“Toronto – Canada’s version of a Democrat run city”

On Saturday, Toronto Budget Chief Shelley Carroll defended sending money down the toilet.

She was participating in a budget town hall on NEWSTALK1010.

A caller named David wanted to know why the city keeps its contracting exclusive to a cozy, short list of preferred contractors.

Inflation in Canada might be back down below 3%, but at Toronto City Hall, they haven’t gotten the memo. Mayor Olivia Chow and her hand-picked budget chief, Shelley Carroll, announced a combined tax hike for homeowners of 6.9%.

That’s 5.4% for the property tax increase, plus 1.5% for the city building fund.

Toronto’s proposed 2025 budget includes a 6.9 per cent property tax hike, with Mayor Olivia Chow promising the revenue it raises will enable critical investments in libraries, police, transit, housing and other vital services.

The budget will deliver “change in Torontonians’ lives today,” Chow told reporters inside city hall Monday morning alongside budget chief Coun. Shelley Carroll to launch this year’s budget process.

The 6.9 per cent figure includes a new 5.4 per cent hike, plus a 1.5 per cent increase to the city building fund dedicated to capital expenditures for transit and housing.

One Term Chow.

The proposed 2025 budget for Toronto, and whether it will lead to another huge property tax hike, will be unveiled Monday as the affordability crisis chips away at people’s pocketbooks.

A congestion charge, a long-debated idea in North America, has finally come into effect in New York City and is being praised by experts who say Toronto could benefit from a similar approach .

On Sunday, New York was the first U.S. city to adopt the system after years of studies and delays, joining the likes of London, Stockholm and Singapore which have seen lasting traffic reductions since implementing congestion charges.

One more reason to move out of Toronto.

Toronto real estate just got another sign that it entered one of its roughest markets ever. Equifax data shows the Greater Toronto mortgage delinquency rate climbed again in Q2 2024. Just two years after hitting a record low, the rate is now climbing at one of the most aggressive paces in history, hitting a 9 year high in the latest data.

This ought to really take off after Chairman Chow announces her property tax increase.

The City of Toronto finds itself at a crossroads – but the issues at play go far beyond bike lanes or traffic congestion.

For decades, a debate has been simmering about the very essence of Canada’s biggest city: who does Toronto serve, and what kind of city can it become? And at the heart of this debate lies a fundamental clash of visions on urban mobility – and ultimately, the city’s very purpose.

That conversation began in earnest in the 1950s, a time when entire neighbourhoods in cities across the world were razed to make way for highways and expressways. Cities faced a choice: would they follow Robert Moses’s vision, prioritizing cars, or Jane Jacobs’s vision, designing cities for people?

Urban planners seldom allow reality to cloud their vision.

For decades, the rusting, weathered Live Eye car has hung over Queen Street West.

Its wheels have spun along with the wheels of time, watching over the endless evolution of one of Toronto’s most iconic streets. Storefronts have changed. Watering holes have opened and closed. Condos have gone up, and up, and up.

The Live Eye car has remained.

Take a guess …

#WATCH: New Years in Downtown Toronto was lit last night pic.twitter.com/wHmCa3s107

— 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) January 1, 2025