Toronto Mayor John Tory is set to speak to CBC Radio’s Metro Morning Friday as he and city council prepare to begin considering the city’s 2023 budget.
You can watch the interview live in the player above starting around 7:13am ET.
Tory, along with his budget chief and close council ally Garry Crawford, is due to release his proposed spending plan next Tuesday, when the budget committee holds its first meeting of the year.
But the mayor has already been busy this week making announcements about some of his top budget priorities, already drawing criticism from some councilors and advocacy groups.
On Tuesday, Tory said he wants to increase funding for the Toronto Police Service by $48.3 million, bringing the total annual police budget to more than $1.1 billion.
Most of the money will be used to hire hundreds more police officers and improve 911 service and response times, he said, while roughly 38 percent — or about $18 million — will go toward a planned increase in police pay under existing collective agreements.
Councilors who oppose increased police funding say the money would be better spent on social programs and services aimed at preventing crime.
Meanwhile, Tory announced Wednesday that TTC fares will increase by 10 cents per ride and that the city will also invest $53 million in additional money, some of which will go toward improving safety on the network.
Critics of the move to increase fares say the system needs to be more accessible and affordable to get more riders back on transit. As of last summer, ridership was about 57 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
They also said the TTC budget would cut service and lead to about 10-minute wait times for subway service.
On Thursday, the Tories pledged $2 billion in gross spending to help tackle the city’s housing crisis.
He says the budget will offer $616 million drawn directly from the city’s housing tax base to build on the mayor’s housing action plan passed by the City Council in December.
The spending increases imposed by the Tories this week come as Toronto faces a deep financial hole. According to a letter sent to the federal and provincial governments in November, the city is heading into 2023 with a $1.489 billion deficit due to COVID-19, inflation and rising fuel prices.
The City Council will vote on the final budget document in February, although the measures spearheaded by the mayor are likely to survive the debate process. With the recent introduction of “strong mayor” powers, two-thirds of the council must vote to override the mayor’s proposed budget.
Add Comment