health professionals.

“The mayors and chairs were very much of the view that the time has not yet come and that we need to bear down on the advice of our respective medical officers of health to beat this virus back and that there is work yet to be done,” Tory said.

Questions around when economies might reopen have swirled in recent days, but local, provincial and federal leaders have all said that any reopening cannot be rushed.

There may be glimmers of hope, however.

Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, said Tuesday that she believes the city is currently in the peak period of its community outbreak. She praised city residents for doing their part to reduce the number of cases by staying home. However she cautioned that the peak can be difficult to properly assess.

“I use the term ‘peak period’ because a peak is really not just one day, nor is it one number, as the number of cases on any day during the peak will vary,” de Villa said. “The reality is that we will only know when we have hit our peak for COVID-19 cases after it has passed.  This is because we need to see the number of new cases levelling and then going down to know that we have experienced this milestone and see exactly what has occurred.” 

She said she is cautiously optimistic that the city has seen its curve flattening, but stressed that the city’s success in combatting the virus continues to rely on people practicing social distancing measures and staying home as much as possible.

The need to dispense with those measures will only come when researchers determine that there is sufficient “herd immunity” among the population or when there is a vaccine that will prevent people from contracting the virus, de Villa said. 

The city also said Tuesday that it has received a shipment of 3 million ASTM Level 2 surgical masks to bolster its supply of personal protective equipment for frontline workers. Tory said the masks have been inspected and are up to standards.