City council adds transit taxes to agenda, votes in favour of Porter report

City council will get to weigh in on how to pay for a $50 billion transit expansion plan after all.

Two weeks ago, Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee voted to delay the debate on 11 new transit taxes until May 28, effectively shutting the city out of the conversation since Metrolinx has until May 27 to report to the province on how it proposes to pay for its ambitious plan to improve transit in the Greater Toronto Area.

On Tuesday morning, city council voted 27-13 in favour of a Coun. John Parker motion to add the item to its agenda for its current meeting.

The item will now be discussed sometime Wednesday.

“I think it is important that council have the opportunity to represent the city’s interests when we talk about raising revenues,” TTC Chair Karen Stintz told CP24 following the vote. “We need to be able to make sure that residents are protected, businesses are protected and the needs of Torontonians are balanced against the needs of the region.”

The proposed revenue tools include conventional initiatives such as development charges, a dedicated sales tax and the introduction of road tolls and parking space levy’s as well as some unconventional ones, like a plan to charge motorists for every kilometer they travel in the region and a new tax that would be charged to employers on the basis of the size of their workforce.

Speaking with CP24 Tuesday afternoon, Coun. Doug Ford said he is against any additional tax being implemented to fund transit.

"How can you justify increasing taxes and asking taxpayers to give you a blank cheque?" he said. "They (the provincial government) need to turn over every single rock and find efficiencies. That’s the way."

Council approves Porter Airlines study

A request to allow jets to fly out of Billy Bishop City Airport was also on the agenda Tuesday as a two-day council meeting began at city hall.

Porter Airlines is asking the city, the federal government and the Toronto Port Authority – co-signers of a Tripartite Agreement that has governed the waterfront airport since 1983 – to lift a ban on jet powered aircrafts, allowing the Toronto-based airliner to begin offering long-distance flights using 12 new CS100 jets it has agreed to purchase from Bombardier.

The request has received mixed reviews to date, with Mayor Rob Ford telling reporters that he sees “no downfall” while several other councillors have expressed concern over the noise larger aircrafts would generate.

Council debated a proposal that would ask city manager Joe Pennachetti to prepare a report on the potential economic, noise, environmental and traffic impacts of the request and report back to executive committee during their July 3 meeting.

“The review of Porter Airlines' request will be a complex undertaking requiring the expertise of outside consultants and cooperation of the Toronto Port Authority and Transport Canada,” a staff report to be presented to council Tuesday reads. “The review must be comprehensive in its approach and consider the overall impacts of airport expansion, not only the requests that have been put forward by Porter Airlines. Consultation with the signatories to the Tripartite Agreement, the local community and airport stakeholders is essential to the completion of the review.”

Council voted in favour of the study 29-15 early Tuesday evening.

The review is expected to cost between $225,000 and $275,000 due to the need to bring in outside consultants with expertise in airport operations, however, Porter Airlines has agreed to cover the full cost.

More room for cyclists

Also on the agenda, is a motion from Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam that would see the city implement a three foot passing rule for vehicles when passing cyclists.

The motion comes in the wake of a 2012 report from the Chief Coroner for Ontario that suggested that by motorists to pass cyclists with insufficient passing room was responsible for most accidents involving drivers and cyclists.

“Toronto should not wait for the province to amend the Highway Traffic Act, since as the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario report points out – the cost of delay is more road fatalities,” the motion states. “Toronto city council has the opportunity to enhance road safety by taking the important step of amending the Municipal Code to include the safe passing guidelines recommended by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario.”

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