Ariella Kimmel: Toronto City Council needs a plan to address tariffs

Things cannot run at the pace of bureaucracy anymore; slowdowns do nothing but hurt our local businesses

In early February, Toronto City Council came together to pass a symbolic motion in the wake of the upcoming tariffs being threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump. In what amounted to little more than a performative measure, the motion ​​called for Torontonians to “buy local.” But with these threats now materializing and with great uncertainty looming over us, businesses in Toronto need far more than performative motions and photo opportunities. If the city wants to give them real support, they need to implement measures to reduce regulatory burdens and streamline processes. It’s time to get our ducks in a row.

Just this past December, the Toronto Star ran a story about Anastasiia Alieksieichuk, a Ukrainian refugee, who had a coffee truck on U of T’s campus and got caught up in the city’s bureaucracy. Anastasiia quickly ran into red tape as she was denied permits and drew multiple bylaw infractions because her trailer did not have an engine of its own. It’s a prime example of the barriers created by City Hall for entrepreneurs and business owners here in Toronto. It took the local Councillor — Dianne Saxe — bringing a motion to council to allow Anastasiia to operate her business on an ad-hoc basis.

City processes need to get with the times. Our licensing bylaws and business licensing processes are outdated. They need to be modernized to reduce redundant requirements so that businesses can operate with greater efficiency and lower compliance costs. These delays prevent businesses from opening, operating effectively and expanding, and bringing more people into the workforce. They’re too often caused by the lack of communication from City Hall and unhelpful city staff. There is a very real and understandable frustration that is felt, especially when seeking clarity on regulations or assistance with compliance issues or having to deal with services such as 311.

Things cannot run at the pace of bureaucracy anymore; slowdowns do nothing but hurt our local businesses. To empower them, the city needs to be more responsive to external economic pressures, leaving no option off the table. Ideas worth considering include alleviating administrative burdens, expediting development projects and reducing delays, or instituting temporary reductions or deferrals of certain fees, which could provide immediate financial relief and help businesses to maintain operations and employment levels during what is going to be a challenging time.

Rather than passing performative motions, council should be ensuring targeted relief directly lowers costs for local businesses. There’s opportunity for council to expand the 15 per cent property tax reduction for eligible small businesses that was passed four years ago, by either increasing this reduction or expanding the eligibility criteria to include more businesses. They could also consider reintroducing the property tax deferral programs that existed during the pandemic to provide relief to businesses to help manage cash flow challenges arising from new tariffs. By implementing these measures, the city would provide tangible support to local businesses, and in turn help to shore up our local economy.

Our local economy, which is driven by everything from local restaurants to warehouses and manufacturing, must have support from our city. At the budget debate just a few weeks ago, council was given a chance to support manufacturers who create thousands of jobs in this city when Councillor Brad Bradford moved a motion calling on council to dig into reserves in order to cut industrial taxes by 25 per cent. Instead, Mayor Chow pushed a motion to ban Tesla from the list of vehicles which qualify for the licensing fee grant program aimed at encouraging vehicle-for-hire drivers to buy electric vehicles. Instead of doing something that could help 30,000 small businesses and nearly 3,500 industrial businesses in Toronto, council moved forward another motion that will have little to no impact, nor help businesses in Toronto.

This is a time of crisis, and the time to enact real solutions. Mayor Chow needs to ensure our city is far better aligned with the business landscape in order to allow them to thrive. Real and strong leadership is needed to steer us through these uncertain times to ensure we stay competitive and continue to be the economic engine of Canada.

Originally published by the National Post: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ariella-kimmel-toronto-city-council-needs-a-plan-to-address-tariffs

Ariella Kimmel, executive director of A Better City Toronto.