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Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

afransen said:
At this rate she might be the future Kim Campbell.
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There are rumours she will be looked at for the next Secretary General of NATO. The current office holder will be leaving October 1 after serving for ten years, an unusually long term for the job which averages about five years.

She has some good contemporary credentials for the job including her Ukranian heritage, and also she can speak that language and passable French and apparently Italian too. Also there has never been a woman or any Canadian holding that position in history and there's some pressure to change both of those.

The item against her is Canada not meeting that 2% of GDP on defence goal during her long tenure as a senior cabinet minister, though the counter is she can push for it as NATO SG.

But it's a nice gig. 315,000 Euros/year, lots of expenses covered, and you are essentially recognised globally as equivalent to the president/prime minister of a nation, and are treated as such on any travel.
 
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Many of you will be familiar with IMIT grants that rebate a portion of property taxes for a period of several years to induce certain types of development.

@Amare and I, among others have taken issue w/this program, which has certainly had the appearance of giving a good deal of money to projects that would have been built anyway, based on market conditions.

The latest report looking at the program goes to next week's Executive Ctte.

Should it be approved, it will make material changes.


From the above:

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I agree with the general direction of the changes above, in particular limited support for new office (likely a non-issue for a few years anyway); and implementing a sunset clause so that beneficiaries can't 'bank' an approval.
 
Northern Light said:
Many of you will be familiar with IMIT grants that rebate a portion of property taxes for a period of several years to induce certain types of development.

@Amare and I, among others have taken issue w/this program, which has certainly had the appearance of giving a good deal of money to projects that would have been built anyway, based on market conditions.

The latest report looking at the program goes to next week's Executive Ctte.

Should it be approved, it will make material changes.


From the above:

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I agree with the general direction of the changes above, in particular limited support for new office (likely a non-issue for a few years anyway); and implementing a sunset clause so that beneficiaries can't 'bank' an approval.
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Absolute fantastic find @Northern Light and i'm very happy to read about the quite significant amount of change proposed to the IMIT program!

Over the past decade there have been numerous large firms who have been able to milk this program without restraint while full while knowing they didnt need to, but they were able to because of how convenient the program was and how easy it was to access these grants. I've had very strong words regarding this program in the past and i've stated it should be outright eliminated in the downtown core because it's essentially providing free money for firms who would've built in the core irrespective of if the grant was around or not.

There are several things I love about the proposed changes:

-The narrowing of eligibility for office developments is fantastic (although the effect will be a bit mute for the foreseeable future because of the downturn in the office market),
- Simplifying the extensive list of sectors the could qualify is great so the city isnt giving out blanket grants to sectors who in no way need the benefits,
- Scrutinizing and severely limiting/eliminating IMIT grants for the downtown core while being flexible to extend grants outside the core is something i've been calling for and it's great to see the city finally looked into this
- The elimination of the Enhanced Grants is great, it was a needless free money piss away and in my eyes low-hanging fruit that should've long been eliminated

This is the kind of stuff our municipal government needs to do, and i'm glad the current administration has the guts to do what was a long needed change. The previous status quo administration (*cough John Tory*) was a joke for not changing this program and frankly the city was being exploited financially.

For those who arent quite familiar with the program, the changes that are listed are quite substantial and they'll all benefit the city tremendously without costing the city a dime.
 
In looking at the budget briefing notes that came forward today for Budget Ctte wrap-up, this caught my eye:

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From: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2024/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-242548.pdf

I consider the above reasonable. I'm still trying to reconcile that with 11.9M budgeted for work on the washrooms at Bluffer's Park though. (there are 2 or 3 sets), any which way that's 4-6M per washroom.

On the basis of the above, 126 washrooms remain to be winterized, at a median cost of $450,000 each, this would be a budget of $56, 700, 000 ; delivered systematically, over 5 years, just over 11M per year, a very do-able number.

We clearly need more washrooms in parks, in TTC and elsewhere; I don't have a precise number in mind, but for argument's sake, 100 additional washrooms in parks at a cost of 1.1M each would be 110M; delivered over 10 years, also 11M per year.

There are so many important investments that this City needs, in housing, in transit and so much more; that said, sometimes a comparatively small investment can be seen and appreciated in a way that allows people to support greater taxation to help finance the larger problems.
 
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While I'm here, Budget Ctte has now wrapped. The motion made by Budget Chief Councillor Carroll closes out this part of the process, but there will be further changes before the Mayor presents the budget as it will go to Council.

Before we get to the latter though, the motion is question is worth a closer look as it gives some indication of changes coming:

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Lots to chew on...............but I think a few things are noteworthy, an expressed desire to reinstate windrow service; the need to lower the multi-residential tax increase so as not to trigger AGIs (above guideline increases) from landlords would be my top two.

Some other stuff of note that will impact next year's budget.......but we'll leave that for another post.

* One bonus item; the report on a City Parking tax goes to the February 29th meeting of Executive Ctte
 
generalcanada said:
so its uh january 26. still no word from the feds about the 250 mil right?
thats when the budget chief said she needed word right?
so 16% it is?
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It is not set just yet. You'll hear the Mayor's budget proposal in just over 2 weeks.
 
Northern Light said:
It is not set just yet. You'll hear the Mayor's budget proposal in just over 2 weeks.
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Carroll said that a federal funding commitment would need to come by Jan. 26 to make it into this year's budget. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has been calling on Ottawa for months to provide more money for refugee claimants, who currently account for nearly half of the city's shelter residents — a figure that has rapidly expanded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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So she bluffed? that wasnt a hard date?
 
A bit of work for the City to do here, Toronto - the City that makes things complicated

Toronto's 'excessive' document requirements for reno permits could be hurting housing supply, report suggests​

Building secondary units in existing homes can play a significant role in addressing the current housing shortage but red tape is getting in the way, a report says.

www.thestar.com

Toronto's 'excessive' document requirements for reno permits could be hurting housing supply, report suggests

Building secondary units in existing homes can play a significant role in addressing the current housing shortage but red tape is getting in the way, a report says.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
So the article talks about reducing documents required for "a simple bathroom renovation" or fixing a radiator, and that's translated into unlocking thousands of new units for housing?
If only we could get rid of reviews by architects and engineers and build whatever we want for renters! They don't really deserve protection.

How is the application process not all digital though by now? Do you have to submit paper applications still?
 
I don't the Feds are going to pony of the 250 mil, Chow doesn't have anything else to bargain with. This tax increase is going to hurt.
 
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