Panel gives momentum to tax plan
Swing councillors lobbied heavily as vote on new taxes looms; developers to back 'reasonable compromise'
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
October 19, 2007
A blue-ribbon panel named yesterday to take an unfettered look at the city's books adds fresh political momentum to Mayor David Miller three days before a contentious tax vote by his deeply split council.
The appointment of the independent panel of six high-profile Torontonians from business, academia and labour led by top commercial real estate executive Blake Hutcheson, along with an emerging compromise on the mayor's tax plan, yesterday pushed one swing councillor into the yes column.
"Absolutely," Councillor Bill Saundercook (Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park) said when asked if he will back a modified land-transfer tax and a motor-vehicle registration fee - which would raise revenues the mayor says are vital to Toronto's future.
Meanwhile, in a potent antidote to the anti-tax lobby led by the Toronto Real Estate Board, more than half a dozen top developers are expected to release a letter today that describes the softened land-transfer tax proposal as a "reasonable compromise" given the city's financial pressures.
One undecided councillor still pressing for cost cutting predicted a victory for Mr. Miller.
"Will they [the taxes] get passed?" Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore) asked. "Yeah, they are going to get passed."
The fast-moving developments come as half a dozen swing councillors are under intense pressure from advocates and opponents.
Mr. Saundercook, for example, is one of 23 councillors who, by a one-vote margin in July, deferred a decision on the mayor's tax plan until Oct. 22. He likes the compromise package, with relief for first-time buyers of homes valued at or below $400,000, put forward by Councillor Mark Grimes (Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore).
Councillor Suzan Hall (Ward 1 Etobicoke North) called the panel "a step in the right direction."
At a meeting last night in Scarborough, attended by about 150 people, many of them opposed to the new taxes, Mr. Miller said the city has to use the new tools granted by the province.
"If this council does not act ... the province will be able to say forever we gave you the opportunity and you didn't use it."
By no accident, the mayor's announcement was timed to compete with his right-wing opponents, who held their own high-profile events to rally opposition to the taxes.
Named to the panel are: Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment; Rahul Bhardwaj, president of the Toronto Community Foundation; Lorna Marsden, former York University president; Paul Massara, president of Genesis Capital Corp.; and Jim Stanford, economist with the Canadian Auto Workers.
Mr. Miller said their mandate is free ranging.
On the controversial topic of contracting out public services, Mr. Miller noted that private firms carry out 88 per cent of city capital road works.
"I am not prejudging what the panel will do," he said, promising that the recommendations due next February (not April as earlier reported) "will be taken seriously."
Mr. Miller, pressed hard to appoint the panel given public skepticism about the city's efficiency, said it is "important that we be, and be seen to be, effective and efficient in providing public services."
Mr. Hutcheson said he took on the volunteer assignment on the understanding that the panel could explore city operations and offer blunt advice.
"I had a brief chat with the mayor," said Mr. Hutcheson, president of CB Richard Ellis Ltd. "He genuinely wants some help and he is genuinely prepared to listen."
Emphatic that city-owned Toronto Hydro is not for sale, Mr. Miller said the panel could give "strategic advice" on the city's real estate portfolio and police staff ratios.
The naming of the panel won high praise from the Toronto Board of Trade, which lobbied hard to get a member on the panel.
But Mr. Massara, a board director, will not sit as a board representative.
Board president Carol Wilding called the naming of the panel "fantastic news."
But Mr. Miller's critics played down its importance.
Councillor Case Ootes (Ward 29 Toronto-Danforth) said the group should be asked to find savings of up to $200-million or $300-million. "Unless that happens, I think, it's always risky in terms of coming out with a whitewash," he said.
A new set of eyes
Blake Hutcheson, Chair
Regarded by his peers as one of the smartest players in his industry, he is president of the Canadian, Latin American and Mexican arms of CB Richard Ellis, one of the world's largest commercial real estate brokerages.
He has close ties to the provincial Tories and has served on the fundraising committee for both Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. But he has also volunteered his services to Mayor David Miller. In 2006, he was appointed to the mayor's economic advisory committee on ways to make the city more attractive to investors and employers.
Rahul Bhardwaj
Born in England and brought up in London, Ont., Mr. Bhardwaj is a former Bay Street lawyer who in the mid-1990s turned to charity. He became director of the United Way of York Region in 2004, and this summer took the helm of the Toronto Community Foundation.
Along the way, he plugged himself into the city's mainstream as vice-president of the 2008 Olympic bid, and worked on John Tory's run for the Toronto mayoralty and John Manley's bid for Liberal leader.
Lorna Marsden
Dr. Marsden, who combined an academic career with politics and administration, recently retired after a decade at the helm of York University where she was president and vice-chancellor. Previously, she had been president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University, a member of the Canadian Senate, and a sociology professor at the University of Toronto.
At York, she became closely involved with city-building issues, campaigning to get the Downsview subway line extended to the campus and being appointed by the provincial Liberals as a member of the board of directors of GO Transit.
Paul Massara
After coming to Canada from England in 2002 to run Direct Energy, which was owned by his employer Centrica Plc, the dominant gas company in Britain, Mr. Massara quickly made his mark in the Canadian business community. Three years later, he was voted one of the top leaders under the age of 40 in Canada.
He is now president of Genesis Capital Corp., a private equity firm, and a board member of the Toronto Board of Trade, where he has been closely involved in city issues including the board's reports on strengthening city government.
Jim Stanford
As an economist in the research department of the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada's largest private-sector union, Dr. Stanford brings a labour perspective to the panel. That means, he said in an interview, that while he understands the need for the city's operations to be effective, productive and competitive and that tax dollars should be well-spent, it should not be at the expense of treating its workers humanely.
Dr. Stanford is a regular columnist with The Globe and Mail and is the author of a book, Paper Boom, and co-editor of another work, Challenging the Market: The Struggle to Regulate Work and Income.
Larry Tanenbaum
One of the city's most prominent businessmen, Mr. Tanenbaum has made his mark in sports, as chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., business, as head of a family construction company, and philanthropy, as a donor to myriad causes, including donations of $50-million to United Jewish Appeal and $25-million to Mount Sinai Hospital.
His relationship with city hall has had its ups and downs. Last year, the city helped build the soccer stadium used by the MLSE-owned Toronto FC. But a deal with the Union Pearson Group consortium, which he headed, to lease Union Station from the city for 100 years fell through.
Realtors urged to fight new fees
JEFF GRAY
October 19, 2007
Five of Mayor David Miller's most vocal opponents on council urged Toronto real-estate agents yesterday to keep up their campaign against a proposed land-transfer tax, outlining some last-ditch tactics as next week's crucial council vote draws near.
Speaking before about 250 agents at the annual general meeting of the Toronto Real Estate Board - which has lobbied hard against the land-transfer tax, and remains opposed to any compromise on the measure - Councillor Case Ootes listed a handful of councillors he said were wavering or undecided: Suzan Hall, Mark Grimes, Maria Augimeri, Anthony Perruzza, John Filion and Bill Saundercook.
"Those are the swing councillors that are going to make the difference," said Mr. Ootes (Ward 29 Toronto-Danforth). "... Call them whenever you can. Have your clients call them. And also if you can make it to city hall on Monday, pack that council chamber.
"It makes a difference."
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, the mayor's most prominent critic on council, gave the keynote address to the meeting, arguing that the taxes must be defeated because the mayor is mismanaging the city and the projected $413-million shortfall on its 2008 budget.
He also highlighted examples of what he called bad decision making, such as the recent move to purchase a theatre building for $1.2-million.
"David Miller is a nice guy," Mr. Minnan-Wong (Ward 34 Don Valley East) told the audience of real-estate agents. "The kind of guy you want as a neighbour. But he's not the kind of neighbour you want as a mayor."
He then participated in a panel discussion with fellow Miller critics Mike Del Grande (Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt), Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre), Mike Feldman (Ward 10 York Centre) and Mr. Ootes, taking previously videotaped questions from agents.
Mr. Feldman, a long-time North York politician and businessman who served as a deputy mayor under Mr. Miller in his first term, warned that the up-to-2-per-cent land-transfer tax could kill Toronto's booming real-estate market.
"There is a bubble," Mr. Feldman said. "And that bubble is very fragile. ... It could be burst by a transfer tax."
Mr. Feldman also suggested Toronto's financial problems are so severe the city should declare bankruptcy, as New York almost did in the 1970s.
"Maybe that's the route to go. We should go bankrupt like New York City, and then the feds and the province would have to bail us out," Mr. Feldman said.
After the meeting, Mr. Ootes responded to unusually strongly worded comments from the mayor, made at a community meeting on Wednesday night, when Mr. Miller accused his political opponents of telling a "fundamental lie" when insisting there was ample fat to be cut from city spending.
"If the mayor starts into name calling and starts calling people liars, I think he needs to look in the mirror," Mr. Ootes told reporters.