CHARTER CITY TORONTO
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EMPOWER AND
​PROTECT TORONTO


BIG CITY MAYORS
"DOWNLOADING BY STEALTH" ​

​28 ONTARIO MAYORS CALL OUT FORD GOVERNMENT:

​Provincial Cuts Force Cities to Hike Taxes or Slash Crucial Municipal Services

PictureGuelph Mayor Cam Guthrie
Mayors of Ontario's big cities are accusing the Ontario government of 'downloading by stealth'.

Provncial budget cuts--implemented without consulting anyone--are forcing municipalities to raise taxes or cancel important services and programs, the mayors say in a joint statement posted on April 30.

"This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management," Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie says in a joint statement from LUMCO, the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario. 

​"This is on top of a cap on Ontario gas tax funding and ongoing uncertainty with major changes to ambulance services. The Government of Ontario is effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts to absorb the download in services it has proposed."

Guthrie says this, in effect, forces municipalities to take over and pay for provincial responsibilities.

The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population. 

Historically, the system of municipal funding in Ontario sees billions of dollars of income, sales and other taxes collected from taxpayers in cities and towns.

That money is collected by the provincial government, which then gives a fraction of that money back to municipalities--and with conditions on how it must be spent.

Or, under the Ford model, it simply keeps the money at the provincial level, creating budgetary shortfalls in cities and towns that can only be made up by higher property taxes.

(More below)
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Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario meets with Prime Minister Trudeau in 2016
​Charter City Toronto proposes a different model, whereby a defined share of income and sales taxes raised in cities and towns would stay in cities and towns, to be spent as municipalities see fit, not as dictated by the province.

Creating City Charters across the province would provide an opportunity to re-negotiate this and other aspects of the relationship between cities and the province, giving cities greater autonomy over municipal decision-making.

Protecting those City Charters in the Canadian Constitution would prevent hostile provincial governments from punishing cities unilaterally and without consultation. 

Charter City Toronto is currently working to draft comprehensive proposals for a new relationship between Ontario's cities and the province.  

For more information, contact us at chartercitytoronto@gmail.com

Full Text of Mayors' Statement
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Cam Guthrie, Mayor of Guelph and Chair of the Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario
​29 April 2019

Today, Mayor Cam Guthrie, Chair of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) released the following statement on behalf of Ontario’s big-city mayors:

“Big-city mayors from across Ontario are extremely concerned that the Government of Ontario is engaging in downloading by stealth - implementing funding and governance changes to municipalities without any consultation, after cities have already approved our budgets.

This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management. This is on top of a cap on Ontario gas tax funding and ongoing uncertainty with major changes to ambulance services. The Government of Ontario is effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts to absorb the download in services it has proposed.

The first line in Finance Minister Fedeli’s budget speech indicated the government would not raise taxes. The budget paper explicitly says that changes and costs need to be sustainable for both orders of government. There is only one taxpayer. It is disingenuous to say that the changes are sustainable, if municipalities are left to consider how to make up the shortfalls.​
Municipalities are being notified of these changes in a piecemeal fashion through letters to agencies, after municipal budgets have already been passed – giving no time or opportunity for Councils to find efficiencies or economies of scale.

We applaud the Province’s willingness to listen to communities’ concerns in some cases, for example on Bill 66 and changes to autism funding. But we question why it takes an outcry before we are heard. Municipalities are simply asking to be consulted beforehand, so that we can work alongside the Province on changes that are in the best interests of the taxpayers we represent. We support the Province’s efforts to get its budget deficit under control. But it cannot do so on the backs of local taxpayers, without consultation.
We call on the Government of Ontario to postpone the implementation of these funding cuts to at least 2020, to allow for proper discussion with municipalities and local residents. We call on the Government of Ontario to be transparent about its intentions and engage with cities before downloading more services.

City budgets across the Province have already been passed because, as the Province knows, municipalities operate on a fiscal year that runs from January to December – unlike the Province’s April to March fiscal year. Residents have begun to pay their taxes, which have been set locally after many months of consultations with residents about the services they want their local governments to provide and how much they are willing to pay for them.

LUMCO mayors have invited Premier Ford and Minister Clark to the next LUMCO meeting. We sincerely wish for them to attend, so that we can sit down together to find a better way forward for all Ontarians.”

Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO

For more information:
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph, Chair of LUMCO
519-837-5643
mayor@guelph.ca

About LUMCO
The Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) includes mayors of 28 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, amounting to 67% of Ontario’s population. LUMCO advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities.
​List of LUMCO Mayors:
Mayor Shaun Collier, Town of Ajax
Mayor Jeff Lehman, City of Barrie
Mayor Patrick Brown, City of Brampton
Mayor Kevin Davis, City of Brantford
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, City of Burlington
Mayor Kathryn McGarry, City of Cambridge
Mayor Darrin Canniff, City of Chatham-Kent
Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph
Mayor Fred Eisenberger, City of Hamilton
Mayor Bryan Paterson, City of Kingston
Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, City of Kitchener
Mayor Ed Holder, City of London
Mayor Frank Scarpitti, City of Markham
Mayor Gordon Krantz, Town of Milton
​Mayor Bonnie Crombie, City of Mississauga
Mayor Rob Burton, Town of Oakville
Mayor Dan Carter, City of Oshawa
Mayor Jim Watson, City of Ottawa
Mayor Dave Ryan, City of Pickering
Mayor Dave Barrow, Town of Richmond Hill
Mayor Walter Sendzik, City of St. Catharines
Mayor Brian Bigger, City of Greater Sudbury
Mayor Bill Mauro, City of Thunder Bay
Mayor John Tory, City of Toronto
Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, City of Vaughan
Mayor Dave Jaworsky, City of Waterloo
Mayor Don Mitchell, Town of Whitby
Mayor Drew Dilkens, City of Windsor


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ABOUT US

The goal of Charter City Toronto is the adoption of a constitutionally protected City Charter for Toronto and other large Ontario municipalities who want one.

A Charter would assign greater autonomy, new sources of revenue and protection from undue provincial interference in local affairs.

We're a group of independent residents of Toronto who believe cities are the most important level of government in our confederation, and that they should be accorded the respect, authority, resources and protection necessary for them to fulfill their responsibilities.

 
More About Us
  • The Charter City Proposal
    • Proposal Overview
    • Benefits and Rationale
    • Constitutional Protection
    • Governance and Elections
    • City Authority
    • Resources and Taxation
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • Indigenous Relations
    • GTA ONTARIO CANADA
  • Endorsements
  • FAQ
  • About Us
  • Donate