Kickstarting the economy, pandemic top-of-mind heading into 2022 for Mayor Tory

Riding the multiple waves of COVID-19 while trying to get millions in Toronto vaccinated proved to be bumpy for Mayor John Tory and other city officials. Many would consider the effort a success in getting people both shots, but it was just one aspect of a challenging

Tory sat down with CityNews to discuss the major impacts on the city of the past year and what they are looking ahead to in 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic and vaccinations

Toronto was at the forefront of the vaccination efforts in Canada that included opening up multiple mass vaccination centres and targeting small communities were rates were low in order to get the city fully vaccinated.

“The task of vaccinating millions of people just in the city was daunting. But we’ve carried it off. And so, now we’re involved in affectively another vaccination campaign to do the boosters,” said Tory.

Over 80 per cent of the population has at least one dose, with over 86 per cent of those 12 years of age and older fully vaccinated. Another 450,000 residents have had their booster shot as well.

Tory said despite the emergence of Omicron and understanding that it will challenging to deal with, the city is much better off at this time than we were last year. “I’m an inveterate optimist both based on the fact that we’ve done so well and the people of Toronto have done so well at responding and based on the fact that I think we will get through this.”

When asked what he has learned the most over the last year, he told CityNews it was how quickly they have been able to respond with their leadership team. “I learned a lot about what I call ‘wartime speed’ and that it actually is possible and you have to sort of crack the whip a bit but that’s the job of leaders and we’ve had a great leadership team that have sort of done that and everybody’s responded.”

“There’s only so much pre-planning that you can do in the middle of some thing like this. And the city the emergency operation centre have certainly done as much as possible,” added Tory. “That said there has been a lot of reactionary work that has been done as well.”

Kickstarting the economy

Small businesses are struggling across Toronto as the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to close for much of the first months of the years and under restrictions for even a few more. Multiple have been forced to close and others saying they won’t last much longer if more restrictions are brought in.

Tory was asked what the city needs to do in order to kickstart the economy and save some of these businesses.

“I think smaller businesses need a break. If you look at bigger businesses, the banks, the insurance companies, the pension funds and a lot of the bigger companies they did OK because they had the resources and the critical mass to adjust almost anything,” said Tory.

Tory said they have been working on some ways to give them a leg up, including a small business tax for 2022 which is a 15 per cent reduction for small businesses along with the CafeTO program that allowed bars and restaurant to easily set up patios and Main Street which offered help to create websites for their businesses.

“I’m not sure there can be much more done by the city. And this is not me trying to pass the buck. It’s simply the reality. The city doesn’t have the financial tools and resources to do the kinds of things that perhaps that they need,” added Tory.

He said it is will be crucial for residents to support local when they.

Shop local, dine local, buy local, said Tory. “We need people to support the local enterprises. There’s never been a more important time to do that because they need to get back on their feet.”

Affordable housing

Another issue in the city that has come to the forefront during the pandemic is access to affordable housing.

‘We’ve taken pieces of city land, which I’ve committed to do at the end of the last election, and we’ve converted that into thousands of units of affordable housing. Some under construction, a lot of units approved, thousands of units approved and ready for construction,” said Tory when asked what they have done so far this year to combat it.

But what more can be done?

“What is the answer beyond the inclusionary zoning we’ve done to say, ‘Every development has to contain some sort of affordable housing’ and the programs, like using our land to build affordable housing near transit and so on.”

Tory acknowledges they must continue to work at it in order to make the city more affordable.

“We have a big job left to do and it really isn’t just a social issue. I mean it is a social issue, but it’s also an economic issue because if we can’t have people who are first year teachers, first year people working in accounting firms who don’t make that much money and their first year on the job. If they can’t afford to live in the city, we’re in trouble.”

Encampments have been a huge part of the affordable housing debate. Many sprung up during the COVID pandemic due to concerns of safety and overcrowding in the shelter system. It came to ahead when the city moved into clear the encampment and police were engaged. Several people were arrested at multiple different sites.

Tory said to begin, encampments in parks were “unsafe, unhealthy and illegal,” but said he “regretted the fact that it was ever necessary to have anybody in law enforcement have anything to do with this.’

“It was unseen that we had thousands of people successfully moved out of much larger encampments than exist today.”

When asked why police were involved early in the process, Tory rejected that idea. “In each case where they went, and there were only a couple, they went after months, 20,000 visits by city staff to say to people ‘We want to convince you to take one of the options available for indoor housing’ and after a certain period of time, there is no question but you have to accept that [the] parks are for everybody.”

Tory added he is not the one to make the call of when police are utilized. “[Police] go in when there’s a need for them to be there and I would say the times that they went was because there were protesters there in large numbers and people who were causing a bit of a melee and you have to maintain order and the safety, in fact, of the people who are experiencing homelessness”

Transit 

Toronto recently passed a motion that will allow for seven years of street closures in the downtown core in order to allow for the construction of the Ontario Line.

When asked how you convince people that the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain, “I would say to them go up to Eglington next year when the subway opens and the construction has cleared away and we have the magnificence of the subway line that goes from one side of the city to the other, east to west and west to east.”

“We’re now going to do the same with the Ontario line which will run from all the way from Don Mills and Eglinton down to Ontario Place.”

He adds the city needs these transit projects or it could “strangle itself on its own growth of success.

Upcoming municipal election

The upcoming year, 2022, will see a provincial election and a municipal one. When asked if he plans to run again, Tory would not say whether he’s made a decision.

“You’ve got to have first of all a discussion with yourself and say look, ‘Are you still excited by the job? Are you still challenged by the job? Are there still things left to do? Do you know then if you pass over that hurdle?’ You have to do have a discussion with your family,” said Tory.

He added he plans to have that discussion in the new year. The election date is set for Oct. 24, 2022.

“In the end you don’t want to overstay your welcome. I’m the last person that wants to do that. I’ve had a wonderful career and I’ve had a wonderful time in this job which I consider a complete privilege. I have and I enjoy it immensely.”