The provincial government has announced it will not allow Toronto to toll two major highways in the city and will instead double the provincial share of the gas tax given to municipalities for transit.
At a press conference in Richmond Hill this morning, Premier Kathleen Wynne said her government has pledged to double the provincial gas tax allotted to transit funding from two cents per litre to four cents per litre.
The increase is expected to be fully phased in by 2021.
Wynne said the funding enhancement -- which will provide Toronto with approximately $170 million annually -- will not increase how much Ontarians pay at the pumps.
“So while the share of the gas tax that goes to your local transit agencies will increase, the price that you pay for gasoline itself, will not increase with this investment,” she said.
The province has already committed $334.5 million from the provincial gas tax to 99 municipalities across the province. The boost will bring that number to $401.3 million between 2019 and 2020 and will continue to increase to a projected $481.5 million between 2020 and 2021.
The announcement comes a month after Toronto City Council voted 32-9 in favour of asking the province for the right to introduce road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway.
The money generated from the tolls would have helped to pay for much-needed, but unfunded transit infrastructure, including SmartTrack, the downtown relief line and the rerouting of the Gardiner Expressway.
Under the provincial City of Toronto Act, the city "does not have the power to designate, operate and maintain a highway as a toll highway," unless a regulation is made under the act.
Wynne’s decision to reject Tory’s proposal has ultimately put an end to the possibility of road tolls for the time being.
Wynne said Friday that the province doesn’t support plans for municipal road tolls because Tory’s proposal didn’t provide people affordable options for transportation.
“I have always said that there needed to be the right conditions in place, that there needed to be options for people and they needed to be affordable options. Those options are not in place in the same way that, for example, with our high occupancy toll lanes there is an option,” she said.
“The conditions are not right and that’s why we’ve made this decision.”
Wynne went on to claim that the city will get the “same amount of money that was put forward in the proposal.”
However Toronto Mayor John Tory said while the investment leaves the city “$170 million better off that it was yesterday,” it will likely fail to meet the target.
“Simply put, Toronto is being forced to contend with major issues like housing, roads and childcare and then told we are not able to take the measures that we choose to address those financial needs,” Tory told reporters at a news conference following Wynne’s announcement.
“That is shortsighted. It is not right and it will ultimately hurt the Ontario residents that need transit and housing the most.”
Tory said it’s “inexplicable” that the city followed the provisions of the City of Toronto Act only to be denied by the Wynne government.
“The government of Ontario that, overtime, downloads a whole lot of things to the city – roads, housing and a whole lot of other things – then passes the City of Toronto Act. (They then) say, ‘Here we’re going to give you the means to address those things, including the financial needs created by that downloading, and then turns around and says ‘No you can’t use those,” he said.
“I think that is something that is not going to allow us to move forward in the way that we need to, in order to serve all the people, especially some of the most vulnerable people.”
City staff previously estimated that a $2 toll on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway would generate approximately $166 million annually. However they had also floated the idea of a higher toll, that would have generated more than that.
Tory added that the dismissal of road tolls won’t kill any projects the city has planned.
“We obviously have a whole suite of projects… obviously we have to go back now and look at what is the good news side of this – which is how much the $170 million will do for us – and then see what the needs are,” he said.
Transit riders not thrilled about Wynne’s announcement
Transit advocate Sarah Thomson told CP24 that she feels “betrayed” by Wynne’s about-face.
“To turn around and say ‘Oh we are going to mess things up because we talked to a few people outside the city that may have to pay the toll’ is not taking into account the long-term plan for the city and what the right thing to do is,” she said. “Tolls are inevitable. Every major city has tolls. We need the tolls and we need them dedicated to transit.”
Meanwhile, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie told CTV News Toronto that she welcomed the announcement made by Wynne.
Crombie said that the gas tax will require the City of Mississauga and the rest of the 905 to reinvest in transit projects and transit infrastructure.
“It will certainly bring in to Mississauga an additional $33 million worth of investment so that we can upgrade our transit projects,” Crombie said.
In regards to Tory advocating for road tolls, Crombie said this would unfairly hit the 905 population.
“Normally tolls are enacted on new infrastructure and I can certainly see that but I was very concerned with the toll it would take and the impact it would have on our residents in the 905, the businesses in the City of Mississauga and on tourism as well,” she said.
