Toronto says the party’s back on after cancelling plans for Canada Day due to funding challenges

The announcement was a quick change from the email sent to volunteers Tuesday, when the city informed them the event was cancelled because it didn’t have the cash to pay for it.

thestar.com
May 25, 2023

Toronto says the party’s back on after initially cancelling plans for Canada Day celebrations at Nathan Phillips Square due to funding challenges.

“There will be dozens of Canada Day celebrations across the city on July 1 including in Nathan Phillips Square and Mel Lastman Square,” said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie in a statement. “I want to thank the City Manager for taking quick action to make sure we celebrate Canada Day and continue to encourage people to gather together and enjoy Toronto.”

It’s a quick change from the email sent to volunteers Tuesday, when the city informed them the event was cancelled because it didn’t have the cash to pay for it. Or, as one Redditor put it in response to the email, “tldr (too long; didn’t read) we broke.”

The city told volunteers Tuesday via email the funds secured for the event at Nathan Phillips Square weren’t enough to pay for the “standard of program” the event and its participants deserve.

“While the federal funding for previous year’s has been sufficient to support the program activities, changes in location, communications priorities, escalating costs for necessary program supports, and constraints in the City’s budgets in a fiscally complex year, require a very conservative approach to planning,” the email to volunteers reads.

In a statement to the Star, the city once again cited “resource constraints,” but added there would still be a fireworks display at Ashbridges Bay on Canada Day, and, leading up to the day, the Na-Me-Res Pow-Wow and Indigenous Arts Festival at Fort York from June 17 to 18.

Just one day later on Wednesday, the city says it plans to welcome back the volunteers they told were not needed “as soon as possible,” and city staff will work using existing budgets and “leverage community partnerships,” along with continuing conversation with the federal government about funding for the celebrations.

Details for the celebration are to be released in the coming weeks, the city said.

Toronto wants residents to demand Ottawa follow through on $235M COVID funding
The flip-flop occurs one day after the city launched a new campaign to demand Ottawa follow through on its promise of $235-million COVID-19 relief funding where it’s encouraging “residents and businesses to urge the Government of Canada to honour its funding commitment to the people of Toronto.”

The campaign features a webpage on the city’s official site that allows residents to send their Member of Parliament a form letter asking Ottawa to match the province’s $235-million contribution to Toronto’s 2022 budget gap, which still stands at more than $450 million.

“The City of Toronto does not have the resources or revenue tools to address the unprecedented financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. We need the Government of Canada to keep Prime Minister Trudeau’s election campaign promise,” said McKelvie, who took over the mayor’s duties after John Tory stepped down in February.

In addition to help with last year’s shortfall, McKelvie said the city is asking for a “new fiscal framework” that would provide more revenue sources to Toronto, which currently relies heavily on property taxes to pay for public services.

It’s unclear whether the federal government could be convinced before the fireworks launch on July 1 when the city hosts its first Canada Day celebration at Nathan Phillips Square since 2017.