We had another busy Council session last week. Below, I've rounded up the most significant items we discussed, from economic development, to housing, to some of the budget considerations we're facing. Let's dive into it.
Economic Development
There were a number of items on the last Council agenda that I worked closely on with City staff as the Mayor's Economic Development & Culture Champion. Each item informs Council about the work underway to fortify our economy in challenging times, and in particular to support the local businesses that are the backbone of our city. First up, let's talk about the Small Business Property Tax Subclass. I moved a motion asking staff to come back early next year with a proposal on how to include small businesses located within strip malls in this rate. Many Canadians make their entrepreneurial start in small strip mall storefronts, particularly in the suburbs, but currently these properties are not included in the Small Business Subclass. These businesses deserve the same supports as those on our main streets, and I look forward to seeing staff's report early in 2024.Â
We also had three motions that focused on how key sectors of our economy are faring post-pandemic: our film, manufacturing, and restaurant industries. Each of these provides limitless potential for our city's labour force and are essential to our long-term economic success. They all face unique challenges, and the City of Toronto is committed to supporting all three as we continue to rebuild our economy. As the Mayor's Economic Development & Culture Champion, I'll be working hard in these area going forward. I'm working closely with Mayor Chow to make sure our Federal and Provincial governments are similarly focused.
One of our local film studios
The last report comes from our Chief Planner and has to do with our Employment Lands. We've already gone through two rounds of the Municipal Comprehensive Review, where we consider requests to convert employment properties to mixed-use. The properties in this final group were, as expected, the most vigorously lobbied and contentious. I'm happy to report that by working together with staff and Councillor Perks, the new Chair of the Planning & Housing Committee, we successfully preserved lands that represent major employment opportunities across our city. I've written before about how fundamentally important this issue is. Our hope is that the Provincial government doesn't override Council's decision, or we may see some very troubling applications come forward, including in our own Parkway Centre Business Zone.
Budget
On the Budget front, I want to draw your attention to the Deferred Revenue item. This has to do with the funds that we legally must set aside for specific purposes, such as the Development Charges we collect from building projects.Â
Often, as was the case with our massive sewer capacity enhancement at Leslie and Sheppard, these funds must stay put in a bank until it's time to make the required infrastructure enhancements. The supplementary report on this item explains how all of these revenues are under threat from Provincial legislative change. In particular, I want to draw your attention to a chart on page three that shows how the Provincial changes are reducing some infrastructure revenues to dangerously low levels. Council received this report for information and it will help inform our conversations with the Province on Toronto's long-term financial sustainability.
Housing
On the housing front, we got a status update on the new Vacant Home Tax. As this was the first year of the tax's implementation, staff made a number of recommendations to work out some kinks in the process. Some of my fellow Councillors also made tweaks to the policy, not all of which I agreed with, but ultimately I'm glad to see Council taking steps to make sure this tax is only impacting those who it is intended to impact, with the ultimate goal of getting all of these vacant homes back on the market, rental or otherwise.
We also got an update on the HousingTO Action Plan that included recommendations on a number of fronts, from improving access to rent-geared-to-income and affordable rental homes to requests to our Provincial and Federal governments for greater housing support. City staff are hard at work to increase options all along the housing spectrum, but our City cannot do this alone. We need proper support and partnership from our intergovernmental partners.
Environment
Council dealt with a number of environmental matters last week. To start, I'll share an update on the motion to bring all Vehicles-for-Hire to Net Zero. As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, things often get complicated when we discuss this industry. As an example of the complexity, take a look at a Royson James column from 2011.Â
My fellow Councillors brought up many other aspects of the Vehicle-for-Hire industry in our discussion last week. As a review of the entire sector is in the works and will come to Council late next year, I asked the Speaker to rule Council out of order when we veered off the topic of incentivizing the conversion to electric cars. But one thing got through: a Councillor moved that the number of Vehicle-for-Hire licenses be capped until next year's review. As this motion came without any impact analysis from staff, I voted against. There's been a lot of speculation on possible impacts but one thing is certain—any conversations that City staff need to have with the industry to complete the 2024 review will have an added tension. I'll keep an eye on this because hundreds of Don Valley Northerners make their living in this industry.Â
We also got our first look at an entirely new way to run your blue bin recycling program, now that the Provincial government is moving to take it over to ensure producers of packaging take 100% responsibility. This represents a huge change since Mayor Mel Lastman introduced the first Blue Box program in the Metro area, so I'll give a full rundown in my E-Blast next week.
We also considered two items focused on the environmental impact of buildings. We received an update on Toronto's Net Zero Buildings Strategy and reiterated our support for the immediate implementation of Green Building Standards in the Ontario Building Code. Buildings are a key component of our Net Zero strategy and we need to step up our efforts wherever possible.
Community Development
In January 2021, Council adopted the "Affordable Internet Connectivity for All – ConnectTO" report. For 34% of Torontonians, internet access is prohibitively expensive or fully out of reach. ConnectTO aims to bridge the digital divide and improve connectivity for all Toronto residents. We got a progress update on this work at Council, with a focus on expanding public Wi-Fi across the city.  In addition, the report includes a review of the July 8, 2022 Rogers outage and its full cost to Toronto's economy. The review appears in Attachment 3 and is quite sobering.Â
Council also supported the Mayor and City Manager in their request to the Federal government to make more progress towards a national student nutrition program. Prior to amalgamation, local cities were more closely connected to their school boards and ran a network of snack programs in schools. When amalgamation wiped out all former agreements, then-Councillor Olivia Chow played a huge role in finding a new pathway to provide breakfast and snack programs to the newly-amalgamated school boards. A national version of our student nutrition program is one of her long-time goals and would be deeply impactful for households struggling with food insecurity.
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