Toronto Mayor John Tory appealed to the provincial and federal governments for immediate financial aid Thursday, warning that without it the city could face “unprecedented” tax increases and “extreme” service cuts. In a letter to Premier Doug Ford and federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mr Tory said the city needed financial commitments by the end of the month to address shortfalls related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Toronto is facing an $815 million operating budget shortfall this year that is directly related to the pandemic. Meanwhile, he said the city could face nearly $1.5 billion in budget pressures next year before any property tax increase or funding commitments from other government mandates are taken into account. “Given our limited options for raising revenue and our inability to run budget deficits, we do not have the fiscal capacity to absorb these enormous shocks to our system,” Mr Tory wrote in the letter, dated Wednesday and made public on Thursday . Mr. Tory noted that the city has received a total of more than $3 billion from the provincial and federal governments since 2020. During that time, the city had also introduced $1.6 billion in “savings, cost mitigation efforts and other offsets,” Mr. Tory said. But without more help, Mr Tory warned the city could also face cuts to its programs and capital budget, which he said could “eliminate thousands of jobs” and “threaten” the economic recovery city’s. In the letter, Mr Tory pointed to campaign and budget promises made by both governments to provide municipalities with financial support for COVID-19. “We urgently require a commitment from the federal and provincial governments to support our continued recovery from the pandemic,” he wrote. This year’s pandemic-related budget shortfall is a combination of lost transit revenue and increased housing costs, along with lower returns on other streams such as parking fees and hotel taxes, Mr. Tory said. Representatives for Mr. Ford and Ms. Freeland did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Mr. Tory’s letter.
