Is Toronto 'Headed For The Welfare Lines'?

Years of job losses, the expense of paying for services formerly offered by the Provincial government, and an over-reliance on property tax revenue have left Canada's largest city with a huge deficit.

2 minute read

September 27, 2007, 2:00 PM PDT

By Michael Dudley


"[Toronto], Canada's biggest (2.5 million population) and most powerful [city], seems to be headed for the welfare lines.

Largely because of [provincial program] downloading, Toronto faces a $575-million deficit this fiscal year. As a partial solution, the city may take $34 million from its budget this fiscal year and $83 million in 2008 by cutting such services as street cleaning and repair and snow removal.

Toronto's problems are of interest because many Canadian communities, including major cities such as Winnipeg and Calgary, say property taxes, their main source of revenue, can't properly finance all the jobs they've been given to do.

Downloading, unfortunately, is not Toronto's only problem. Carol Wilding, president and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, says about 100,000 jobs have been lost in Toronto since 1989, compared to 800,000 created in the outlying areas. Toronto, she says, is becoming a jobs doughnut: "lovely and rich on the outside, but empty in the middle" despite the creation of the Greater Toronto Authority, GTA, a huge district in and around Toronto, that was supposed to mitigate such problems.

There's more bad news for Toronto. The Conference Board of Canada said this month the fastest growing large cities are Saskatoon (4.7 per cent), Calgary (4.4 per cent) and Winnipeg (3.7 per cent). Poor old Toronto was eighth on the list of 13 at 2.7 per cent. On top of this, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, is now taller than Toronto's CN Tower."

Monday, September 24, 2007 in The Winnipeg Free Press

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing

The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

3 hours ago - Strong Towns

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

4 hours ago - Smart Cities Dive

Green Skid Row mural satirizing city limit sign in downtown Los Angeles, California.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents

The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.

5 hours ago - Los Angeles Public Press