It’s that time again—there are just over two weeks left in 2024, and I’m sure all of us are doing some reminiscing on everything that happened this past year. It was certainly a busy one here at City Hall and in the Don Valley North office. Let’s take a look back the highlights of 2024.
Getting Toronto Back on Track: Budget, Safety, and Prosperity
In addition to dutifully serving their wards, every Councillor must carry some city-wide responsibilities. I started 2024 laser-focused on delivering my first budget under our current administration.
When I returned to the role of Budget Chief in August 2023, I knew it would be a challenge. The 2024 Budget process opened with a $2 billion hole, largely caused by lingering pandemic pressures. Thankfully, between my work with staff to identify over $600 million in savings and Mayor Chow’s work to secure a New Deal with the Provincial government, we were able to close a significant portion of that gap before 2024 even began.
I kicked off the New Year by presenting our proposed Budget to you, the people of Toronto. It was based on weeks of deeply impactful conversations during our Pre-Budget consultations—the first time the City held this style of budget consultation in over 12 years. January and the early part of February were spent fine-tuning that Budget proposal in collaboration with the Mayor and Council, while all of us continued to listen to feedback from our residents.
In the end, I am incredibly proud of the 2024 Budget we delivered. We hired more police officers, firefighters, and paramedics to bring down response times. We made key investments to improve safety on our transit system and made a major dent in our infrastructure repair backlog. We expanded our shelter offerings to serve more people in crisis. We also made key investments in the daily services you rely on to get Toronto back on track.
Of course, the backbone of the 2024 Budget was fiscal responsibility. Thanks to the strong direction provided by our updated Long-Term Financial Plan and the prudence of our 2024 Budget, S&P Global, an international credit rating agency, raised the City of Toronto’s credit rating from AA to AA+ in October of this year. This is the first time our credit rating has been raised in 23 years.
Two other significant milestones took place in the fall of 2024. As the Mayor’s Economic Development & Culture Champion, I was able to wrap up this year by joining City staff for the launch of two incredible action plans: Sidewalks to Skylines: A 10-Year Action Plan for Toronto’s Economy and Culture Connects: An Action Plan for Culture in Toronto. These plans are the result of months of work by two dedicated advisory panels comprised of local experts and leaders in their fields. They will be instrumental in helping us attract top investment and talent, create and maintain high quality jobs, and continue to strengthen the vibrancy that makes us proud to call Toronto home.
We also revamped Toronto’s festival funding formula (try saying that three times fast). The Special Events Stabilization Initiative (SESI), launched earlier this year, will help provide financial relief to our local festival organizers who have been hit hard by rising costs since the pandemic. This was another important step in supporting Toronto’s vibrant cultural scene.
On a different note, I joined the Toronto Police Service Board this past May, just as a new Community Safety and Policing Act took effect across the province. The focus of my time on the Police Board thus far has been to work with Chief Demkiw to create a Multi-Year Hiring Plan to guide the Service’s growth in the years ahead. This plan was approved by the Police Board a few weeks ago, and its benefits are twofold: it allows us to ensure our police service will be adequately staffed as our population grows and it allows us to budget for that growth smartly in advance. This staffing plan will help us continue to bring down response times and ensure our officers can keep tackling city-wide issues like car thefts, which are down significantly this year compared to last.
In July, I chaired the first meeting of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Subcommittee. Our mandate is to complete detailed, line-by-line reviews of our FIFA event budget, control spending, and hunt for revenue opportunities to help cover the cost of hosting this exciting international event. This work will continue to ramp up in 2025 as we get closer and closer to the Cup in summer 2026.
The Mayor also asked me to chair her Labour Relations Committee. As Budget Chief, I dutifully accepted this role knowing that labour relations will present the most significant financial pressure we face going forward. Many of our collective bargaining process are either currently underway or set to begin soon. I’ll be sure to keep all of you updated on my work in this role as it carries over to the new year and beyond.
And of course, you’ll hear from me again very soon about the 2025 Budget. We had another incredible round of Pre-Budget consultations in October of this year. I want to thank each and every Torontonian who took the time to come out to a meeting or participate in a virtual consultation and share their feedback. Just like with our 2024 Budget, your ideas and priorities are invaluable as we work to finalize the proposed 2025 Budget.
City Council Decisions
There were thousands of items passed at Council this year, but a few key decisions stand out from the rest:
Council took steps to provide greater incentives for the creation of rental housing. We launched the Rental Housing Supply Program and established a new Purpose-built Rental Homes Incentives Stream to expedite building permits, waive fees, and remove other barriers to getting these much-needed units built.
We accelerated state-of-good-repair work on the Gardiner Expressway. City Council also reallocated funding that had been set aside for this work after the Provincial government agreed to finance the project as part of the Ontario-Toronto New Deal.
We asked staff to develop implementation plans for a Universal Student Food Program after the Federal government announced its plan to fund these programs nation-wide.
We accepted City staff’s proposed improvements to the Vacant Home Tax declaration system. I know this posed some major challenges in 2024, but I can assure you that we have made it easier than ever to declare for the upcoming year. Feel free to reach out to my office if you still require assistance submitting your declaration.
We extended the lease for Billy Bishop airport to ensure they are able to meet new Federal safety requirements, protecting an asset that is vital to our local economy.
We strengthened Toronto’s Congestion Management Plan, including adding important measures to coordinate capital work and minimize lane closures, to keep Toronto moving.
Milestones in Don Valley North
The projects we launch here in Don Valley North are always the ones I hold closest to my heart. Perhaps our biggest milestone this year was the grand opening of Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre & Library in March. It was an absolute honour to be joined by representatives from the Huron-Wendat Nation, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and Six Nations of the Grand River for this wonderful celebration.
We were also able to open a new park dedicated to our former Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) David Caplan in the presence of his entire family. This was a very special day for me and I encourage you to visit our brand-new David Caplan Park at Sheppard and Consumers Road. Other milestones include the opening of the new-and-improved Clydesdale Clubhouse, major progress made on renovations at both Pleasant View and Fairview libraries, and getting started on a number of exciting Participatory Budgeting projects in both Bayview Village and Henry Farm. Construction also began on the Parkway Forest Off-Leash Area, which will soon provide a great new amenity to the neighbourhood.
In terms of major capital work, we made significant progress on the work underway in the East Don Ravine, which will not only stabilize the creek but improve sewer capacity for our growing community along Sheppard. We also made progress on a number of road upgrades along Steeles Avenue East. I know this construction has caused some headaches for the neighbourhood, but this resurfacing was badly needed and we have been able to bundle a number of great safety improvements with this work.
Of course, the real highlight of my year was getting to connect with so many of you at our Don Valley North community events. From informational events like Seniors Info Day and our Community Safety Town Hall with Toronto Police Division 33, to practical Community Environment Days and Compost Days, to relaxed movie nights in the park, there’s nothing I love more than being out in the community in our beautiful Don Valley North. We also held another fabulous Summer Celebration this year, with hundreds of nieghbours attending to enjoy fun in the sun with their families and friends.
A small sample of the amazing community events we held this year.
Top row: Compost Day at Bestview Park, Toronto Nature Stewards event.
Bottom row: Movie Night at Linus Park, Summer Celebration.
Of course, I couldn’t do a year in review E-Blast without giving a shoutout to my incredible Don Valley North team. They directly assisted with over 3500 constituent cases this year, helping all of you with everything from missed garbage collection to traffic issues and everything in between. My team also helped me edit and circulate 45 weekly E-Blasts, ensuring our community stayed up-to-date on the most important things happening here in Don Valley North and across Toronto.
Looking Ahead to 2025
I’m looking forward to 2025, but with an ounce of trepidation. There’s a chance we’ll have both Federal and Provincial elections next year, and Toronto always has the potential to become a political football of sorts when our other orders of government head to the polls. We need long-term solutions and stability to continue our important work here at City Hall. We’ll have to wait and see exactly what 2025 has in store.
I’ll be back next week with my final E-Blast column of the year: December Council Highlights. As always, it is an honour and privilege spending a year serving our community here in Don Valley North. I can tell you one thing I’m excited about for sure: our very first event of 2025, Winter Bash at Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park! I hope to see you there to kick of another amazing year together.
