Shaping the future of our cities

The municipal elections this fall are a chance to shape your vision for your city.

Thestar.com
Aug. 8, 2022

Municipal election campaigns start slowly in the spring, when candidate registration opens, and build through the relaxed days of summer toward voting day in October.

They don’t have the frenetic pace of provincial or federal campaigns. Nor do they get the same attention from voters, at least judging from who decides to cast a ballot. In the 2018 municipal election, turnout was 41 per cent in Toronto, 38 per cent in Oakville and Markham and under 30 per cent in Vaughan, Mississauga and Oshawa.

But make no mistake: the votes we cast for mayors, councillors and school trustees -- this year, on Oct. 24 -- are no less important than our choices for MP or MPP.

How our municipalities perform impacts our quality of life, from policing to garbage and recycling pickup, the state of our roads, vital social services and assistance for the most vulnerable among us.

Each city in the Greater Toronto Area has its own unique set of challenges. But they share many as well.

There’s the question of how we get around -- whether by car on congested highways, GO Transit, TTC or regional services -- and what investments are needed to smooth those daily commutes.

There’s the state of our social infrastructure, such as community centres, swimming pools and parks. How can the institutions of our cities be part of the solution, rather than the problem, in tackling social and racial inequality?

There are the challenges of responsibly balancing urban growth with environmental and community concerns. Cities bear the impacts of extreme weather events, from heat waves to floods. They are playing an important role in combating climate change. Toronto, for example, has set a 2025 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent from 1990 levels, and achieving net zero by 2040.

How can GTA communities be a home for residents of all income levels? The issue of housing affordability is particularly acute. Rents are up by 20 per cent over the last year across the GTA. Home prices remain out of reach for many, despite the interest rate hikes that have cooled the market.

That has a profound effect on Toronto and the surrounding region, its livability, its appeal for residents and businesses. In the case of Toronto, Canada’s biggest city risks becoming home only for those privileged with a pay cheque big enough to afford it.

Addressing this challenge should be one of the key topics in this campaign. The solution will involve boosting the housing stock with a variety of housing options across the price spectrum, aided by a streamlined planning process that balances concerns of residents with the urgent need for more housing.

This election is certain to produce a different council in Toronto, if only because so many veterans have called it quits -- seven so far.

It was known that Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s 2018 edict to cut the size of Toronto council -- to 25 councillors from 47 -- would have a dramatic effect on how the city governs itself. The toll on the councillors themselves was perhaps not predicted. Yet the reduction in council numbers meant an increase in the size of each ward -- and with it, a spike in work for the councillors who remained.

Councillors have upwards of 100,000 residents in their wards, each the equivalent of a small town. Announcing his decision to leave, Mike Layton, a 12-year veteran, said the change has meant less time to engage on community issues. Joe Cressy also cited the workload as one factor in his 2021 decision to leave. It’s a daunting challenge, and a reminder of how Ford’s move has undermined local democracy.

Several of the councillors will be missed. But their departures does open the door to new blood and fresh perspectives.

John Tory is running for a third term as mayor. Voters will have to assess his eight years at the helm. At last count, 14 candidates have signed up to challenge him, including Gil Penalosa, an urban planner who’s been campaigning on a progressive agenda.

Weighing on the vote for mayor this election is the knowledge that the next mayor will have more powers to push through their agenda. Ford has promised new but as yet undefined powers for the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto.

The move has the potential to be helpful to advancing the city’s agenda. But it’s no magic wand for the reality that the city lacks the revenue tools it needs. The result is an annual fiscal scramble of penny-pinching and cap-in-hand appeals to higher governments.

The pandemic has exacerbated the problem. Lost revenues and added costs have combined to produce an estimated shortfall of $857 million for 2022. It underscores the need for a more sustainable revenue model.

Toronto has other pandemic problems to navigate. Chief among them is the hybrid workplace and its many implications. Fewer employees spending their day in an office has a range of impacts, from transit ridership to underused office space and the economic consequences for the multitude of small businesses that once relied on the daily influx of workers, such as food court outlets and dry cleaners.

A report by the Toronto Region Board of Trade and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board released earlier this year concluded that work patterns would be permanently transformed. “What is clear is that some post-pandemic reinvention of Toronto’s downtown core will need to take place to bring in new and different types of visitors,” it stated.

The Star’s editorial pages will explore these and other issues in the run-up to election day. What future do you desire for your city? The coming election is your chance to shape that vision.