Toronto Taxpayers Coalition
3401 Dufferin St. M6A 3B8 Toronto, ON, Canada

BREAKING: Michael Ford announced his intention to seek election for Toronto City Council seat Ward 2, long held by his late uncle Rob Ford. Michael Ford properly resigned from his Trustee seat in the Toronto District School Board to run for this council by-election which will be held on JULY 25th. We congratulate Michael Ford for entering the race. It's great to see young Torontonians seek elected office. ... Information on Michael's campaign can be found at www.electmichaelford.com. We're interested to see who else joins the race! For more information on upcoming municipal by-elections, visit: toronto.ca/elections

HUGE Toronto CITY COUNCIL AGENDA this week starts today at 9:30am. Watch the action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9PXIAJwfQ Big items on the agenda over the next few days: amendments to the lobbying bylaw and Toronto Police paid duty activities, Uber vs Taxi regulations (approving something final!), debating a Bloor bike lane pilot project, and declaring the council Ward 2 seat vacant. What are we looking for?... 1) Council approval to seek alternatives to Toronto Police officers on paid duty activities. 2) Careful amendments to the lobbying bylaw. Following this report (https://nowtoronto.com//mayor-tory-believes-groups-shoul/) - we strongly believe that unions should be required to register as lobbyists. There is a clear financial interest in their interactions with Council. We oppose any attempt to extend this requirement to non-profit organizations and grassroots local groups or campaigns. Frankly, it looks like the mayors office is concerned that the organized voice of taxpayers (and groups of all ideological stripes) are more effective than their lobbyist friends. 3) An end to the Uber vs Taxi debate. By the end of this Council meeting, there will be a conclusion on ground transportation rules. The rules must be fair AND less onerous for all. Uber (and other similar private transportation companies) and taxis should share the same regulations for vehicle safety, driver training, insurance, and vehicle accessibility requirements. SHARE your thoughts and let us know if there is an item on the agenda of interest to you!

Is anyone shocked? BOMBARDIER will only deliver 16 new STREETCARS to Toronto this year. That's far from the 75 streetcars that were supposed to be delivered by the end of 2016! Bombardier "acknowledges the disappointment of the TTC" and promises to deliver all streetcars by the end of 2019. That's kind of like the promise parents make to children to go to Disneyworld eventually. We hear how "dismayed" politicians and TTC brass are at Bombardier as if they have no control ove...r the situation. Congestion in Toronto grows daily, rapid transit lines take close to a decade to build, and commuters see the same incompetence while TTC fares rise. The TTC needs a business plan for transit expansion and the city of Toronto needs municipal leadership with the fortitude to kill bad contracts instead of giving slaps on the wrist. The city looks weak and taxpayers deserve better. LIKE if you agree!

An analysis shows that almost 80% (!!) of TORONTO POLICE officers net pay that put them on the Sunshine List. These officers, paid by taxpayers, earn $100,000 / year or more. Consider this: "Pay increases in the GTA for uniformed officers, required to have only a high school education, have outpaced inflation by about 20 to 30 per cent over a decade."... This is not sustainable. Contracts settled through arbitration regularly produce salary increases beyond what is reasonable for taxpayers to pay. Shift overlap and paid duty extras add to this fiscal burden. While the Executive Committee of Toronto City Council took a good step yesterday to endorse ending some paid duty services, that is only one of many things that must be done to reform the force. (http://www.cbc.ca//mayor-tory-s-executive-committee-approv) SHARE your thoughts!

We commend The Toronto Sun on its two-year fight to expose how METROLINX financially boggled the UP-EXPRESS file. Metrolinx provided media outlets with previously redacted details about ridership and fare studies. It shows Metrolinx ignored SEVEN reports (!) that showed the UP Express line would not attract enough riders with a high fare. Who paid for these seven ignored reports? YOU. Taxpayer dollars. (and Metrolinx has not said exactly how much was wasted on these reports...) The UPExpress was launched as an elite link to Pearson Airport instead of a commuter rail line integrated with the wider transit network. Taxpayers are now paying for that mistake. For shame! LIKE if you agree.

We want to take the time to highlight the great work of our partners at the York Region Taxpayers Coalition. After persistent efforts to expose the truth, they discovered the Town of Newmarket used taxpayer dollars to pay for a regional councillors election website. No, not his ward/constituent website, his RE-ELECTION website. In Toronto, we might forget or take for granted the transparency measures in place that would make something like this easy to expose in the city. ... Good job York Region Taxpayers Coalition! Keep fighting.