TORONTO -- Toronto Mayor John Tory says he and other regional mayors are continuing to call on the federal and provincial governments to help cities struggling financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tory repeated the request during a news conference Tuesday, saying that cities across the Greater Toronto Area are “bleeding” millions of dollars in the battle against the novel coronavirus.
“Now is not the time to leave municipalities grappling with financial uncertainty,” Tory told reporters. “The government of Canada and the Government of Ontario, we need their joint financial support and we need it now.”
Two weeks ago, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities asked the federal government to provide a minimum of $10 billion in emergency funding to cities to help fill the gap of their revenue shortfalls.
Toronto is said to be losing about $65 million a week in revenue because of the pandemic. Officials predict the city could be out at least $1.5 billion by the end of 2020 if there is a three-month lockdown and six-month recovery period.
The federal government has so far offered subsidies and benefits to small businesses, employees who have lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 and students. They have not yet provided any direct funding to municipalities.
Tory said that he understands that the federal government needed to arrange support for vulnerable people and small businesses first, but now is the time to lend a helping hand to cities.
“Toronto is the heart of the economic engine of the country … we have an urgent need now,” he said. “If GTA municipalities are financially crippled, we will not be able to play our leadership role in bringing about that robust recovery.”
He said the only options that cities have to deal with financial uncertainty are to raise property taxes or cut services, which both hurt everyday people.
“We are looking for Queen’s Park to immediately initiate substantive discussions with us, with other Ontario municipalities and very importantly with the Government of Canada,” Tory said.
-- With files from Katherine DeClerq
