Toronto losing upwards of $65M a week due to COVID-19: Tory

The mayor of Toronto says the loss of revenues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is costing the city almost $65-million a week.

Mayor John Tory points to a decrease in TTC and other revenues along with closures, property tax and utility payment deferrals coupled with increased demands brought on by the coronavirus outbreak to city services.

Adding to the financial pressures, the City has announced that all spring recreation activities and camps have been cancelled. The city says it will be providing refunds to the 59,000 people – mostly children – and groups who had signed up for programs and those who had taken out permits for public facilities and parks.

The decision will also mean more than 5,400 part-time staff won’t be hired as planned.

The move will deal yet another blow to those who were looking for jobs this spring, with the city saying it could not afford the expenditure in light of the lost revenues which have hit the city hard during the pandemic.

“This step will also provide those staff with the option to access supports such as employment insurance as soon as possible,” the City said in a statement.

Tory said he deeply regrets cancelling the spring programs and while no decision has been made about summer programs, he said he is hopeful of having them go ahead as planned.

Tory said there are no plans for layoffs of city staff at this time, adding many will be redeployed to other areas to assist in continuing to deliver essential services to the residents of Toronto during this crisis.

The mayor said they will be reaching out to both the provincial and federal governments to help offset the financial impact to the city as a result of the pandemic.

“We are committed to helping the many business sectors through recovery and rebuilding, and will be relying on our partners in the provincial and federal governments to continue to support our efforts,” said Tory.

Tory also announced that the set fine for violating the physical distancing by-law which was enacted on Thursday will face a fine of $1,000. That is an increase from the usual set fine of $750. The maximum that someone can be fined under the by-law is $5,000.

Chief Matthew Pegg, who heads the city’s Emergency Management team, said police and by-law officers will be out this weekend and beyond to enforce the new by-law. While he said the aim is to educate first, “if we don’t see compliance, then fines can and will be issued.”

Chief Pegg said to date almost 1,000 complaints have been received about inappropriate physical distancing and that Toronto police have issued 21 tickets to individuals.

“The City is serious about this – lives literally depend on people understanding that they need to stay home to protect themselves and others,” said Pegg.

Tory says while he was quite disappointed to have to bring in such a by-law, he’s hopeful there will be good compliance this weekend. “Stay home. Please stay home.”