City of Toronto

City of Toronto

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CITY OF TORONTO

Canada’s multicultural hub benefitting from its municipal government’s sound investment

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he City of Toronto, located on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is Canada’s largest city and the fourth largest city in North America with a population of 2.8 million people.

Toronto is the hub of the nation’s commercial, financial, industrial, and cultural life, and is the capital of the Province of Ontario. It became the ‘City of Toronto’ in 1834, and through its subsequent evolution and expansion Toronto has emerged as one of the most liveable and multicultural urban places in the world today.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Toronto is heralded as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, it is also ranked as the safest large metropolitan area in North America by Places Rated Almanac.

Toronto is unique in its diversity. Over half of Toronto’s population was born outside of Canada, while over 140 languages and dialects are spoken there, with just over 30 per cent of its residents

speaking a language other than English or French at home.

The city’s municipal government is the nation’s sixth largest government with an annual operating budget of $11.5 billion. It has a workforce of approximately 37,000 employees, who deliver dozens of services to residents, businesses and visitors.

THE CITY COUNCIL

Forty-four elected councillors who along with the mayor make up Toronto’s City Council. Government decision making is done through a series of committees that are part of City Council, and through agencies and corporations. Members of the public can get involved with many of the City’s agencies, and can submit comments during the decisionmaking process.

In its 2014 budget, City Council ensured tax rates for commercial properties remain below the rate of inflation while industrial properties

received a tax decrease. The City continues to reduce its tax rates for commercial, industrial and multi-residential properties to an approved target of 2.5 times that of the residential tax rate.

Through its Social Development Finance and Administration (SDFA) division, the City provides leadership to develop and implement a social inclusion and community safety agenda for the city, foster safe and strong neighbourhoods and communities, promote community engagement and advance life skill opportunities for youth.

The key initiatives include strategies that work in the following areas: • Youth equity

• Helping newcomers settle in Toronto • Supporting senior citizens

• Building a strong neighbourhood • Poverty reduction

• Community Crisis Response Program • Specialised Program for Interdivisional Enhanced responsiveness • Community funding

• Human Trafficking Initiative

• Access T.O, which allows all Torontonians, regardless of immigration status, access to City services without fear of being asked for proof of status.

The SDFA also sets out revitalisation plans to improve communities and tower renewal plans for the city’s 1,200 high rise apartment towers that are 8 stories or more and are home to more than 500,000 residents.

One of these is Alexandra Park, a downtown social community housing project includes the replacement of all 333 of its townhouses and renovation of its 473 apartment units and construction of approximately 1,540 condo units. The revamp will include a new community centre, two new public parks, pedestrian spaces, street level retail, and three new streets to open up the isolated neighbourhood to the surrounding districts. In this private-public partnership, the Toronto Community Housing will work with a private developer to lease or sell part of the land to build condos in towers as high as 17 storeys, and use the resulting proceeds to overhaul the aging 44 year-old Alexandra Park complex.

Another is Regent Park, a neighbourhood being rebuilt for 12,500 residents over 15 years to create a mixed-income, mixed-use

community with new community spaces and returning businesses.

The Tower Renewal Program drives broad improvements to Toronto’s concrete partner towers and the neighbourhoods around them to support better apartment conditions.

This is done through a range of initiatives that work with residents, property managers and tower owners to increase energy efficiency, build community amenities, and add economic development from building retrofits and small resident buildings through a new permissible Residential Apartment Commercial zones.

Others include the Lawrence-Allen Revitalisation project, which ims to completely transform an ageing social housing project in Toronto’s inner suburbs into a mixed-use, mixed-income community much like the successful Regent Park revitalisation. Over 20 years, all 1,208 existing social housing units will be replaced and an additional 4,092 market units will be built in a park-centred, transit supportive community that will be fully integrated into the rest of the city.

PAN AM GAMES AND WATERFRONT REVITILISATION

Later this year, Toronto will host the 2015 Pan Am Games where more than 7,000 athletes from across the Americas and Caribbean will compete across 36 Pan Am sports and 15 Parapan Am sports.

The Athletes’ Village which will house 10,000 athletes, coaches and officials during the Games is based at West Don Lands, a 32 hectare site being transformed from former industrial

lands into a mixed-use, pedestrianfriendly, riverside community.

Post-Games, the revitalised West Don Lands will feature 6,000 new residential units, ample employment and commercial space, schools, child-care centres, a recreation centre, and nearly 9.3 hectares of new parks and public spaces.

Alongside this, work on Queen’s Quay, Toronto’s main waterfront street, is being transformed into a showpiece for the city. ready for the summer’s Games. It will feature two lanes of east-west traffic on its north side, with a dedicated Light Rail Transit line in the middle. On the south side, a generous granite pedestrian promenade defined by a double row of trees will run alongside the Martin Goodman Trail, a multiuse recreational trail.

East Bayfront is one of the first new neighbourhoods to be developed on Toronto’s waterfront. Its proximity to downtown Toronto and location directly on Lake Ontario will make East Bayfront one of the world’s most significant waterfront communities.

For years, the 23 hectare site has been a reminder of Toronto’s industrial past. Now, after years of planning and public consultation, the transformation of this underutilised area is well underway.

Life in the revitalised East Bayfront will defined by the lake as well as the parks and public spaces surrounding it. Two signature parks, Sherbourne Common and Canada’s Sugar Beach, and a kilometre-long continuous Water’s Edge Promenade and Boardwalk make up a quarter of the community. It will also feature

6,000 residential units, including 1,200 affordable residences, and millions of square feet of employment space able to accommodate 8,000 jobs.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENTS

The City of Toronto is acutely aware that public transport around the city is a vital service for both residents and visitors. With the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), it has been planning for future transit expansion in the east end of the city.

First, the City and the TTC are planning for the ‘Relief Line’ - a future rapid transit line that would connect downtown Toronto to the BloorDanforth Subway (Line 2) east of the Don River. The Relief Line will assist in relieving crowding on the Yonge

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Subway line and the Bloor-Yonge interchange station as well as provide riders with more travel options.

Capacity issues in the transit system have been identified in bringing people to and from work in the downtown core. Union Station (the city’s main transportation hub) and the Bloor-Yonge Subway interchange station currently experience extreme congestion at certain times of day, and both will be over capacity in the next 15 years or so.

Secondly, the City of Toronto and the TTC are beginning to plan an extension to the Bloor-Danforth Subway (Line 2) to better serve residents of Scarborough, in the east end of Toronto. The proposed “Scarborough Subway Extension” will replace the aging Scarborough Rapid Transit line and contribute to an integrated and comprehensive rapid transit network.

and over the phone.

Its team of small business advisors help businesses make the right decisions during their start-up and help develop their management capabilities as their venture grows.

Businesses can access one to one business plan consultation; personal assistance with business registration; name searches and incorporation.

They also provide coaching for a range of challenges from raising capital, to managing cash flow and accounting, hiring and managing staff, to marketing and social media and more. They have information on government programs and business incubation services as well as maintaining a resource library and host more than 100 events and seminars annually.

This new line would extend the Bloor-Danforth Subway (Line 2) from the existing Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue with at least three new stations. The proposed extension is a critical part of relieving regional congestion in the Greater Toronto Area.

The City also has a Business Incubation & Commercialisation Program that supports the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Toronto business incubators. This program works collaboratively with organisations that provide a continuum of programs, services and resources that support small business growth and development.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

STRONG LEADERSHIP

The City of Toronto supports the start-up and growth of businesses to further aid economic development.

Enterprise Toronto serves more than 28,000 clients annually at its Toronto City Hall, North York Civic Centre and Scarborough Civic Centre locations, at its many special events and seminars, and by reaching out to clients online, in the community

Since 2008, the City Manager of Toronto has been Joseph P. Pennachetti, who will retire from the post on April 30 this year.

Pennachetti joined the municipality as Chief Financial Officer. As Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer, he contributed to the enhancement of Toronto’s business climate through the establishment of

a 15-year plan to reduce business property taxes and a 10-year plan to reduce property taxes on small business.

Pennachetti has been the spearhead of a 10-year, $30-billion capital plan, delivering services to almost 3 million residents. His achievements to improve customer service and to reduce the cost of government.

He also led the development of 26 Strategic Actions for 2014-2018 to support Council’s Strategic Plan and related initiatives/programs over the next five years.

He played a central role in establishing City budgets for 20052014, which allowed Toronto to remain competitive with a belowinflation increase in property tax funding while maintaining current levels of service. Not only this, but the municipality delivered some new and enhanced services.

Pennachetti was also able to secure the City’s crucial financial partnership agreements with the federal and provincial governments and the private sector, which have resulted in new infrastructure for the city.

In addition, the City of Toronto’s international reputation for quality, innovation and efficiency in its public services owes much to Pennachetti’s leadership. His innovations have helped to establish annual programs - such as the first-ever City Manager’s Award for Public Service Excellence within the Toronto Public Service.

The award is now an annual program that recognises divisional initiatives contributing to the City’s human rights, equity and diversity goals.

GEARED TOWARDS A BRIGHT FUTURE

The City of Toronto’s workforce are of course crucial in how it performs, and there are a number of employee schemes in place to ensure they are best equipped to deliver across all aspects of the business. A key part is being able to attract candidates of a high calibre to ensure the organisation remains forward thinking.

To this end, the City of Toronto has introduced the Toronto Urban Fellows Program (TUF) – an annual recruitment that provides new professionals (recent Masters or PhD graduates) with an intensive introduction to

the City of Toronto’s governance, operations and administration through a combination of full-time work experience and a series of seminars, tours and workshops. This has welcomed 75 highly skilled and talented professionals to the Toronto Public Service.

It also partners with Career Edge, a not-for-profit organisation, to provide temporary paid internships to internationally-trained professionals (Career Bridge); recent graduates of Canadian colleges (Career Edge); and recent graduates of Canadian colleges and universities with a selfdeclared disability (Ability Edge).

These programs are cost-effective ways for City of Toronto divisions to access a pool of diverse, highly skilled professionals and recent university

and college graduates who can help meet an operational need for a short-term, non-union assignment.

This pool of talent serves as potential candidates for future City jobs.

There is also a summer internship program for Masters of Public Policy (MPP) students from Toronto universities which is an excellent feeder for the Toronto Urban Fellows Program and other job vacancies.

This talent pipeline creates a pool of candidates who are aware of and well positioned to apply for job opportunities in the future.

With the departing Mr Pennachetti, it is the end of an era for the City of Toronto - but the multicultural city is heading into an exciting new phase in 2015 and beyond.

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African Business Coverage Issue 9