Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is placing the blame of a proposed property tax hike for Toronto residents on the Trudeau government – and this isn’t sitting well with Toronto Liberal MPs.
The dispute between Toronto’s Liberal MPs and the mayor’s office has led to Chow’s office calling on the federal government for more funding.
Chow’s office wants the Trudeau government to pay for the costs of housing asylum seekers, an expense that is predicted to increase to at least $250 million this year.
Toronto’s budget chief Shelley Carroll has said that she plans to add an additional 6% “federal impacts levy” onto the proposed property tax hike of 10.5%.
“This is so ridiculously political,” one Toronto Liberal MP told The Star.
The MP was granted anonymity to discuss the intergovernmental quarrell,
Several MPs who spoke with the Star called Chow’s move “outrageous,” for a number of different reasons, among them, that she’s avoiding Tortonto’s responsibility to cover the costs of housing asylum seekers.
They also accuse Chow of not being transparent about the exact price of these costs, instead just presuming that the federal government will flip the bill.
“It’s political and it may be because she calculates we’re weaker than (Premier Doug) Ford, but I think we can win on the strength of our record,” said one Liberal MP.
The Liberals have given Toronto $5.47 billion in support since Trudeau first took office in 2015, including $97 million last summer for housing asylum-seekers.
“We need to be friends,” said Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz, who feels her government hasn’t got the credit it deserves for its support of Toronto. “We have tough times ahead.”
Meetings between the two parties remain ongoing, according to Dzerowicz, but arguments continue on who should be responsible for covering the costs associated with asylum seekers.
Many cities and provinces began arguing that the federal government was responsible for covering those costs, following the mass surge of asylum seekers who came to Canada after Prime Minister Trudeau’s infamous “#WelcometoCanada” tweet.
The provinces and cities felt that Trudeau’s policies were beyond their control and therefore it should be the federal government’s responsibility to pay for them.
The federal government launched a fund in 2017 to help with the issue which was meant to be a short-term measure, however it’s now become an expectation from cities.
“I’ve been speaking to a lot of the members of Parliament from Toronto to answer the questions they have,” Chow told reporters on Monday. “It is a process, and I’m optimistic that we will find some kind of solution.”
However, a source close to Chow said that local MPs should be doing more to put pressure on the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the dispute, instead of tarnishing the mayor or city council about the coming tax hike.
“The feds are always willing to take a phone call, respond to text messages, have a photo op, but it has been like getting blood from a stone when it comes to actually funding things,” said the anonymous source.
“Nobody quite understands what their calculation is. It’s almost like they’ve decided to give up on Toronto and that doesn’t seem to be in anybody’s best interest.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre weighed in on the issue to condemn Chow’s proposed tax increases.
“This is what you get when you elect NDP/Liberal politicians: massive tax hikes,” posted Poilievre on his social media. “Only common sense Conservatives will cut your taxes.”
