Thank you for speaking up to fix flooding and bring in a fair stormwater charge! Here's what happened at the Executive Committee on January 28th.

What we achieved:

The decisive response we saw from supporters and speakers on this issue made a difference. Thanks to us raising our voices, the Mayor and other Executive Members publicly acknowledged that there was a major fairness issue around how we pay for flooding infrastructure. They made positive changes to the item, including asking City staff to report back on options to fund new flood proofing, greening incentives and infrastructure that would not have a financial impact on residential water users.

This is good news, because residential water customers have been paying an unfair amount on their bills to cover the expensive damage caused by the stormwater runoff from big paved lots, who's owners often don’t pay their fair share to fix flooding.

Why we need to keep fighting:

The bad news is that they accepted a staff recommendation to stop working on a stormwater charge. This takes an important tool off the table, which would have made much bigger changes to how the City’s flooding infrastructure projects are paid for.

So big corporate land owners won’t be paying their fair share anytime soon for all the existing flooding projects planned for the next ten years, which will cost billions of dollars paid for by our water bills. We need to continue to push back against this injustice, and also ensure that they pay their fair share of the new incentive programs.

Councillors also voted in favour of corporate land owners on another item at that same meeting. They voted against a motion from Councillor Matlow to investigate how the City could implement a levy on large commercial parking lots on its own - without the cooperation of Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). This would have given the City a clear pathway to move ahead if MPAC continues to block this powerful financial tool for no good reason. Instead, they voted to let MPAC - an unelected group stacked with finance and real estate executives - decide the fate of a parking levy.

What comes next:

This is not done. Due to our advocacy, the City is moving forward this year with promising investments in flood protection and climate action. Staff will be looking into how to pay for flood measures and incentives, and we will need to fight for fair funding options and remind Council that they are elected to work for residents, not corporate land owners.

We at TEA will continue to advocate for the transformative change Toronto needs, and the funding tools to power this change. Thank you for fighting with us.