Issue:

Most ports on the Great lakes are run by one agency. Toronto’s is managed in part by Ports Toronto, Create TO, Waterfront Toronto and the Waterfront Secretariat. This creates inertia.

While most other Great Lakes ports are expanding their operations in response to the huge resurgence of shipping, TIN is not aware of any plans to grow Toronto’s Port facilities. Toronto’s Port cannot be duplicated elsewhere and is under threat from proposed residential re-development, film studios, park development and a planned roadway and bridge which will take away 46% of the existing dock wall needed for shipping and fragment the operation of the Port.

Providing an essential service to the City, the Port receives road salt, cement, aggregates, sugar and structural steel, all of which help make the City and its businesses function and are critical for maintaining and expanding municipal infrastructure. In 2024, 173 cargo ships delivered 2,056,924 metric tonnes of goods to the Port of Toronto taking 51,000-40 tonne trucks off Toronto’s busy roads.

Toronto’s Port, unlike most on the Great Lakes, does not offer an export service. This would assist Toronto area manufacturers better access to European and other overseas markets without having to ship through Montreal or Halifax.

Putting sensitive uses such as parks beside heavy industrial operations introduces unnecessary conflict and incompatible land uses. An example of this is the $8.5-million Lookout Park located beside the Concrete Campus at Leslie and Commissioners streets. The Concrete Campus was established by the City to remove concrete batch plant operations from sensitive downtown neighbourhoods.

Action:

TIN is advocating that the Port be run like a business mandated to grow the Port’s function.  The City must strengthen its policies to promote, to improve and grow the Port as other cities in the Great Lakes basin are doing and to eliminate all incompatible land uses. This needs to be a priority.

To this end, TIN recently released a study of the Port, Understanding the Importance of the port and marine freight shipping in Toronto, which is a call to action concerning the future viability of the port. The study identified that Toronto’s Port is undervalued as a strategic resource especially when compared to other major Port cities. Its disjointed governance structure does not support the Port’s function or its shipping industry and often makes it a challenge to secure required infrastructure maintenance. The study has garnered public support from organizations such as the Toronto Board of Trade and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Issue:

Land designated for residential use is often more expensive per hectare than land designated for Employment uses only. This stems from a scarcity of employment land in Toronto and because speculative residential development can accommodate a higher land cost than a manufacturing operation or other employment-only uses.
Employment land therefore faces ongoing pressure from property owners and developers seeking to re-designate their property to residential or mixed use. Once converted, these lands almost never revert back to employment uses.

Recent changes in Provincial legislation to speed up the approval process for new housing has been done at the expense eroding traditional protections for employment lands.

Action:

TIN has called for the approval of OPA 804 which will give the City better tools to slow the approval of  conversion requests. TIN is also advocating with provincial officials in economic-mandated ministries to reverse the erosion of employment land protections, given their importance to the local and the Province’s economy. Our “Asks” of the Province include calling for a common definition of “employment lands”, tightening the process for conversion applications, and restoring similar protections afforded by PSEZ’s that were eliminated in the last round of changes to the Planning Act.

Issue:

Toronto is one of the few municipalities in Ontario that does not levy development charges for new or expanded manufacturing facilities. This was done to encourage new industrial development in the City and the policy has helped encourage some TIN members to make significant expansions to their operations.

Action:

TIN continues to support the City’s current position that new industrial development be free of development charges.

Issue:

Following consultation with stakeholders, including TIN, the Imagination, Manufacturing, Innovation & Technology program (IMIT) program has been replaced with EDGE: (Economic Development and Growth) Incentive Program.  Like its predecessor, EDGE is designed to help manufacturers and others to build new or increase the footprint of existing facilities. The new program provides a lower level of economic benefit but will apply to a broader scope of businesses.

Action:

TIN will continue to monitor the effectiveness of this program and intervene on TIN’s behalf if amendments are required.

Issue:

Communicating the Importance of the Manufacturing Sector with City Staff and Council.

Action:

In addition to submitting written communications and deputing before the Executive, Planning and Housing and Economic and Community Development and Infrastructure & Environment committee meetings on key issues, TIN makes representations to City officials and uses all such opportunities to remind decision-makers that the protection of employment lands is critical to growing Toronto’s economy.

Issue:

In an effort to find new cash to pay for capital projects, Toronto has proposed new revenue tools as a means of raising cash outside the normal property tax source. These included tolling roadways and aplacing a levy on parking spaces provided by businesses for their employees and visitors.

Action:

TIN supported a position that would permit tolling on new roads. However, due to political pressure from suburban ridings, the Province did not allow the City to proceed with this. TIN continues to oppose the introduction of a levy on parking spaces located at industrial facilities but will assess new tax policies as they are proposed.

Issue:

Large water users pay a disproportionate share of the cost of stormwater management since an allowance for storm water management is embedded in the general water rate. Many other municipalities in Ontario levy this cost through a separate charge or as part of the property tax.

Action:

TIN continues to support a separate stormwater charge but City Council has rejected the idea. However, after discussions with officials in Toronto Water, Economic Development and Finance, TIN was successful in getting Council to agree to increase the discount on Block 2 water rates from 30 to 35%. This reduction in Block 2 rates will be phased in over 3 years, and the first reduction will be felt in the 2026 Budget year.

Issue:

BEPS, or Building Emissions Performance Standards, is a proposed reporting-and-regulatory policy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings in Toronto. Buildings account for about 56% of Toronto’s GHG emissions, mostly from fossil fuel heating and hot water. City Council has asked for a report in Q1 of 2027 on what new regulations to bring forward.  Earlier reports suggested they would be phased in over a 5-year, and would cover commercial, institutional, multi-family, and industrial buildings above a certain square-foot threshold, with exemptions for single-family homes.

Action:

TIN has been participating in the stakeholder discussions with City staff and has expressed its views to Council that manufacturers be excluded from reporting requirements since they are already engaged in energy saving programs mandated by other levels of government.