Chow\u0027s first official meeting with Ford bears fruit for city coffers with the promise of more.
“To resolve Toronto’s deep financial challenges, we’ll need partnership with all orders of government,” Chow said. “A stronger Toronto means a stronger province and country. I look forward to working with the premier to help set Toronto on a path towards financial stability for decades to come.”
At a recent council meeting, several resolutions were passed which called for the city to examine new revenue tools, including a Toronto sales tax, a motor vehicle registration tax, an increase in the municipal land transfer tax, increasing street parking rates and more..While Ford said he wasn’t interested in backing new taxes at a time when so many are struggling with the rising cost of living, he said he was open to other ideas.
Speaking on background, one of Chow’s team members at the meeting said there is very little baked into what the new deal will look like — that’s for the working group to sort out — but that there will likely be an emphasis on uploading services to the province. In the 1990s, faced with funding cuts to health care by the federal government of Jean Chretien, Premier Mike Harris downloaded financial responsibility for many services to municipalities.
Toronto, and other cities and towns, have long complained that they can’t support growing programs using the more static property tax base.One key ask of Chow is to return responsibility for the maintenance of the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to the province. Drivers coming in from Mississauga for example drive along the provincially funded QEW, but as soon as they cross into Toronto, they are driving on a municipally funded highway.
Regardless of what the eventual deal turns out to be, the two sides showed something predicted in this space months ago. They are both deal makers who can work together, and despite differences of political opinion, they can negotiate.Article content
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