Don’t forget about cities
Premier Doug Ford routinely talks about the financial challenges of the pandemic and how the provincial government, with Ottawa’s support, will be there to help. That’s been true for renters and landlords, families and seniors, workers and business owners.
But what about the cities where all those people live and work?
As Toronto has been reminded of in brutal ways in the past, municipalities in this country are nothing but “creatures” of the province.
And yet there’s been no real acknowledgment from Ford, or most other premiers for that matter, of the scope of the problem cities are facing, let alone a commitment to provide the financial assistance that’s so clearly needed. The fiscal situation is dire. More than three weeks ago, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities called on Ottawa to provide at least $10 billion in emergency aid to municipalities struggling with pandemicrelated costs and revenue loses.
And last week Toronto Mayor John Tory joined with other mayors in the Greater Toronto Area to ramp up the plea for assistance from Queen’s Park and the federal government.
“We need their joint financial support and we need it now,” Tory said.
The pandemic is costing Toronto, Canada’s largest city, $65 million a week and the city estimates it will have a shortfall of at least $1.5 billion this year.
Ford likes to say he’s a numbers guy, so he knows those are bills the city can’t possibly pay through property taxes and user fees. Cities are not allowed to run annual deficits the way the provincial and federal governments can. And even if they could, the problem remains the same: municipal revenue tools just aren’t big enough to handle big deficits.
So why hasn’t Ford, or Finance Minister Rod Phillips or Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark, put forward a concrete assistance plan by now?
When Ford was asked about the Toronto Transit Commission’s looming financial crisis — which is just a portion of the city’s $1.5-billion budget hole — Ford said the province couldn’t possibly help without Ottawa stepping up to help first.
“We will be at the table for the municipalities,” Ford said last week. “To what degree? We’ll have to wait and see what the federal government comes up with because it’s going to be a big, big ticket.”
When Trudeau was asked about the transit crisis in cities he basically flipped Ford’s answer around noting that operating transit and municipalities in general are provincial responsibilities.
“The federal government will be there to work with the provinces, including supporting them in their areas of jurisdiction,” Trudeau said.
This you-go-first approach risks leaving cities twisting in the wind without access to the timely emergency aid they need to keep vital services and programs operating. And if federalprovincial jurisdictional tensions reassert themselves, as they seem to be in some areas, aid for cities could be delayed even longer. That does no one any good. We need cities to survive the pandemic without slashing the services people rely on or resorting to massive property tax and user fee increases that residents and businesses struggling to get back on their feet won’t be able to afford.
Cities drive Canada’s economy and Toronto drives Ontario’s economy.
As we take our first tentative steps toward reopening that economy, it’s vital that the pandemic’s financial burden on cities is not forgotten.
If Toronto and other cities don’t receive a major funding package from senior governments soon they’ll be forced to cut back on the many programs and services they provide to residents and businesses. And that will make our economic recovery even harder than it’s already going to be.