Q and A with Mayor Chow: will Torontonians see a property tax hike next year?

Mayor Olivia Chow says she never imagined she would be leading the country's largest city a year ago. This time last December, John Tory had just begun his third term as mayor after being re-elected in the 2022 municipal election.

Tory resigned two months later after admitting to having a relationship with a city staffer, setting in motion a byelection that would see Chow taking over the mayor's office last summer.

After five months on the job, Chow sat down with CP24 on Friday to reflect on what she has done and wants to accomplish next year, including if she plans to raise property taxes.

CP24: I want you to go back to this time last year. If someone told you that there would be a surprise election and that you would run and that you would win and you would become Toronto's newest mayor, would you believe them?

Chow: No. Did you see the eyeball rolling? I think you must be kidding. Not a chance. No. Why would there be an election? Why would I want to do this? And, well, here I am.

CP24: What have the last few months been like for Olivia Chow?

Chow: It's been fabulous. What an honour and what a privilege to be able to hear the stories of people from every corner of the city and party with them, celebrate the taste of everything everywhere and out on the street, and being able to work together with all the other councillors with a really single focus on making life more affordable for folks.

It's not just the councillors or local residents. It's the staff. The city staff are a very committed lot. Making a lot of changes very quickly.

ON SECURING FUNDING NEW DEAL FOR TORONTO, ONTARIO PLACE

CP24: It's also a tough time to enter office. You've spent the last few months practically begging both levels of government for much-needed funding. Oftentimes, mayor, the money hasn't been enough, and concessions have had to be made. I'm thinking of the Ontario Place deal, and you had to drop that fight. And you're still fighting. You're still fighting for that funding. Has that been frustrating?

Chow: No. I came in with this 1.5 billion dollar big shortfall, a big hole. So I thought, 'Oh my god, I don't want to go and cut TTC anymore.' In fact, I invested in more TTC services and hired more people because our city is growing. We can't cut public transit or any of those kind of things. So, it's been difficult to get the new deal, uploading the Gardiner and the DVP, which we've been trying to do for several decades and finally got done.

In terms of Ontario Place, we didn't give them the land. We didn't give Premier Ford the zoning approval he needed. He just did it through legislation, which he had the power to do.

CP24: Do you feel like you let people down, though, because there were people counting on you to fight for that?

Chow: If you fight and can win, it's good. You fight, and you know you're going to lose because we just don't have the power to do it. I checked with the lawyers beforehand. I said, "Can we resist? Can they basically confiscate the land?" (They said) "Yes, they can." "Can they overwrite the zoning law?" (They said) "Yes, they can." I thought, "Oh, okay. How long can we be in court for?" (They said) "A day or two." "We're going to lose?" (They said) "Yes, absolutely." "Can we appeal?" (They said) "Yeah, but you're going to lose that too, and they're going to do what they want to do while they're appealing."

But in one way or another, I'm a very practical person. I want the best for the city, so you saw this a lot of investment that we got in building housing. We have a master plan to build 65,000 units of rental building – rental homes for people. Rent-controlled. So now we got the money from the federal government and the provincial government, we can begin to build and build and build so people can have a more affordable life when they don't have to pay so much rent.

ON THE REFUGEE SHELTER HOUSING CRISIS, AFFORDABLE HOUSING

CP24: It's a very real problem. There are people who are sleeping on the sidewalks. And you know, as mayor, that's not okay. When the federal government is asked about it, they're very non-committal. Does that make you lose sleep at night, as the leader of this city?

Chow: It makes me lose sleep and makes me sad because I promised in front of a lot of refugees at a church I said I will do what I can to make sure there's a refugee shelter plan. Now, the city has been busy opening a warming centre, the Better Living Centre (as a respite centre). We're opening as many shelters as we can. We're getting housing benefits. We're bringing people from shelters into homes. There's hope for some people, but still, because the number of refugees coming just keeps going up and up and up, like more than 5,000+ refugees are in our shelters now. And we have to turn them down because our shelters are full.

So yes, it hurts, and my meeting with the Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) yesterday gave me some hope.

He said he understood the plight of the people. He understands that he needs to do something. And I said, when?

CP24: A question you've been asking a lot. When and how much?

Chow: I know. And I'll find out. We'll find out. I'm convinced the voices of those people that are so generous as they are volunteering or they're working to help these refugees and the refugees themselves. Ordinary Torontonians speaking out to say, "Hey, Torontonians, we take good care of each other." Especially newcomers, because our city is built by newcomers. Many of them live in countries that are war-torn or have any number of problems. So we're here, and let's take better care of each other. And I think that voice is so loud, so persistent, so hopeful… I really believe that the prime minister will listen.

CP24: Speaking of the prime minister, yesterday was a big news day for the City of Toronto. Toronto will receive $471 million over the next few years to accelerate housing development in the city. I sat down with the city's former planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, who really thinks a big issue is going to be removing the red tape at City Hall. How do you plan on making that happen?

Chow: I'm planning to put one person in charge. Right now, when an application goes through, there are many departments, and they also don't make it public. So, it's not transparent. When you put in an application for approval, you don't know what process is going through and how long it will take.

If we put all of that upfront, then people have to be more accountable. And if we put one person in charge, like a concierge service, you come in; we bring all the folks that are needed to approve this process into one spot and say, okay, when can you do what? And let's put a deadline on it. I think I am convinced it will work.

It will be a lot faster, and the process will be a lot simpler. And so it's part technology, part organization, part drive. One person driving it. One table rather than spreading all over. Look at CafeTO. Remember how chaotic the application process was, and it took forever? And it was just like a big problem. I said, no, no, no, no. Let's put a deadline. By the end of November, get everyone that already has a patio and get most of them approved. Done. I want the application process to start in January. Done. It's happening. I want the application all reviewed by April. Okay. And all patios open by the May 24 weekend. It's happening—one department is in charge. Clear deadlines.

WILL CHOW RAISE PROPERTY TAX?

CP24: Looking ahead to 2024, it is no secret that Toronto needs to generate revenue. You've been talking about that massive deficit. It's still a problem. You weren't afraid to go there on the campaign trail and talk about a property tax hike. You wouldn't commit to a number. You've now spent quite a bit of time in office. You've taken a look at the budget. Will you commit to a number? What do you offer Torontonians in the form of relief and in the form of expectations for the coming year?

Chow: We've already said to those speculators that if you leave a home vacant, we're going to charge you more. And those people that are buying very expensive homes, three, five, ten, 20 million dollars, we're going to charge you a bit more. So we've already done that. We've opened up the budget. And people are telling us what matters, and by January…

CP24: But is a property tax hike coming?

Chow: The budget committee is going to take all the opinions of what people are saying and put the budget together. We just finished hearing from people. We still have to put the budget together, which is what's happening.

CP24: Based on what you are seeing, though, people are struggling. There's an affordability crisis, so people are wondering, should I be prepared for a property tax increase? And as mayor, what can you tell them?

Chow: Yeah, I think you should be prepared not to worry. That, we, both the budget committee and the city staff, are committed to bringing a budget together. You will hear the presentation on January 10th. I don't want to pre-empt the work of the staff and the budget committee and what they are doing. And then I will then present my budget on February 1st and then the final approval on February 14th. So, all of that will get settled by mid-February.

This interview was edited for clarity.