As Toronto's municipal election enters its final weeks, we're looking at each of the major mayoral candidates, and, specifically, at their economic development and job-creation platforms. First up: John Tory.
Tory's platform in general focuses on streamlining services to businesses, and improving Toronto's branding and status internationally.
"Can you imagine how much better off we would be if we could trade in even a small fraction of the recent attention we received on the world stage, trade that for a few articles touting Toronto as a great place do business," he said at a recent speech to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
He promises to act as an ambassador for the city, which he believes is key in building confidence among potential investors.
A few items in particular that he hopes to focus on if elected:
- Develop a new business hub in Toronto, modeled on London's Canary Wharf. It would be located in the East Don Lands, and require "a reorientation of the Gardiner’s eastern section and new transit connections in this area." The proposal calls for 15 million square feet of development (a mix of commercial and residential), and Tory believes it could lead to the creation of 70,000 jobs if populated at full capacity.
- Focusing on the development of Scarborough, and specifically of opportunities along the planned Scarborough subway route, "by temporarily lowering property taxes for 10 years in order to encourage businesses to locate along the transit corridor." Though details are scant, he calls this an "innovation hub" and promises to work with City staff to streamline zoning and application requests along that corridor.
- Streamlining business services in general. "As your mayor, I will create a single touchpoint for business permit applications and other business services sought by those seeking to invest in our city," Tory told the Board of Trade. "We want to find a way to say yes to people who want to invest in Toronto."
- Tory also wants to "clean up the jumble of organizations trying to attract business to Toronto. Invest Toronto, the City economic development department, and the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance...are all trying to do the same thing, but a little bit differently. But they have a common objective: bringing jobs to Toronto... I will unify and streamline the way these three organizations and others work, and this will mean a better outcome on jobs and lower costs."
- Helping combat youth unemployment (which currently stands at 20 per cent) by doubling the number of companies in the Partnership to Advance Youth Employment, by expanding that program to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Toronto's election will be held on October 27, 2014.
Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: John Tory
election platform speech to the Toronto Region Board of Trade (September 18, 2014)