How months of calls to ease Toronto's financial woes led to some provincial and federal help
CBC
Toronto will receive close to half a billion dollars in federal funding to build new housing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office announced Thursday.
The money is being earmarked to build about 12,000 housing units in the next three years and around 53,000 units in the next decade.
But the funding falls short of what Mayor Olivia Chow has been calling on the federal government to provide for months, that is for more than housing.
The city has asked for $2.7 billion stemming from the new deal it made with the province at the end of November that saw Ontario promising $1 billion, which will go toward helping build new transit projects, creating more shelters and homeless supports for non-refugees, and funding to exceed annual housing targets for the next three years.
The new deal with Ontario also specifically calls on the federal government for further help, as much of the province's promises are contingent on Ottawa also taking a seat at the table.
When the deal was announced, both Chow and Premier Doug Ford called on the Trudeau government to increase funding, which was an echo of calls they had already made over the months prior.
"So, you've heard this before, and you're going to hear it again," Chow said in early December.
"We are needing the federal government to step up. If the federal government doesn't step up, we are still in trouble."
Here's an overview of what Chow has said about Toronto's financial situation, how it got to this point and what experts have told CBC Toronto about the asks.
Toronto heading into a financial crisis has been a discussion point since the beginning of the year. Former mayor John Tory requested in February that staff look into new tools to generate revenue because the city faces a $1.5 billion budget shortfall for 2023 and 2024 in the wake of the pandemic.
The pandemic caused public health costs to skyrocket while revenue generated, including from TTC fares, collapsed.
Prior to Chow becoming mayor, former Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie said in March that whoever became the city's next mayor would have to oversee service cuts if other levels of government couldn't help cover the budget shortfall.
"While the federal government wants to focus on growth, they can't leave municipalities that are very much in the state of recovery behind," McKelvie said at city hall at the time.
McKelvie argued that Toronto's services — including shelter and transit — support people from across the GTA and deserve more funding from other levels of government.
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